Tutorials Shop

Supporting special needs music education since 2008

New!
Try our new Social Feeds, look out for the navigation icon: . You can now set default social feed view in your account preferences.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="MikeMorrell" data-source="post: 544292" data-attributes="member: 4674">[USER=17]@thomsax[/USER]: Today was the first rehearsal (for 6 months) with the female vocalist. So the band leader included 5 songs for the rehearsal on which she either sings solo or in duet with the male vocalist. These 5 songs were 'unknown' for me, the trumpet player and the bass player. Luckily, the band leader sent the 'newbies' copies of the vocals with chords. On some of these songs, the trumpet player and/or I joined in to 'support' the vocalist(s). Her vocal songs usually began with soft, restrained vocals, gradually built up to a crescendo and tailored off to a soft, restrained end. Our 'support' was for the crescendo.It went amazingly well! The vocalist was pleased with the 'support' and the band too. I heard the keyboard player say to the trumpet player "Wow, you must have both rehearsed this number beforehand!" We hadn't. But I'm delighted that the trumpet player (too) has the 'musicality' to judge when and how best to support the vocals! We make a great (spontaneous) 'horn section' together!Also in today's rehearsal were 2 new songs (for the whole band). The 1st one (with horn section) went pretty well for a 1st rehearsal. For the 2nd one, there were some time-consuming 'discussions' over the best key, chord sequences and timing between the 2 guitarists, the 2 vocalists and the keyboard and bass players. We had all originally received chords in the concert key of D. Later in the key of C (to suit the vocal range of the male vocalist). The female vocalist struggled with that key so today today, we settled on the key of concert A. Which nobody had received a version of.Thankfully, the 'song/chord software' (<a href="https://songbook-pro.com/" target="_blank">Songbook Pro</a>) that the band uses has a very useful 'transpose chords' feature. Which makes it easy to transpose to a different key 'on the fly' or to transpose 'concert chords' to any sax (B-flat or E-flat) and store the transposed versions. Up until now, all my 'Songbook Pro' files are stored as 'concert' keys/chords. I've been doing transpositions in my head. But I'm considering transposing all my Songbook Pro files for tenor sax. Less 'brainwork' (and easier practice) when reading transposed chords!I noticed today that my ability to 'quickly adapt' to new keys has significantly increased in the past 6 months. Today, I could comfortably play along in concert D (tenor sax E), concert C (tenor sax D) or concert A (tenor sax B) + all other major/minor chords in these keys. The (new) amateur trumpet player  -who's only in his 2nd rehearsal(!) - naturally relies more on 'preparation' than I do now; his prepared and practiced 'musical notation' is written in terms of the 'Trumpet key combinations'' for certain fills. These are impossible to transpose 'on the fly'. No criticism intended! He plays wonderfully and has great 'musical intelligence'. Today was only his 2nd rehearsal with the band. I'm sure that over the coming months, he too (as I have) will develop more 'on the fly' flexibility.I agree that the amount of time the 'discussion' of the 2nd new number took  (if the discussion time became standard) would be demotivating for most band members!Thankfully, the (amateur) band is musically and socially 'convivial'. There are no 'big egos' or 'power struggles' in the band. Everyone's welcome to suggest new numbers and give honest feedback on the 'proposed arrangements'. No-one takes it personally if she/him - in agreement - has a more prominent or less prominent role in any number. I hope it stays this way!</blockquote>