Fieldwork Notes 1

Because I didn’t ask them if I could use their names on the blog, I’m referring to the quartet members by instrument, and the director as “Leader.”

This is from a rehearsal on Wednesday, 10/1, at 4:00 in T.F. Green. I decided to record as much information (dialog, actions, etc.) as possible and then sort through it later.

There are 2 groups now: this quartet and another larger group (that includes the quartet members).

1 hour rehearsal (planned, but then they realize that they can rehearse until 5:30 and proceed to do so). The quartet is really close, making fun of Tenor for not arriving on time. Bari arrives first, then Alto (but thought it was in Steinart--came with me though), and Tenor.

Before rehearsal: talking to the leader about a new baritone sax mouthpiece. Apparently Selmer mouthpieces are longer, so you run into problems when you use them on non-Selmer saxes. He recommended a Yamaha 4?
They need to bring their own stands. Leader making fun of Alto for not having a stand. Says something to the effect of “There’s this thing called the Internet. It delivers really cool stuff to you.”

New music! Bari: "We can finally do quartet stuff!"
1. The Goldrush Suite (Jack W. Marshall)
2. Line Drawings after Mark Tobey (Samuel Adler)--Alto: "This has notes outside my range!" (high G#)
3. Trois Chansons (Debussy, arr. Leader)

They have played at a nursing home before. A joke about playing a certain song there (apparently nontonal).
Tenor brought some music he “collected.” Some are brass quartet stuff, others from his saxophone director from HS.

Leader: "Line Drawings" will be a good piece for the nursing home.
Alto: "Good joke."
Line Drawings apparently is not tonal.

Playing (sight reading) begins!

Leader counts off the first song (written for a choral group): Trois Chansons for saxophone quartet, by Debussy. He arranged it, but kept it in its original key (it's in concert B major, which is pretty awkward for saxes). He's "conducting" with his soprano sax when he doesn't have a free hand. Bari sways the most. This is not an easy song. There's 2 vs. 3.

Tenor: "I feel like we can read that again and get most of the notes."
Leader is talking about 2 vs. 3, phrasing, a Medieval chant quality of it.

During a break: side conversation about skydiving/rock climbing because Bari is adjusting his sax strap (Tenor compared it to one).

Leader talks about parallel chord movement in the piece.

They start again. Tenor bends his knees on each beat, Alto taps his foot occasionally.

Song has a Sus. Chord at the end (Bari: “I ended on the 5th”). Leader: “Do I need to arrange Chansons #2 because it resolves there? Or is it just unresolved?”

Moving on to Line Drawings:
Leader asks what they are, who did them. Members come up with Picasso, M.C. Asher. Leader: maybe Pollock? Probably not. Too much splashes.
Talk about the beginning of the piece. Tenor starts. Leader asks if Tenor wants him to conduct or just "go with it." Bari asks about Tenor's first rhythm. They start.
Leader conducts only a little when he's not playing.
They stop playing in the middle and start talking about what went wrong. Bari has 2 ideas: he and Leader jumped ahead, or Alto and Tenor fell behind. They decide it was the latter, Leader tells Alto to put some feeling into his playing, and they start before that section.
Bari raises his eyebrow near the end…he says it was a chord that sounded funny. Tenor: “that minor second is probably intentional.” Discussion in theory terms about this chord. Bari asks about another chord after they play again.
Tenor asks about measure 9. He and Bari discuss it. Leader takes out the score, but they start at 9 without him and apparently get it right (no stopping). "That's it!" says Leader.

Bari asks for the second movement in a slow 6. It's has lots of notes, is really syncopated, even if you do it 6. Alto asks for a "slower 6." Bari is helping Alto with his rhythm (earlier, helped Tenor).

They decide to hold onto it, try it again on Friday.

Goldrush:
Some meter changes, but MUCH more tonal.
Leader calls out rehearsal numbers, even though most do not seem lost.
Bari: this has a 50's kind of feel. It's not jazz or classical.
Tenor asks for 1 before B again, but Alto and Bari say no immediately. Leader(?) says that Tenor is being too professional. Alto: this is sight reading! Bari: you can look at it on your own after.
Leader stops them for slowing down. At this point, he's more concerned about tempo than notes. He says that they will accelerate at D and play lots of wrong notes, but to keep the momentum going.
Leader says "accelerando" like "accelerate." no "ch" sound.
They stopped because Bari thought Leader was ahead by a half a bar, whether he was right or not, but Leader disagrees.
Tenor is early at the end each of the 3 times they try it. Bari says that he thinks they should have written that rest as a dotted quarter.
There are lots of movements (at least 7). Leader makes a joke about the 6th movement being based on a "lousy (loosey?) minor chord." I missed the punch line, but apparently it was a very bad joke.
They're entering the Scottish section again, and Leader says this in a Scottish accent.
Leader: "Not everything has to end loud. It sounds kind of a like music for a silent movie."
Bari: That's what I was thinking too.
Leader suggests finding a movie to play to as a fundraiser--can raise lots of money.

Alto is timid about playing wrong notes, so he plays softly. Leader explains about "Air. You blow through the horn and it comes out the other end." Alto shows Bari his (complicated?) part, but Bari just tells him to play it out.

Leader asks if they want stuff from "Old stock" or if they want some Phil Woods stuff. Bari wants Woods, but they're playing some Italian band stuff?

BADINAGE Bluette. (L. Montagne)
It's the size of flip folders, Alto says he has the mellophone part (sings offbeats). I laugh, and he laughs too. Bari gets a tuba part; Leader starts to explain how to transpose, but Bari says he knows and Leader agrees. Bari was rearranging his folder, Alto asks him, "What the hell are you doing?" Bari realizes his music is in Bb (when comparing to Tenor). Tenor says, "Let's play Phil Woods!" But Leader finds a part in C. Alto is lost, but they don't stop right away. He is confused because he has repeats where the rest of them do not. Bari gives Alto directions but Alto gets a new part. It was written for a marching band, so they all have different parts. I think Leader is playing a cornet part, Alto has an alto sax part (now). Lots of parts are missing (instrumentation-wise, not part-wise), so they decide it might be better for the larger group, but keep playing anyway. Bari says it would be a good idea to transcribe/transpose it so everyone can have their own part (in the right key too): parts are currently 4 different ones on a page. Hard to find the place to start: Tenor couldn't find the key change they were looking for; Bari and Leader decide it was "hiding." Leader says he got it in a huge box of music some old lady gave him. Tenor says it'll be really cool in the large ensemble, Bari agrees, Leader says that it's his goal. Bari says he thought the switch from major to minor was cool.

Five Scriabin Etudes (arr.?)
Russian Music: Scriabin. Leader says it's not really typical Russian music, asks if anyone knows about Scriabin.
Tenor says he's played some of his piano music. Leader compares him to Debussy, Ravel. Tenor says it's more "notey" than Debussy and heavier. When pressed, he says that he thinks it's between Liszt and Rachmaninov. Leader talks about Scriabin's ideas for a music/light combination show--a light show. Tenor says Scriabin's life was quite the tumultuous time to live through in Russia. Now, Leader is talking in a really bad Russian accent, then relapses into "normal" English. Leader sings bari part for a little (where Bari messed up a little).
Bari: "finally resolves." (at the end, after they all cut off). Bari: "it's killing me because it's not resolving the entire time, until the end." Tenor: starts the next phrase without resolving. Bari says he likes it anyways.
Leader tells story about his Russian experience. Only knew the word for "what's happening," but apparently he had a good accent because they always responded. Says you just need to include some "Russian gestures, but that's profiling, isn't it?" Alto: "isn't that what we've been doing the entire day?" Tenor(?): "That's ethnic studies." Leader: "where's Other Alto?" Bari: "No, she's gender and sexuality."

Trying to figure out a title, which is in French, for some reason. Leaf/Album/Place? Bari says he has to look it up, Leader asks him to please report back. Leader (after they play and stop again): "oh, that's odd. It seems like he just listened to George Gershwin or something." Leader: "I have high G's in here." Bari says he has lots of duples, but Leader says that half of them do.

Rehearsal Ends
Leader ends rehearsal at 5:37, talks about what they're playing, what they will be working on, like Second Chansons, perhaps.
I'm invited to play! (Leader says something to the effect of: if the guy with the computer wants to bring his horn also, I can get more parts)
Bari: says they're looking to do stuff for 8 saxes, but can't find all of the parts.
Tenor proposes music.
Leader says they'll do more jazzy stuff on Friday, like Phil Woods.

There's also a video game theme that "Andrew" transcribed (Alto mentioned a med student on our way to T.F. Green).
Tenor says he's working on arranging Clara Schumann stuff. Leader says that she was one of the best pianists of her day.
[I leave to get my clarinet before Wind Symphony rehearsal; the rest stay a bit longer]