Week 16 27-03-15 Armando’s Rhumba and So Nice

In the first part of this session we played through So Nice, initially at a constant tempo (thanks to Steve for his fine conducting) and then attempting to follow the tempo changes and pauses. Building on the success of our beautiful trios (over the last two sessions) I invited the whole group to try an extended collective improvisation - we discussed the options of having a pre-agreed tonality or complete freedom. (I mentioned an album by Chris Biscoe entitled Full Monte  http://www.chrisbiscoe.co.uk/fullmonte.shtml ). I recorded this performance and have attached an excerpt at the bottom of this message. The full version is now in the Dropbox.

In the second half of the session we ran ArmandoÂ’s Rhumba and everyone took 2 choruses. Listening around the room I felt we had made quite a lot of progress on this chord sequence with itÂ’s various tricky corners. In particular I heard a number of you playing some well constructed lines over bars 13&14 (where we explored the possibility of using whole-half diminished scales). Rhythmically the piece sounds much more secure than it did when we started on it - some nice comping ideas from Mike and Stuart and a most captivating bolero groove from Charlie. IÂ’m sorry I didnÂ’t record this.

The one area in ArmandoÂ’s Rhumba that still deserves some attention is the last 4 bars (ie 17-20). Bars 17&18 are really a disguised ‘II V IÂ’ cadence to end the piece, and bars 19&20 are a sort of chromatic ‘turnaroundÂ’ to takes us back to the start again. Unfortunately, due to an editorial oversight (on the part of the editor!) there were two incorrect chords in bar 18 on the lead sheets (including the transposed parts). For those of you who may have been concerned about these chords, I can only say: “well done for being concerned”. Some of you may have spotted that my Chick Corea transcription sheet contains some different chords in these bars - they are in fact the correct ones.

CORRECT CHORDS  for bars 17&18

C instruments Abm/Bb | Abm/Bb      Bb7   Eb  |

Bb instruments Bbm/C | Bbm/C        C7     F    |

Eb instruments Fm/G | Fm/G          G7     C   |

The chord in bar 17 (talking in concert key) is marked as Abm/Bb. It could also be labelled Abm6/Bb (as it is on my Chick Corea transcription sheet). Abm6 contains the same notes as Fm7b5  (namely F  Ab  Cb  Eb  ). The chords in bars 17&18 are in effect a minor ‘II VÂ’ resolving to a major ‘IÂ’ (in concert:  Fm7b5  Bb7  Eb  )

On our Dropbox recording (from “My Spanish Heart”), the bass player (Stanley Clarke) actually uses a tritone substitution for chord V . He changes the Bb7  to an E7  creating the following sequence in bar 18:  Abm6/Bb    E7  Eb . I have attached two edited mp3 clips for you to check this out. I suggest listening through headphones, if you can, as it is hard to hear the bass notes clearly otherwise. The first clip is of bars 13-20 slowed down. The second clip starts on bar 18, even slower with the bass EQ turned up  -  listen for the notes   Bb  E  Eb .

I have also attached an info sheet for bars 17&18 with some soloing ideas (I couldnÂ’t resist making a reference to Night And Day which uses the same three chords!)

Well thatÂ’s it for now. Have a good Easter and hope to see you on April 24th (for Chris PotterÂ’s Pop Tune #1  and Gil EvansÂ’ Las Vegas Tango )

Cheers Mark

mark@markbassey.com

Week 15 20-03-15 Armando’s Rhumba and So Nice

Week 15  20-03-15

Armando’s Rhumba  and  So Nice

To begin this session we did some more clapping and tapping but now with hands and feet going at different speeds (eg foot taps crotchets whilst hands clap minims, crotchets, quavers or semiquavers). Try swapping these activities between hands and feet (ie hands now clap crotchets, foot taps minims, crotchets, quavers or semiquavers). Don’t ask me why you have to do this - it’s like drinking cod liver oil - you might not like it but you know it’s doing you some good!

Last week Ash reminded me of an interesting web page on Rumba Flamenca which shows the traditional strum pattern for guitar plus some popular clapping rhythms

1) Slap the top of the guitar with the flat of your right hand, muting the strings and tapping the top of the guitar

2) Strum upwards across the strings with the first finger

3) Strum downward across the strings with the back of one or more fingers

4) Strum upwards across the strings with the back of your thumb

5) Repeat for hours on end as fast as possible (be careful !!!)

Here’s the link:   http://www.studioflamenco.com/About_Rumba_Flamenca.html

After this we worked at bars 13 - 16 of Armando’s Rhumba trying to use whole-half diminished scales in bars 13 and 14. Although this scale may be less familiar to you it is still an important sound to have at your disposal. Remember, there are really only three scales to practise because of their symmetric nature. There are many melodic possibilities on this scale.

I offered a simple melodic pattern of 4 notes:

tone above chord note, chord note, semitone below chord note, back to chord note - now repeat up a minor third etc.

(eg on C diminished it would be  D  C  B  C  then  F  Eb  D Eb  then  G#  F#  F  F#  then  B  A  G#  A  )

In the second half of this session we looked at a two bar fragment of Chick Corea’s solo (bars 13 and 14) which uses the two whole-half diminished scales (as discussed previously). The choice of tension notes (always a whole step above a chord tone) can suggest a dominant seventh chord (which then offers another way of thinking about the chord although the scale may well be the same). You 

will find below my two chorus transcription of Chick Corea’s solo (also in the Dropbox). In bars 13 and 14 I have put in brackets the most likely dominant seventh chords that Chick could be thinking of, as suggested by his choice of notes.

Finally we did some more trios (thanks to Wook for lending her phone). Check the Dropbox for these. I think there is some lovely playing here, good interaction and listening between all members of each trio (including some really sensitive brush and stick work from Charlie).

Next week I’d like to put together some complete versions of our two pieces (rather than just playing sections).

Cheers Mark

mark@markbassey.com

Week 14 13-03-15 Armando’s Rhumba and So Nice

I recorded the first part of today’s session working on So Nice and I have put some mp3s in the Dropbox: a run through of the theme and four trios. Have a listen and see what you think - I thought there was some lovely improvising and excellent listening. We’ll do some more next week.

After tea we had another go at the minim-crotchet-quaver-semiquaver exercise which most people seem to be OK with. So, now how about trying to clap one pulse and tap your foot to another (eg clap crotchets, tap minims). Then see if you can swap them over (so you clap minims and tap crotchets).

For the remainder of the session we worked on Armando’s Rhumba. The head is sounding tighter - I’d like to try and speed it up next week. Improvising over the whole sequence everyone appears to be negotiating the chords pretty well but I think bars 13 - 20 could be clearer. 

We should look at bars 13 - 16 (perhaps as a 4 bar loop). Bar 13 is a diminished chord and we discussed the idea of treating bar 14 as another diminished chord (in concert it would be A diminished ). Both of these chords would typically take whole-half diminished scale.

in concert

  Abdim  =  Ab  Bb  B  C#  D  E  F  G  Ab

  Adim  =  A  B  C  D  Eb  F  F#  G#  A

in Bb

  Bbdim  =  Bb  C  Db  Eb  E  F#  G  A  Bb

  Bdim  =  B  C#  D  E  F  G  Ab  Bb  B

in Eb

  Fdim  =  F  G  Ab  Bb  B  C#  D  E  F

  F#dim  =  F#  G#  A  B  C  D  Eb  F  F#

As well as finding good melodic shapes and lines to play on these two chords it is also important to resolve in some way on to the chord in bar 15 (in concert Eb/Bb ).

Bars 17 and 18 could also do with some attention. (See my old notes for scale info).

At some point we should try improvising over this piece at a faster tempo (and I’d like to try introducing some flamenco-style clapping - not necessarily exactly as per Chick Corea’s version).

That’s all for now. Have a good week and enjoy your clapping and tapping …

Week 13 06-03-15 Armando’s Rhumba and So Nice

This session kicked off with a rhythm warm up (based loosely on the idea of “The Rhythm Tree” John Stevens / Dave Wickins ). We established a regular clapping beat (quavers at about 120 bpm) and practised doubling it, halving it, and halving it again etc., finally creating a sequence with two bars on each rhythmic value - minims, crotchets, quavers and semiquavers (see attached picture below). This 8 bar sequence was then performed as a round in 4 parts - 4 groups phased at 2 bar intervals. When everyone was clapping, all the rhythmic values could be heard simultaneously, but no group played the same rhythm for more than 2 bars (so no one’s hands dropped off playing semiquavers for too long … ) This is of course a warm up exercise for practising 3 against 2.

In the next part of the session we had a quick look at the melody to Armando’s Rhumba at a slower tempo. We shall attempt to speed this up in due course :-) Then we each took turns improvising over the first 8 bars of this 20 bar sequence ( Im  II7  V7  Im ).

Below are my notes from last year when we first looked at this piece.

After the break we looked at So Nice and I introduced the idea of improvising staying strictly within one scale (or mode) and really exploring the melodic possibilities, stepwise and with all the diatonic intervals contained in the scale. I suggested examining the semitone intervals within the scale and rearranging them to create major seven and flat nine intervals. The dissonance created by these type of intervals can be useful in voicings too. The piano intro to this track is a wonderful example of all the above, staying strictly within the scale of F aeolian (6th mode of Ab major). We tried recreating this effect with some trios and quartets, all playing freely, but within this scale.

For the final part of this session we played through the head a couple of times.

Once again, below you will find my notes from last year on this piece.

Cheers Mark