Alright, here we go. The fall session of the Jazz Workshop began Thursday October 14, 2004.
Everyone met together and we talked about how our summer goals were progressing. As anticipated, many of us were unable to spend the time necessary to achieve them all, but progress was made. I shared that those goals are important ones, and that we should keep at them. We looked at the melodic and harmonic significance of some of the patterns we are practicing, and how we can tweak them and practice them in different ways, often strengthening melodic movement and voice leading.
We agreed upon the schedule outlined in the calendar. I also suggested a tuition for the fall session of $50.00. Not required, but accepted.
In the next session, Thursday, October 21, 2004, Combo 1 met, and played some tunes, soloing without any accompaniment. We talked about the importance of having good time, and outlining the form of the song clearly. We also dabbled in comping for another soloist. It's interesting to try to comp on a not-chord instrument. Quite fun. I found that playing quasi bass line things and some contrapuntal flavored ideas (related, of course, to what the soloist was doing) behind the soloist was satisfying. Finally, we delved into the modes of the melodic minor (ascending form only) scale. Here's some more info on these scales.
A few of the links on this web site might not be working, because I'm in the process of upgrading... Check back often!
