Wind Ensemble Project (pt.XVII)
Rented a car and beat feet out to St. Charles, Illinois for a reading of "TranZendental Danse of Joi" with Jim Kull and his top wind ensemble. His band and I played "Chaos Theory" together last spring -- an event that deserved to be immortalized, and would've been in this blog had the stupid computer not have crashed when I posted it!?!?!?! Grrrrr... Anyway, they're a really good band, and we had almost an hour scheduled to read through this new piece.
The first thing Jim and I do is split the ensemble -- I take the percussionists, and he takes the winds and brass. Me and the percussionists go into a smaller rehearsal room and I proceed to isolate certain sections that are percussion intensive. I'm amazed at how fast these guys are getting this -- I mean they're GETTING IT! Even the off-beat flower-pot part is NAILED on the second try -- no one has EVER pulled this part off cleanly before! I'm getting so excited, I'm having a hard time conducting (which I haven't done in about 4 years!), and very soon, Jim is at the door checking on our progress. The winds and brass are getting it too and they're ready for us to come back!
We combine the ensemble together and begin to slug our way through the piece. Comp readings are usually like making sausage with live cats -- you don't want to see it OR hear it going down. But this group is digging in and GETTING IT -- they're hanging tough on the odd-meter/mixed time signatures, and it's actually sounding like music! This piece might not be so bad after all!
Pretty soon we're through the piece, and we've come to the brand spanking-new ending I'd just written the night before. It's bad. No, that's not accurate -- it sucks. Bigtime. I suggest a few things to possibly fix it. The band cranks back a few bars and gives it a running leap -- nope, still sucks. I make one last ditch attempt to save this new ending, and the band gives it everything they've got. Sucks. It's clearly not gonna work. Note to self: write new ending.
We do one more run-through, and Gill has been cool enough to throw up some mics so he can give me a recording when we finish. A few of the musicians come up afterwards to tell me they like the piece -- man, I was NOT expecting that after a first reading, and I am so grateful that somebody else actually likes it! I thank you all so much for putting such a great effort forward -- I figured out a TON of good stuff, and I hope you get a chance to play it in the spring... when it's actually finished!!!
(Incidently, it turns out that Jim Kull had read the blog where I mentioned the soloist, Steve Zoloto. Steve's a monster sax player (and fantastic composer too), and does quite a bit of studio work in Chicago. Jim said he knew Steve way back when... so when I got back to Chicago that day, I mentioned to Steve that I'd seen Jim Kull. Steve's eyes totally bugged out -- he said he used to IDOLIZE (yes, those were his exact words) Jim Kull when he was in high school -- evidently, Jim Kull was THE baddest alto sax player in the area back in the day...)
THANKS AGAIN GUYS!!! GREAT JOB!!! Can't wait till January and IRON CHEF BIG BAND!!!
The first thing Jim and I do is split the ensemble -- I take the percussionists, and he takes the winds and brass. Me and the percussionists go into a smaller rehearsal room and I proceed to isolate certain sections that are percussion intensive. I'm amazed at how fast these guys are getting this -- I mean they're GETTING IT! Even the off-beat flower-pot part is NAILED on the second try -- no one has EVER pulled this part off cleanly before! I'm getting so excited, I'm having a hard time conducting (which I haven't done in about 4 years!), and very soon, Jim is at the door checking on our progress. The winds and brass are getting it too and they're ready for us to come back!
We combine the ensemble together and begin to slug our way through the piece. Comp readings are usually like making sausage with live cats -- you don't want to see it OR hear it going down. But this group is digging in and GETTING IT -- they're hanging tough on the odd-meter/mixed time signatures, and it's actually sounding like music! This piece might not be so bad after all!
Pretty soon we're through the piece, and we've come to the brand spanking-new ending I'd just written the night before. It's bad. No, that's not accurate -- it sucks. Bigtime. I suggest a few things to possibly fix it. The band cranks back a few bars and gives it a running leap -- nope, still sucks. I make one last ditch attempt to save this new ending, and the band gives it everything they've got. Sucks. It's clearly not gonna work. Note to self: write new ending.
We do one more run-through, and Gill has been cool enough to throw up some mics so he can give me a recording when we finish. A few of the musicians come up afterwards to tell me they like the piece -- man, I was NOT expecting that after a first reading, and I am so grateful that somebody else actually likes it! I thank you all so much for putting such a great effort forward -- I figured out a TON of good stuff, and I hope you get a chance to play it in the spring... when it's actually finished!!!
(Incidently, it turns out that Jim Kull had read the blog where I mentioned the soloist, Steve Zoloto. Steve's a monster sax player (and fantastic composer too), and does quite a bit of studio work in Chicago. Jim said he knew Steve way back when... so when I got back to Chicago that day, I mentioned to Steve that I'd seen Jim Kull. Steve's eyes totally bugged out -- he said he used to IDOLIZE (yes, those were his exact words) Jim Kull when he was in high school -- evidently, Jim Kull was THE baddest alto sax player in the area back in the day...)
THANKS AGAIN GUYS!!! GREAT JOB!!! Can't wait till January and IRON CHEF BIG BAND!!!
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