Ska Workshop 5

Today we worked on Baba O'Reilly. Nowadays with the workshop, we've mostly been working on group coordination and not so much music theory. That's really important though. I think in general, our group needs to learn to listen to each other more. And I'm not just saying that because I'm playing the saxophone without a microphone which is barely audible. I've found lately that there's not really a good balance between the different parts. When people have solos on the guitar, I can barely hear it over the chords. If we all listen to each other carefully, I'm sure we can learn more from each other instead of just focusing on our own repetitive parts.

In addition to just jamming, we interviewed Freddie. He talked about how hard work and practice will bring you anywhere you want to go. Considering how he's been in 2 successful bands and is about to release his 11th album, this seems pretty believable. In addition, he's collaborated with many other musicians and recorded for movies and TV shows. That's pretty much my goal. It was very inspiring to me to know that is really is possible to be successful if you work hard enough. I think I have a new role model.

Ska Workshop 4

Today we worked on more improv and jamming. We stayed in the key of E while improving. I really, really dislike the key of E now, since on a saxophone the key is actually C#, which has 7 sharps. Not pleasant. Randomly, Freddie began to play a song. We all instantly knew what it was. Baba O'Reilly. This one was in the key of F, thankfully for me. It was so cool how without even saying the name of the song, we all instantly knew what it was and we all joined in. We're all learning how to jam as a band and listen to each other. It's really great because it's not often that I get to play music in a group (unless you count multiple violins, but that's something different). I really wish I was in a band. At least once I'm in one I'll know what to do.

Ska Workshop 3

Today we worked on the blues. We did the standard 12 bar, as well as learning a tag at the end. We focused on  learning a good bass line and improvising. I love having a chance to improvise because it's such an important skill. It practices so many things including scales, listening, playing on the spot, and figuring out what works and what doesn't. It's pretty difficult to do, and my second goal of this workshop is to improve on my improvisation.

One thing I would like to do more of is learn more about Ska music. Last time we just worked on the cover of a song, and today we just worked on the blues, which is a pretty simple concept. I'd like to do what we were doing last Tuesday when we were learning about music theory and styling and other such things. Music theory is something that I need to improve on, since a lot of times it just blows over my head. I want to learn about the more intellectual aspects of this music than the actual putting into action, at least for the time being.

Ska Workshop 2

This time, we didn't wait a second before we started playing. We already had our plan for the day: create a Ska-Punk version of Don't Stop Believin'. I always think it's cool to hear overplayed songs in different contexts. It makes them sound fresh and new again. First we learned the bass line and chords and such. Then we listened to the melody. We added the chorus and in maybe half an hour or so we were jamming away! It's so great to be able to learn music so fast with a group. Playing instruments solo can be lonely, and trying to play with my friends can be almost impossible. With a mentor to guide us though, this process was made a lot easier.

Now that I am aware of Ska I'm starting to recognize it in different songs. I got the album True Stories by Talking Heads at the pharmacy today, and while listening to one of the tracks, I detected the strong upbeat that was played by the rhythm section throughout the song. I knew instantly that song was based off Ska. It's so great to learn something and then look around and notice it was always there, just waiting for you to discover it. It makes you wonder what else you're missing out on.

Ska Workshop 1

Today, we just threw ourselves into the music. Freddie explained to us how to base chords off of notes in a scale, and how to do chord progressions. We worked on the chord progression 1 6 4 5. One of the key elements of the style is the strong upbeat, which was played by the drums, piano, and rhythm guitar. We then took the melody of a few songs we knew with the same chord progression and played it over the backup. In no time we were making music!

We also spent a lot of time focusing on music theory. Along with chord progressions, we also learned about the three different 7 chords: the major 7, dominant 7, and minor 7. We tested our ability to listen and differentiate between the types, and we also learned finger exercises. It wasn't easy, but I'm sure with practice that we'll be able to lift our middle and pinky finger together while leaving all other fingers absolutely still.

What I hope to accomplish in this workshop is to learn more about music theory, and effectively put it into action. I have two guitar teachers and one saxophone teacher, each trying to teach me this theory, but with all these voices at once it all just blows over my head. I hope that in this workshop I'll be able to straighten everything out and understand it, and along with this understanding, be able to use it. I mean what's the point of learning something if you're not gonna put it into good use?

Freddie Reiter and Ska

Ska is a genre of music that came from Jamaica around the 1950s. The style was created when people living in the Caribbean attempted to recreate the R&B from New Orleans that they heard over the radio. The heavy beat which emphasizes the upbeats defines this style, and also defines styles that followed such as rocksteady and Reggae. The history of Ska can be divided into 3 waves: The first being the original creators, the second wave  when the music reached Britian and gained a more Punk flavor, and the 3rd wave where Ska expanded even more.

Ska-Jazz is a variation on this. It's takes the strong beat of Ska and combines it with the melodic themes of Jazz. Something a Ska-Jazz band would do is play a John Coltrane melody with the ska beat. This subgenre came from the 3rd wave of Ska, but lacks the punk flavoring most Ska of the wave had. Also (according to my saxophone teacher) Ska bands have the best names, such as the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Reel Big Fish.

Freddie Reiter is a musician who plays this kind of music with his band the New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble, and previously, The Toasters. Many difficulties come from creating a band that combines musical styles. His band comes more from an origin of Jazz than for Ska, so it's difficult to keep a modern jazz flavor with a classic Ska theme as to not turn away people who like Ska in it's basic form. The balance of keeping all fans happy is very delicate.

Here's an interesting interview on Freddie Reiter if you guys are curious.

The Privilege to Watch Movies

Christmas break in Minnesota was actually a bit interesting. It's nice to visit and see what a small town is like. It seems homey. The people are friendly. There's a bit family vibe, and there's so much you can learn about the people's lives.

One of the days during the trip I went to see a movie called Unstoppable (It's a movie about 2 people stopping a runaway train. It's pretty much as good a movie as you can make about 2 people stopping a runaway train). After seeing the movie, my mom and I were on our way out of the theater. We see a jar on a table, labelled "New Technology Fund". My mom begins conversation with the woman who works there, curious. Shyly, I watched and listened.

"You know not that many movies come out on film anymore. We need to buy a whole new silver screen to replace the one we already got, just because it runs digital movies. That's a big money eater. We also got to buy the new projection equipment. It's a lot more expensive than the old style equipment. Then we got to buy a technician to run the equipment, and that's an entirely new job we gotta pay for. We don't make much money, so this is really difficult for us. It's sending many movie theaters out of business, this new technology. And it's always changing, which means we need to always buy more improvements for it. It ain't easy."

Now let's keep in mind. In Minnesota, they don't have a movie theater every 5 miles, and seeing a movie isn't a regular weekend activity. They only have one theater for at least 20 miles, and that theater only has one screen. If that movie theater closes, people will have to drive a half hour out to Fairmont to see any film. This means that people won't go out to see movies very often. The art of film is simply not readily available to them.

"I took over this movie theater around 8 or 9 years ago. It wasn't in good shape, but me and my husband fixed it up. I just love movies so much, I wanted to be able to give that privilege to others."

I'm not saying this new film technology is bad. I just thought it was interesting how much effort this woman put into her theater so that she could give the joy of movies to as many people as she possibly can. I really admire that, and I think it's a shame that her and so many others have to go through these problems.