My holidays thus far have been quite filled with music I suppose. In fact, I've just spent most of today recording an original of mine, but upon becoming frustrated with drums, have decided to add to my fairly neglected blog.
In terms of Mex things that I've done, I've basically been rotating my pieces through my in my normal practice sessions, and I'm pleased that almost all of the notes have been bashed and I'm now working on details for the four pieces to be performed at my term 2 recital.
I've been doing some fairly full on work on jazz in with my guitar teacher, which I'm enjoying thoroughly. This past week I've been working on the chart for a standard called But Beautiful, which is a slow ballad. Wayne has thrown some very stretchy chords my way which have proven difficult to grab and get cleanly, but hopefully I'll get em sounding well with a little more practice.
As to my other instruments, I've been working on some semi-known material on piano as well as getting into a bit of jazz with the help of a book of jazz lessons I found written by Oscar Peterson, one of the greats of jazz piano. I've been doing a bit of cello, mostly working on the first prelude in Bach's cello suites as well as some of the stuff Maestro Cole gave me on the last day. Unfortunately, the drumkit has been a tad neglected, but I've been behind it in the last two days a fair bit trying to get good takes on recordings I've been working on.
As to my extended response task, it's starting to take shape, and hopefully I'll have a full draft done by the first day back. My first day back is a bit later than the rest of the world due to my going away to Victoria to play in the annual AMSA basketball carnival, which should be rad.
What I'm listening to as I write this: Jamie Cullum's latest album The Pursuit, which I picked up the other day. Jamie is a contemporary jazz pianist and vocalist, but also does some jazz-influenced covers of rock and pop songs, one of my favourites being his cover of Jeff Buckley's Lover, You Should've Come Over. The Pursuit is a bit more poppy than the other album of his Twentysomething, which I'm probably more of a fan of.
Until next time,Ben.
No comments:
Post a Comment