Acoustic Path

Ticket sales for Jazz Uncovered now open

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:09:03 GMT

Ticket sales for the Jazz Uncovered festival (Sunday, 5 April 2009) are now open. Book now!

Jazz Uncovered

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:36:15 GMT

I'm very pleased to announce that Acoustic Path is now an official sponsor of the upcoming Jazz Uncovered festival to be held on Sunday, 5 April 2009 at the Folkus Room (Italo-Australian Club) in Forrest, Canberra.

Why "Uncovered"? Uncovered as in new music; knowing and respecting the traditions, but not just endlessly replaying the standards. Uncovered as in a community of friends to discover, and passions and ideas to share.

The festival's organisers have released a partial list of performers which includes the likes of Sydney's Aunty Richard, Greg Stott's Utopia Collective and a growing list of Canberra's best contemporary jazz ensembles.

Online bookings will be made available soon, but mark your calendars and drop by the festival site now for a preview.

Quotable #2

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:01:54 GMT

There are only 12 notes, why would you want to avoid any of them?

- Dean Toohey, on the topic of avoid notes in improvisation

Practice Drones

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:11:55 GMT

Practicing with a drone is a great way to improve your intonation on double bass and other fretless instruments. You can use them to practice scales and arpeggios, or simply improvise within the drone's key centre.

Each zip archive contains MP3 drone tracks in all twelve keys. The drone is bowed double bass with a continuous legato sound for 64 bars, accompanied by a light quarter note pulse from a symbol. Set your MP3 player to loop each track for a longer session within a key centre.

80 BPM - Drone_80_BPM.zip (52.6 MB)
120 BPM - Drone_120_BPM.zip (35.1 MB)
160 BPM - Drone_160_BPM.zip (26.3 MB)

There are three tempos, 80, 120 and 160 BPM. For a greater range of tempos at which to practice, subdivide the quarter note pulse (e.g. play half notes, crotchet triplets, etc).

Eight Ways to Podcast in Music Education

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:38:59 GMT

As an aural and visual discipline, music education stands to gain a great deal from podcasting. But how can it be applied? How can music teachers get started?

#1 - Coursecasting

Coursecasting is one of the quickest and easiest ways to start podcasting. It involves taking existing sources of content, digitising them and making them available via podcast feeds. For example, many universities now routinely record lectures and then publish the audio or video content as podcasts. Coursecast content is often published as-is and unedited, retaining it's original structure and presentation format.

Coursecasting is a relatively inexpensive way to capture everyday educational activities in order to extend their life-span and reach. Students are provided with a convenient way to access digital copies of course events and materials which can then be used to revise or catch up on missed lessons.

 #2 - Podcast Lectures and Lessons

When a student attends a class in person, they immerse themselves in a multi-sensory experience. They hear the speaker's voice and instrument, see their facial expressions, body language and physical actions. They can sense the teacher's passion and feel the response from other students in the room. In this environment, information is processed both intellectually and emotionally which when combined helps the student to develop a deeper understanding of the information they are receiving.

If the same class were to be consumed as a coursecast, i.e. an audio or video recording of the teacher’s presentation, much of the atmosphere and subtle signals are lost. The content may still be worth consuming, but its message may be lost in translation.

With this in mind, tailoring lectures and lessons specifically for delivery as podcasts is the next step beyond coursecasting. By designing for the medium, podcast lectures and lessons will be better received and can produce greater results. See the "Planning to Podcast" section below for ideas on what to consider when planning and producing material for podcasts.

 #3 - Personalised/Correspondence Tuition

Many musicians have had some experience with teaching or studying by correspondence. Where geographical distances are too great or a teacher’s availability is otherwise limited, learning by correspondence is often the next best alternative.

In a way, podcasting can be thought of as the internet’s answer to recording a tape and posting it to a student. But of course it's more than that. Aside from being far cheaper and quicker to exchange, podcasts are easier and more flexible to produce. With a huge array of software and devices for creating, recording and editing music available to teachers and students, it’s become much easier to produce professional results.

Podcast lessons can provide a richer experience than pure audio or video. You can segment podcasts into chapters, synchronise images with an audio track and embed links to related resources on the web.

#4 - Assignments and Projects

Having students produce podcasts of their own as assignment or project pieces is a great way to generate interest and foster creativity. Podcasts can be produced in groups or by individuals and may be peer reviewed, formally assessed or publicly published on the web.

When giving students an assignment or project to complete, instead of handing them a photocopy with a description of the task, why not create a podcast? You can provide rich background information, demonstrations using your instrument or voice, include samples from recordings and display pictures or video along with a verbal explanation of the assignment.

 #5 - Preparatory 

When helping students to prepare for upcoming assessments, podcasts provide a convenient way to package and distribute audio-visual materials. Sample questions for an aural test, a selection of recordings of a performance piece or a set of scales to be memorised are all good candidates for a preparatory podcast.

#6 - Assessment 

Podcasting can be used to capture student performances for assessment purposes. Concert practices and recitals can be recorded and then podcast to teachers for review and comment. Where a course includes assessment of repertoire, composition or technical abilities, students can record their performance in their own time and then submit their work to one or more teachers via a podcast.

#7 - Listening tours

Many art galleries now offer visitors iPod tours as an alternative to cassette players or guided walks. Visitors listen to a narrator’s voice as they move from piece to piece and can view details or images of related works on screen. iPod tours allow people to progress at their own pace or quickly jump between works of their choice.

This idea can be applied to create musical listening tours. You might lead students on a tour of a particular artist’s approach to improvisation, the qualities that define a musical genre or the history of composition for a given era.

#8 - Performance and Promotion

Finally, podcasting is great way to publish performances and promote the work that you, your students and your school are doing. Friends, family and students from other schools can subscribe to performance feeds and share in the enjoyment of your student’s achievements.

Planning to Podcast

As with any communication medium; know your audience. How can you best inform, entertain and interest your student audience? Also remember that if you make your podcasts are publicly available, it’s likely they will reach a broader range of listeners than you might anticipate.
Limit the length of podcasts wherever possible. Shorter lessons make for smaller media files and faster downloads. Students are also more likely to open and listen to or view whole lessons that are brief and to the point.
For longer lessons, break up your podcast in much the same way that radio shows are segmented. Stop speaking and play a recording, ask the student to pause and practice something or use musical segues to indicate progress and mark transitions.
Divide topics into a series of podcast episodes. Releasing episodes at regular intervals can also help to sustain interest in your subject and reduce information overload in any one episode.
Make full use of the technology by using tools that allow you to embed images and hyperlinks and segment your podcast into chapters. If you mention a technique, display a picture that illustrates its application on your instrument.
Include brief “audio profiles” for listeners that may be unfamiliar with speakers on your podcasts. Audio profiles might include samples of a musician’s performances and compositions or example their student’s work.

Kerry O'Brien meets Sonny Rollins

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:09:38 GMT

Sonny Rollins appeared on The 7:30 Report the other night and had some great stuff to say. The transcript and downloadable video are available on the program's website.

The Complete Jazz Muso

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:58:59 GMT

I received a handout years ago that listed attributes of a "complete jazz muso". I'm not sure where it came from, though I wish I knew and could credit its source. Everyone has their own take on this stuff, but it's good food for thought.

The Complete Jazz Muso

Has a beautiful sound
Excellent intonation
An acute sense of rhythm
Is thoroughly aware of all major styles and innovators in jazz history
Is thoroughly versed in the blues
Can play at least one style profoundly well
Is capable of playing a long solo based entirely on one motif
Utilises space effectively
Knows hundreds of tunes by memory
Composes extremely well
Has some measure of keyboard facility
Knows how to arrange effectively
Has a thorough working knowledge of orchestration
Has the ability to evaluate their playing with the objectivity of a listener
Knows how to rehearse a band effectively
Knows hundreds of great solos from memory
Can control the rhythm section's responses with their horn (without talking about it)
Knows how to make every note count
Can play a ballad that will make you cry
Can handle any tempo with ease
Is an absolute virtuoso
Has a profoundly deep concept
Has a large repertoire of expressive devices (vibratos, smears, falls, etc.)
Constantly tries to develop and grow
Plays great every time
Always plays from the heart
Can play an unbelievable solo with fewer notes than you thought possible
Posses a multitude of ways to build a solo
Can play with the time, play ahead, behind or right on the beat at will
Has nothing to prove and therefore can play from a place of relaxed intensity
SWINGS (grooves) big time!
Is thoroughly versed in chord scale theory but is well beyond having to think about it

Setting goals and getting there

Mon, 26 May 2008 13:14:25 GMT

Like most people, I often struggle with staying on top of everything I want or need to be working on. I read something the other day about setting goals that suggested asking "Are my actions consistent with my goals?" as a means of keeping yourself on track with whatever you want to achieve. It's a simple but useful technique and I decided I'd share some thoughts on applying it to practicing an instrument.

Say you want to be able to improvise on a particular tune within a month's time. When you sit down to practice, ask yourself what you should be doing and how it should be practiced. Then check those answers for consistency with your goal. Ask yourself, if I repeat those actions 30 times (once per day over a month) how much closer will I be to my goal? By doing this you're working to determine ahead of time whether those actions will be worthwhile and how effective they might be.

The interesting thing about this approach is that it highlights the need to evaluate your progress in transit and make adjustments along the way. If at the outset you decided to practice in a particular way which didn't deliver what you were hoping for, repeating it 30 times probably isn't going to achieve much at all. Conversely, if you'd chosen to do something which was easily mastered after just a few days, you'll probably receive diminishing returns by continuing to repeat it and should move on to something else.

The Tape Doesn't Lie

I was lucky enough to attend a master class with Don Byron recently. One of the things Don said was "Don't play anything you can't play perfectly." Now I think this statement needs some qualification, but one way to interpret it might be, "Don't just learn something - master it." But how do you know when you've mastered something? How do you know when to adjust your course of action? As my teacher always says, "The tape doesn't lie."

Regularly recording your progress is of course a great way to step back and do some critical listening to yourself. Listen carefully and ask, "Is this what I imagined I'd hear? How's my tone? My intonation? Does it groove?" Another useful way to look at it is to think, "If I saw my favorite musician playing like this, how would I feel about it?" From a technical standpoint, ask yourself how well you really know it. Can you play it in other keys? What if you upped the tempo, or played it in a different style?

Be Careful What You Wish For

Personal goals are important, but they can also be a double-edged sword. Sometimes, not being able to reach your goals can result in disappointment that may actually set you back.

I like to keep a list of ideas that I want to explore. Just because something makes it onto my list doesn't automatically make it a goal though. Initially, I might be really excited about a particular idea and think of it as a goal, but later I'll decide it's not so hot and simply let it go back to being an idea.

It's important to consider your competing priorities and the resources available to you when taking on a goal. By all means, set the bar high, but be realistic about your current and desired level of ability.

Keep Moving

Once you have a goal in mind, try to make some progress every day, no matter how small that may be. It's the old journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step proverb. By moving forward in this way the scenery will always be changing, making the journey a lot more enjoyable and providing hard evidence that you are actually getting somewhere.

Quotable

Sun, 25 May 2008 10:24:51 GMT

What would you attempt to do if you knew you couldn't fail?

-Dr. Robert Schuller

Up and running again

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:06:44 GMT

AcousticPath.com is up and running again after a brief outage (moved hosting providers).

PS. Mightily impressed with SliceHost thus far.