Little Wing

billpa — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:05:06 +0000

I’m creating a DVD of arrangements for my website 6stringMosaic.com. One of the pieces is Little Wing. I like the Corrs version, especially the unison melody played by flute and violin. It’s a nice texture and adds to the feeling of the song and the arrangement.

The Hang

billpa — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:27:48 +0000

Here is an expressive percussive instrument that is similar to the pan, or steel drum, which is normally played with mallets, and allows a player to use his hands and fingers. Mano Delago has a nice touch and a great groove.

Culture Days

billpa — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:50:36 +0000

CULTURE DAYS

Celebrating Arts and Culture from Coast to Coast: 24 – 26 September 2010. Evergreen Club participates in this special event with an open reading at the Array Space in Toronto. Please click the link for details: Evergreen Gamelan Open Reading.

Joni Mitchell

billpa — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 02:42:30 +0000

Joni Mitchell is one of Canada’s most elegant musical artists. Her evolution as a singer song-writer is extraordinary, and her guitar playing unbelievable – just watch her right hand. The video quality of this is unfortunate, but her introduction to Magdalene Laundries is worth the view.

Steve Reich, Balinese music

billpa — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:42:10 +0000

Steve Reich is one of the more celebrated minimalist composers from the United States. In this video he talks about his introduction to Balinese gamelan, describing the music as having simultaneous different but very rationally related tempos and no change of harmony. What sustained his interest were incredible changes of melody, rhythmic complexity, and timbre (sound color).

The pianist in the ensemble is Evan Ziporyn, a composer who has written a great deal of music using Balinese gamelan instruments. In 1990 he wrote Night Bus for Evergreen Club, the Sundanese gamelan I am a member of.

Sequenza21

Isn’t this…

billpa — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 22:31:55 +0000

Beautiful City

billpa — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 23:13:08 +0000

Here is an example of creative thinking.

Show Support for Arts Funding Increase – Monday Aug 16th – City Hall, 10:00am from BeautifulCity.ca on Vimeo.

Groove

billpa — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:55:57 +0000

Miroslav Vitous and Peter Erskine both played with Weather Report, but at different times. The essence of groove that I loved so much in Weather Report is caught so effortlessly here by these wonderful musicians. When Jan Garbarek finally speaks the effect is pure, understated, and simply brilliant.

Krusning

billpa — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:48:24 +0000

Years ago, I went to Humber College in Toronto with the dream of becoming a formidable guitarist. After the first year there I began to see who I was as a musician. Or really, who I wasn’t. I wasn’t into bebop and didn’t aspire to be a traditional jazz musician. I didn’t enjoy my pale impersonations of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, who were the heros of my professors and the focus of our studies.

The kinds of music that turned me on were texture and rhythm based improvisers like Miles Davis, Weather Report, John McLaughlin, and Herbie Hancock. But as the year progressed, and after I left Humber to go on the road, I was listening also to Pat Metheny, Igor Stravinski, and Bela Bartok. I learned as much as I could from lifting Pat Metheny guitar solos, mostly from Bright Size Life and studying the scores of Stravinski’s Rite of Spring and Bartok’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste.

While at Humber I discovered ECM, an incredible record label that only seems to produce outstanding recordings. At that time, I listened daily to artists like Egberto Gismonti, Ralph Towner, Terje Rypdal, and Jan Garbarek. One of my favorite recordings of that period was Dis (1976), by Jan Garbarek. Here is a chart for Krusning.

Please note: measures 1 & 2 contain the scale that the chords are based on. The voicings I have used for the remaining bars are starting points. The structure of the tune is 14 measures divided equally between Em and Cm.

from "Dis"

Bruce Trail

billpa — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:42:44 +0000

Just back from a great visit to the Bruce Trail. Owen Sound, Wiarton, Mono Cliffs. What a treasure we have here in Ontario.