Tuesday, November 1, 2011

What Did You Miss This Week? (Week 243 #286)

Summertime!!!

It may be cooling off outside, but it was Summertime in B1 last night! Shoji taught the Gershwin classic, as performed by the great Miles Davis - you may notice he has a slightly different take on the melody, but who can argue with Miles?!

Summertime is its own form, in Bb when Miles does it, Shoji has moved it to A to make it work with a C harp. You can argue about whether Shoji is playing first position or fourth, but you can't argue the 2 draw full bend is a challenging melody note! Shoji points out you can move the melody up an octave on the C (or perhaps a low C) and then play the whole melody without bends.

If you've been wondering what Shoji means when he keeps saying, "play the right note at the right time", give Miles' version a listen while studying Shoji's rhythmic transcription and perhaps it will sink in!

Shoji has made a practice track available for online play-along for a few days: Summertime.
              Open Jam!!!

              Grant Kessler and Al Taylor will be hosting an open jam next Monday from 3:30-5:30. This is very casual - stop by anytime to play, listen, or ask questions. We'll be in the room Shoji usually teaches in, just south of the Old Town main entrance in the old "soccer club" building.
              New Releases!!!

              - thanks to our buddy Big Jim for tipping us off about these:

              Guimaraes Flavio- AND FRIENDS

              The friends part means Joe Filisko, Rick Estrin, Steve Guyger, Gary Smith, Peter "Madcat" Ruth and Charlie Musselwhite - wow, a who's who of harp players on this new release, so check it out!


              Howlin' Wolf Complete Chess Masters - 4 CDs of the Wolf!
              Class Notes
              • Our winter recital is on the calendar, December 17. You should start planning and practicing your songs now! Sign up sheets are due November 14 and should include short bio info on the back.
              • Emphasis will be placed on reducing the time between songs at recital this time. The next two weeks is a great time to practice playing the end of one song and launching a second song in short succession. Shoji and the B1 Band welcome this if you'd like to work on it!
              • Joe's out of town November 7. His private lessons won't happen, but all group classes will proceed as normal with master subs Zoe Savage and Shoji Naito in charge.
              - Grant Kessler, B1 Blues Crew