Or perhaps they are people who inherently love to argue and found a home in the academic world, where people use (sometimes flimsy) white papers and data tables to give their arguments the aura of truth.
It has been said that the battles among academics are so fierce because the stakes are so low.
LOL! One thing Iām sort of grateful for in the jazz world is that the bandstand tends to eliminate all the BS. Itās sort of like the Mike Tyson phrase, āeveryone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.ā Lots of people spout off theories about jazz or improvisation, brag about academic credentials, put down other musicians, and hype up a bunch of nonsense, until they step on stage and are immediately exposed.
Believe me, there is plenty of that in the classical world as well!
For example, the sub that warms up playing every difficult orchestral passage and several concerti, with a bunch of altissimo notes thrown in for good measure, then when the rehearsal starts, practically has a nervous breakdown.
So true. And I would argue that āimprovisation theoryā is an oxymoron. In my book, improvisation means a spontaneous expression, emerging from the subconscious. This is pretty much the opposite of a ātheoryā or method.
I have always struggled with this contradiction. Clearly, there is a benefit to understanding how harmonies work. A person with a good harmonic understanding can instantly recognize how the music is shaping, and that can inform their improvisation. But if one goes too far down that path, they become a robotic lick machine.
Apropos to nothing, this morning, the XM station had a cut of Miles on Autumn Leaves I had never heard. This was so far outside that I would not have recognized the tune until the out chorus if it did not display the title. There were no āfamiliar licksā. These cats just let it flow.
I get bemused when I read some theories about Irish Trad - in particular about the role of off-timing for musical sake. Because my Grand-Dad - who was everything they are attempting to codify and emulate - was always lamenting his poor sense of time and pushing me to learn music formally.
Hmm, pretty strong disagree with this. I guess Iām coming more from Gary Bartzās perspective on this, and Iāve talked with him in person about it too.
I think the language analogy is more appropriate. If we were having this conversation in person, it would be āimprovisedā and would be creating something new that had never happened before, but we wouldnāt be making up new words. If we just shouted nonsense words at each other, the conversation wouldnāt have any meaning. If we switched to another language like French, I personally would be a pretty poor conversationalist because all I would be able to contribute with my bar French is āvin rouge, sāil vous plaĆ®t,ā even if you were completely fluent. There are plenty of musicians that have the technical ability and theoretical knowledge to be able to play jazz, but lack the vocabulary, so are terrible jazz improvisers, especially in a group improvisation setting where everyone has to communicate and react to one another.
I just looked at the XM playlist and that Autumn Leaves with Miles from earlier today is actually originally off Cannonballās recording āSomethinā Else.ā I donāt know if Cannonballās opening phrase counts as a āfamiliar lickā or not, but letās look at it:
Harmonically heās going straight down a m7 arpeggio like he has a gazillion times before. He also has the important 7th to 3rd resolution that Ball does so often, although slightly disguised by the Eb in between. (You can label that the 7th of F7 if you want, but to me it feels like he makes the change with the A.)
Hereās a snippet from Ballās solo on I Remember You.
Itās literally the same notes from the C to the A on the same changes. Iām not knocking Ball, heās one of my all-time heroes, but this is just how the greatest jazz musicians practiced and worked. Any ability to ālet it flowā was grounded in years and years of practicing and developing his own phrases and language. Without the language, the solos are meaningless. Itās like me saying to a preschool kid, āhereās the alphabet, now write me a story.ā If you donāt have any language at all, not even the little words like āif, and, or but,ā you canāt tell a story.
Just figuring out the math on that would be a colossal pain, but is there anything there that would be impossible in Dorico? I think everything is possible, no? The lengths above the outside tuplets would have to be done with text or something, and the broken beams with lines I guess as I donāt think erase background with any item works. Everything should theoretically be possible though in Dorico, and Iām not sure any other program would necessarily be faster.
Itās typeset in Dorico (by me) so yes - everything is possible (in fact quite easy!)
Oh, LOL!!! Very nice work!!! How did you break the beams for the rests in the Soprano staff? That was the one thing I was trying to figure out the best way of going about it.
I canāt quite remember at this point - itās from another thread - search āferneyhoughā on the forum youāll find it - I think I had the same prob
Ah, found your post here. Looks like you did it with lines as well.
Itās my favorite Ferneyhough piece, beautiful engraving!
Thanks!
Thatās just silly.
I started with Finale in the late 90s. After 10 years I switched to Sibelius. Much better.
During the pandemic I decided to start paying the yearly fee for Sibelius and downloaded the latest version. They never answered any of my attempts to contact them. I tried everything. There was a deadline, then Sibelius would presumably lock up the software. Two days before the deadline I bought Dorico. I never did hear from Sibelius. I thought they were out of business. Now Iām glad.
If Sibelius tried to pay me to use their product, I would refuse. There is simply no comparison. A lot of Dorico is over my head, but it does what I need brilliantly, and Iām finding new capabilities all the time. I wouldnāt have even thought to try the things Iām doing now with Dorico.
Since folks are posting their results, Iāll chime inā¦Why notā¦Hereās my at-home paradiseāwriting out stuff to play on my classical guitars, 6-string and 7-string. This one has a few lines to go.
Looks really good. Are you sure about the key in the titleā¦? Or is it waiting to be transposed up? Just curious.
Ok, we have seen some Ferneyhough for the simple things. Now, letās see the difficult ones!
Paolo
Good catch!
And yes, it is G minor. I donāt know why it doesnāt show two flats in this Bach-Gesellschaft Edition, but it doesnāt. It says one flat. I should probably spend some time looking at old editions in IMSLP and such. Thereās probably a story to it. Iām not an expert on that. If you have any smartz on that, do spill, wonāt you?
I had to Google that. Dear me. Can you dance to it?
