Instruments With Voices
May 1, 2010 Announcements, Songs
The release of The Entrance of Sound is almost here. Click play to listen to Instrument With Voices.
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Video: Plucking the Hammer Dulcimer
Here is a video I made of me plucking an improvisation. I made it for personal use to gather ideas and concepts for The Entrance of Sound. I thought I’d go ahead and share it with you.
Reflections
Jan 19, 2010 Songs
Here is just an improvisation that I did to try out some new sound recording equipment that I am able to use.It’s still not studio quality, but it is stereo and is a drastic upgrade from the built-in mic on the camcorder that I was using.
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New Recording Coming Soon!
Jan 6, 2010 Announcements, Songs
It is called The Entrance of Sound.
It will be live. All solo. No overdubs. Pure hammer dulcimer. Mostly original compositions. Release date is May 2010.
Improvising (Demonstrational Video)
Mar 16, 2009 Development Zone, Songs, Videos
This is not a lesson to help you learn how to improvise. This is a picture into how I use improvising as a practice habit and development skill. For me personally, the thought of only playing what other people have already put to music sounds boring. I like to do my own things and make music that is unique. This is why I enjoy composing and arranging. Improvising helps me come up with new ideas.
I improvise all the time. I clear my mind and just let the music flow with what feels right at that given time. But, I’m always paying close attention to what I’m communicating, when the song needs “breathing room”, and when change needs to happen.
With this approach, I can discover some passages and different licks that I really like. I then develop and memorize them. Sometimes, I may use just one passage from an improv to enhance an arrangement Or, I may be hopeful of what happened, and try to use it as a main theme to a new song.
One thing that is helpful when improvising is to record yourself. This gives another opportunity to analyze your playing, figure out the passages that worked, and remember what you actually played!
This video is an example of a blind improvise that I did during a practice session last night. I’ll use this video to analyze what I’ve done, decide what I liked and didn’t like, and probably use it to develop a new song one day.
Tags: improvise, improvising, video