We collectively organize weekly sessions for new, experimental music. We meet every Sunday, 8pm-10pm at Cafe Racer, 5828 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA. racersessions@gmail.comTumblr (3.0; @racersessions)http://racersessions.com/<p>This Sunday&#8217;s session will not be curated and will instead be devoted entirely to jamming. Bring your instrument and that song in your heart.</p> <p>See you there!</p> <p>&lt;3,</p> <p>Racer Sessions</p>http://racersessions.com/post/23941759783http://racersessions.com/post/23941759783Mon, 28 May 2012 14:32:00 -0400<p><p class="p1"><strong>Eraser Sessions</strong></p> <p class="p1">The main concept for this Racer Session is to use variation in lushness and density as a musical tool.</p> <p class="p1">Sometimes I find myself establishing one level of density for a piece and either remaining at that level or adding to the density. I noticed though, when listening to music, that some of the moments that I find most exciting and powerful are when elements of the piece are removed and then later come back in or perhaps replaced with something else all together. Maybe something as simple as a bass line dropping out for a few bars or as drastic as a full orchestra being present for parts of a song and not for others.</p> <p class="p1">One example of this idea is prevalent in the style of Mexican music, banda, where typically the percussionists will play very energetically during brief periods of the song and remain silent for the rest: <span class="s1"><a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3477161/El_Diablo_De_Culiac%C3%A1n.mp3"><a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3477161/El_Diablo_De_Culiac%C3%A1n.mp3">http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3477161/El_Diablo_De_Culiac%C3%A1n.mp3</a></a></span></p> <p class="p1">A more subtle example (and perhaps more relevant to my pieces) can be found in Brian Wilson&#8217;s compositions. In the song, &#8220;God Only Knows,&#8221; before the last big chorus with lush orchestration and lots of vocal layers, they break down the arrangement to just a few of the basic elements. This moment of sparseness is a perfect representation of the effectiveness that this technique can have: <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3477161/God_Only_Knows_%28end%29.mp3"><span class="s1"><a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3477161/God_Only_Knows_%28end%29.mp3">http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3477161/God_Only_Knows_%28end%29.mp3</a></span></a> (An excerpt of the latter portion of the song. Sparse break comes in at 0:28.) </p> <p class="p1">For my compositions this week I aimed to use some of the potential of variation in density/lushness in my composing. I have been thinking about this for a while and have been attempting to use while writing songs for my band Song Sparrow Research but this Racer Session gave me the opportunity to concentrate more wholeheartedly on this concept.</p> <p class="p1">I also decided to write instrumental pieces as a change of pace from what I typically do and to allow more focus on the flow of the pieces rather than any particular words.</p> <p class="p1">Another element I was taking into account on these pieces was texture, which is something that I am always thinking about (whether it be in music or other forms of art or life). This relates to the lushness/density idea because there are so many more textures available if you are willing to remove parts of the picture.</p> <p class="p1">Joining me will be:</p> <ul><li>David Balatero - cello</li> <li>Evan Woodle - drums</li> <li>Christopher Icasiano - drums</li> <li>Kendall Becker - upright bass</li> <li>Ivan Arteaga - clarinet</li> <li>Andrew Swanson - clarinet</li> <li>Andrew Olmstead - keyboard</li> </ul></p>http://racersessions.com/post/23562794747http://racersessions.com/post/23562794747Tue, 22 May 2012 17:04:55 -0400<p><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/23462788726/tumblr_m4ctj4F05l1qahzi7"><em>LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</em><br/></a></p> <p>The way that I wish to approach this Racer Session is inspired by my experiences shopping and working at record stores. Since the age of 16 I have been an avid supporter of local shops and physical media. There is nothing like the feeling you get picking up a new band solely on a recommendation from an employee or finding that one album you have been in search of for years.  I thrive on the excitement you feel when discovering an entirely new genre to dig deep into. In 2009 I was lucky enough to start working at one of my favorite shops. Throughout my time at the store I was turned on to many things: Early African American gospel, 1960-80&#8217;s Highlife/Afrobeat, and Psych-rock from around the world, amongst others.</p> <p>My evolving musical taste was influenced by many of my co-workers, including my good friend Kurt, who led me to my first Racer Session, after which I was hooked. With the help of Kurt as well as another good friend and coworker Jordan we will be performing one piece of improvisation. Our performance will combine multiple genres and techniques into a sound collage: noise, gospel, blues, tape manipulation, etc.</p> <p>My idea for the jam session is that once the players are assembled on stage, someone will draw from a hat. This hat will contain different genres on pieces of paper, for example blues, soul, classical, and so forth. After the genre has been chosen I would like every person who is improvising to interpret what that genre is to them, in their own way. It&#8217;s okay if someone isn&#8217;t all that familiar with a genre; I would just challenge everyone to play what they feel when they think of that style of music. It&#8217;s meant as a starting point for creative collaboration.</p> <div></div>http://racersessions.com/post/23042595787http://racersessions.com/post/23042595787Mon, 14 May 2012 12:27:00 -0400<p><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/23021511462/tumblr_m3zva9y1aG1qahzi7"><em>LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</em><br/></a></p> <p>Andrew Swanson, Natalie Hall, Abbey Blackwell, and I will present an improvised piece we performed at Town Hall a couple weeks ago for their third annual May Day New Music concert. I composed the structure of the piece in an attempt to frame and showcase the individual improvisational approaches of each musician, as well as to represent the style and manner of freely improvisation music that has developed at Racer over the last two years.</p> <p>Neil Welch and Cameron Sharif also performed with us at Town Hall, but due to schedule conflicts, they are unable to be at Racer on Sunday, and so the rest of us will perform a stripped-down version of the piece. </p> <p>For the jams, please consider how you can work with the individuality of each player in the group. Try to play in a way that you make the other people in the group sound as good as possible. Even if you disagree with the direction in which someone has taken the music, it is your job to adapt and to make things as musical as possible.</p> <p>My program notes from the concert, which detail the intent behind the piece, as well as its compositional process:</p> <blockquote> <p>For the last couple of years, I have had the privilege of participating in the musical community surrounding Seattle’s Racer Sessions. Since launching in January 2010, the Racer Sessions, meeting weekly at their namesake Cafe Racer, have strived to nurture an environment in which musicians of all backgrounds and persuasions may gather and freely improvise music together.</p> <p>It has been exciting to witness, over the course of more than a hundred evenings, the evolution of individual playing styles and collective sensibilities. Even within the scope of a single improvised piece, a miniature evolution takes place as players continually adapt to meet the needs of the music. This sometimes calls for sacrifice—subverting one’s own voice in order to support the collective voice—and other times it calls for anarchy—refusing the governance of any other musicality except one’s own. A dance around these two poles takes place in every improvisation; each step dictates the birth, life, death, and rebirth of musical sound.</p> <p>Out of this evolutionary process has emerged a lexicon and a style characteristic of this community, codified to the extant that the resultant music might often be mistaken as the works of a single composer! And yet the “composer” here is collective musical intuition, powered by the growing knowledge each person has of the way that others act and react with sound. This knowledge opens up countless possibilities when writing for improvisers, allowing one to incorporate the sounds and behaviors of distinct musical personalities into one’s compositional palette.</p> <p>Tonight’s presentation is a tissue sample of sorts charting two years of musical growth that have been cultivated at the Racer Sessions. I am honored to share the stage with five musicians from the Racer Sessions whose “sound identities”—to borrow Duke Ellington’s apt label—have inspired tonight’s piece, Bones. It is a series of structured improvisations tailored to frame the way in which each person represents themselves sonically. The music you will hear is just as much theirs as it is mine.</p> </blockquote>http://racersessions.com/post/22674825827http://racersessions.com/post/22674825827Tue, 08 May 2012 18:16:00 -0400<p><p class="p1"><strong>Music For Duos</strong></p> <p class="p1"><em><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/22686088949/tumblr_m3qcxw4YTz1qahzi7">LISTEN TO THIS SESSION</a></em></p> <p class="p5">Amidst all of the possible ways in which individuals and instruments are combined to make music, I’ve recently discovered that one of my favorite configurations to listen to and also to participate in is the duo.  I find this is especially true when it comes to improvised music.  That is not to say I don’t enjoy other group sizes, however I think that there is a group dynamic and aesthetic that is more likely to occur in duos.  Here are some of my thoughts on that group dynamic:</p> <p class="p5">1.  Most obviously, You get a chance to hear how two individual musicians relate and react to one another, accommodating for one another’s choices is a very clear way.  </p> <p class="p5">2.  Playing in a duo means that listening is paramount.  It should always be important, but if someone is not listening in a duo&#8230;..well, it’s pretty apparent, and usually does not work.</p> <p class="p5">3.  In free improvisation, when there are multiple ideas being tossed around, it is often that the most forceful/confident idea to be put forward is used.  I believe the often used analogy of “music as a conversation” is particularly apt here.  In a larger group of people conversing, there are often a few members who dominate and direct the conversation.  Some individuals are drowned out, or withdraw entirely from the conversation.  I find it is the same in music.  This is not always a bad thing, typically a clear leader elevates the sound of the group.  However, when this happens, I find myself missing the input of individuals less comfortable in a large group, or those who are simply less forceful with their ideas.  </p> <p class="p5">4.  Related to the previous comment, I don’t feel like I’ve really gotten to know someone as a person until I’ve spent some time with them in one on one conversation.  This is especially true in regards to my introverted friends.  Throughout my life there have been friends that I’ve known casually and interacted with in larger groups frequently (sometimes for years).  However, I never really understood them until I had a chance to interact with them one on one.  I feel the same way musically.  </p> <p class="p5">Something that has been floating around in my brain regarding this:  <span class="s1"><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html"><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html">http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html</a></a></span></p> <p class="p5">This Sunday, my only guideline for the jams is that I would like them to be duos.  That being said, I would encourage everyone to branch out and play with someone you may not have had the chance to interact one on one with in the past.</p> <p class="p5">I have written 3 pieces for duos to get things started.  Joining me will be:</p> <ul><li>David Balatero</li> <li>Andrew Swanson</li> <li>Jared Borkowski</li> </ul><p class="p5">-Cameron Peace</p></p>http://racersessions.com/post/22138495798http://racersessions.com/post/22138495798Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:01:00 -0400<p><p class="p1"><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/22139454378/tumblr_m3b6xtXIsa1qahzi7"><em>LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</em><br/></a></p> <p class="p1">As many of you may know, I am a primarily classical musician. Someday I want to be in some big orchestra playing Beethoven and Strauss and Mozart and all that stuff. Until about a two years ago, I only did that. I sometimes dabbled in straight ahead jazz, but never improvised, never composed, nothing. So the past few years of attending the Racer Sessions and going to UW have completely changed my outlook on music and how I play, how I like to play, and the music that I enjoy listening to. </p> <p class="p1">I’m writing all of this because I think it’s important to know where I’m coming from on this piece. I will be playing an unaccompanied piece for double bass which I have based off of a few motives that I think are interesting. I have focused on using these few ideas and expanding on them with different accompaniments and embellishments. As a bassist, I am often relegated to root notes and simple rhythms. I have attempted to use these techniques in my piece, writing a piece from a classical bass player’s perspective. </p> <p class="p1">Before the jams, I want everyone to think about where they have come from and how they have developed as a musician. Where did you start? Why did you keep playing? Where are you now as a musician? Take these thoughts and use them to your advantage during the improvisations. Tell a story about your journey, interact with other musicians, just as you do in daily life. Expand on other people’s journeys through music as well as your own. Or base an improvisation off of a snapshot from your past. But always make music that you would want to listen to. If you wouldn’t want listen to it, why would anyone else?</p> <p class="p1">That’s a lot to think about, but I encourage you to do it, even in the week preceding. There’s no reason to keep going forward if you don’t know where you’re coming from. Cheesy, but true. See you all on Sunday.</p></p>http://racersessions.com/post/21666809463http://racersessions.com/post/21666809463Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:10:00 -0400<p><p class="p1"><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/21628726137/tumblr_m2wygc5Lla1qahzi7"><em>LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</em><strong><br/></strong></a></p> <p class="p1"><strong>5-Section phase piece for 2 saxophonists and 2 percussionists</strong></p> <p class="p1">In solo music I compose on my horn, but when writing for a larger ensemble I find myself split between my horn and the piano.  I&#8217;m a terrible piano player, so I always find it odd that I choose to spend so much time writing on this instrument.  In my solo compositions/improvisations I try to create a sense of more than one instrument being played, yet I haven&#8217;t spent much time writing multi-instrumental music strictly on my horn.   To challenge myself as a performer andcomposer, I&#8217;ve written a new 5-section phase piece for 2 saxophones and 2 percussion instruments based on techniques developed in my solo playing.  To perform this piece I&#8217;m joined by saxophonist Ivan Arteaga and percussionists Greg Campbell and Tom Campbell! </p> <p class="p1">The piece uses phases of sound that create continuous loops of four sixteenth notes.  These loops are changed by using one of 3 fundamental fingerings along with one of 3 possible pitch alterations.  The pitch alterations are subtle changes in sound of one of the voices in the fingering system.  In the score the fingerings are notated as &#8220;I  2  3&#8221; and the alterations are notated as &#8220;a  b  c.&#8221;  They are executed in nine possible combinations:  1.a 1.b 1.c //  2.a. 2.b 2.c // 3.a 3.b. 3.c.  </p> <p class="p1">All the phases are grouped in four sixteenth notes, except 3.a 3.b and 3.c which are grouped in eight sixteenths.  In all the phases the <em>first </em>and <em>third </em>sixteenth notes always use the same tone, played by the saxophones as a concert &#8220;D.&#8221;  The <em>second</em> sixteenth note is the pitch alteration with directions on how to play it, shown in the score as either being &#8220;a.&#8221; &#8220;b.&#8221; or &#8220;c,&#8221;  The <em>fourth</em> sixteenth note is a fingering with directions on how to play it, show in the score as either being &#8220;1.&#8221; &#8220;2.&#8221; or &#8220;3.&#8221;  These fingerings are then played in 3 possible rhythmic cycles: Slow // Medium // Fast   </p> <p class="p1">Each saxophonist is paired with one percussionist playing the same phases.  The piece is divided up into 5 sections.  In some sections all four musicians are playing the tempo phase along with the same fingerings.  For example, all four musicians may be playing &#8220;Slow 1.a&#8221;, then &#8220;Fast 2.c&#8221;, then &#8220;Fast 2.b.&#8221;  In other cases there will be lengthy sections of polyrhythmic activity.  One duo pair will play &#8220;Fast 1.b&#8221; while the other pair is overlapping it with &#8220;Slow 3.c&#8221;  The 5 sections are composed to illicit certain levels of musical activity for the listener, but overall the piece is extremely dense in texture.  In Sections II and IV, all the musicians are playing the same tempo together.  However in section II everyone is playing the phase tempo <em>and</em> same fingering system, whereas in Section IV everyone is playing the same phase tempo, but <em>different</em> fingering systems.  </p> <p class="p1">In this composition I&#8217;m interested in creating a landscape where musical events are balanced and density remains almost stationary.  Many of the longer, minimalist or phase-like compositions performed at the Racer Sessions generally had major musical events in them, such as wide dynamic shifts, instruments coming in or out, drones, etc.  In this piece I&#8217;d like to experiment with the omission of such events and simply rely on the technical gestures used in the composition.  </p> <p class="p1">There are no recorded pieces that I could share this week that led to the creation of this new piece, so I haven&#8217;t included any musical examples in the post.  Thank you for reading and supporting the Racer Sessions, and a special thank you to Ivan, Greg and Tom for working so hard on this piece with me!</p> <p class="p4">-Neil Welch</p></p>http://racersessions.com/post/21225657444http://racersessions.com/post/21225657444Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:42:00 -0400<p><em><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/21194942861/tumblr_m2k05ovYSF1qahzi7">LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</a></em></p> <p>Communication is a part of life.  People communicate.  With inventions like the internet, cell phones, Facebook, etc. communication is more implicit and more pervasive than ever before: we are always communicating with one another, and we often are unaware of it.   For example, while you may not know it, your computer is almost continuously chatting away to all the other computers it is connected to by radio signal or by a wire.  In most instances, communication between computers is implicit in the use of a computer.  The phenomenon is hardly limited to computers &#8212; when we meet someone new, we learn a great deal about them even without exchanging very many words.  The communication is implicit and continuous, and we may not know it is happening.<br/><br/>Implicit communication is a part of improvised music too. We communicating with one another on stage, but as with communication in life and computers, it happens implicitly, and we may be unaware of it.  However, awareness of this communication between musicians is important.  Focusing on communication between performers during the session, our composed pieces and free improvisations can be vastly improved as a result. Join us Sunday to think about the role of communication in music.<br/><br/><strong>Our piece: Netcat</strong><br/><br/>Throughout the piece, we will be hyper-focused on listening to what is happening, and reacting to it accordingly. We have combined computer-generated communications with the human ability to feel, plan, and react. Our primary goal in performing this piece is to highlight the difficulty and importance of communication between performers.<br/><br/>To do so, we are using 8 computer “performers” in our set.  Each computer generates network traffic. Custom software we’ve written translates the generated network traffic into musical sounds that the audience can hear. Some of the network traffic in our piece is carefully prepared, and some some will be completely spontaneous and out of control – much like any piece of music that involves improvisation.<br/><br/>On the human side of things, we will control the 8 computers we set up, and will generate network traffic improvisationally by manipulating computer hardware and software. We will also play drums and guitar, reacting to the communications generated in real-time.<br/><br/><strong>Guidelines for free improvisations</strong><br/><br/>We’d like to impose some constraints on the improvisations tonight, to focus on the idea of communication:<br/><br/>1. Be aware of what’s going on around you, and what is being communicated.<br/><br/>You can choose to react or not, but you have to be aware before you can make the choice.<br/><br/>2. Limit group size to 4.<br/><br/>The more participants in an improv, the harder it becomes to focus and listen. We expect smaller groups will make it easier to focus on listening and communicating.<br/><br/>3. No discussion/planning before each improv.<br/><br/>Starting with preconceived notions of what an improv should be may lead players to focus on the “plan”, rather than staying aware of their surroundings.<br/><br/><br/><strong>Implementation Details</strong><br/><br/>The rest of our post details the technical aspects of what we have built.  Non-geeks can stop here.  For the rest of you, we describe the hardware setup, the software we wrote, and how to configure the software we didn’t write, if you want to replicate all or part of what we did.<br/><br/><strong>The computers</strong><br/>We each have a machine that is running the custom software we wrote. In addition, there are 6 other machines that are generating and sending traffic to David’s computer over a wired local-area-network.<br/><br/><strong>The software</strong><br/>All source code is available on GitHub at: <a href="https://github.com/blucia0a/Network-Music"><a href="https://github.com/blucia0a/Network-Music">https://github.com/blucia0a/Network-Music</a></a><br/><br/>Our software is split into 5 parts:<br/><br/>1) Virtual MIDI keyboards<br/>We found out that we could easily create multiple virtual MIDI keyboards without writing a single line of extra code. To do that, we used OS X’s “Audio MIDI Setup” program.<br/><br/>Inside that application, under Window &gt; MIDI Window, is an option for a thing called “IAC Driver”:<br/><br/>Screenshot: <a href="http://cl.ly/0H3Z143U2y1W1d2v2y3s"><a href="http://cl.ly/0H3Z143U2y1W1d2v2y3s">http://cl.ly/0H3Z143U2y1W1d2v2y3s</a></a><br/><br/>Once you bring that device online, you can then add as many ports as you like (we created 6), which will each correspond to one virtual MIDI keyboard:<br/><br/>Screenshot: <a href="http://cl.ly/2w2r3y3Z2r1T2X062D3O"><a href="http://cl.ly/2w2r3y3Z2r1T2X062D3O">http://cl.ly/2w2r3y3Z2r1T2X062D3O</a></a><br/><br/>Once that’s configured, you should have 6 virtual keyboards that you can map in your audio rack (Rax, MainStage, Reason, Abletone, etc):<br/><br/>Screenshot: <a href="http://cl.ly/280X1y2T2G1H392O293w"><a href="http://cl.ly/280X1y2T2G1H392O293w">http://cl.ly/280X1y2T2G1H392O293w</a></a><br/><br/>2) tshark<br/>We use the tshark (v 1.6.5) program to intercept all traffic that comes over our computer’s network card. tshark is part of the Wireshark distribution, and can be installed via Homebrew on OS X, or probably as part of a binary Wireshark distribution.<br/><br/><a href="https://github.com/blucia0a/Network-Music/blob/master/get_traffic.sh"><a href="https://github.com/blucia0a/Network-Music/blob/master/get_traffic.sh">https://github.com/blucia0a/Network-Music/blob/master/get_traffic.sh</a></a><br/><br/>3) Sift.pl<br/><br/>Sift.pl is a Perl script that we wrote that takes tshark output, and converts it into MIDI messages destined for one of our 6 virtual MIDI keyboards. It translates network packets into (keyboardNumber, note, duration, velocity) tuples, and outputs those in real-time.  Sift uses network packet properties to decide which MIDI command to use.  Each different host (identified by IP) has a different keyboard number.  The set of notes each host should play and the duration of a hosts notes can be defined in a configuration file.  Sift selects randomly from the specified set of notes and selects a duration within the specified range.  The velocity is a function of the TCP port of the network traffic.  <br/><br/><a href="https://github.com/blucia0a/Network-Music/blob/master/Sift.pl">https://github.com/blucia0a/Network-Music/blob/master/Sift.pl</a><br/><br/>4) Streamy<br/><br/>Streamy is a multi-threaded C program that listens for output from Sift.pl, and plays our virtual MIDI keyboards in real time.<br/><br/>When it receives a message like:<br/><br/>1&#160;60&#160;1000000&#160;127<br/><br/>It will play middle C (60) on keyboard 1, for a duration of 1000000 microseconds (1 second), and a MIDI velocity of 127 (MIDI velocity ranges from 1-127).<br/><a href="https://github.com/blucia0a/Network-Music/blob/master/Streamy.c">https://github.com/blucia0a/Network-Music/blob/master/Streamy.c</a><br/><br/>5) Rax<br/><br/>Rax is a program that allows us to wire up MIDI keyboards to software instrument patches. Apple’s MainStage does the same thing, as does Ableton Live, Logic Pro, etc.<br/><br/>Screenshot: <a href="http://cl.ly/1H2k361W3L2o43101B11"><a href="http://cl.ly/1H2k361W3L2o43101B11">http://cl.ly/1H2k361W3L2o43101B11</a></a><br/><br/>We basically just map our 6 virtual MIDI keyboards to software MIDI patches on our machine, and whenever Streamy “presses” a key on our virtual keyboards, Rax receives the MIDI message and plays a note.  Thanks, Rax!<br/><br/><a href="http://www.audiofile-engineering.com/rax/"><a href="http://www.audiofile-engineering.com/rax/">http://www.audiofile-engineering.com/rax/</a></a></p>http://racersessions.com/post/20811589424http://racersessions.com/post/20811589424Mon, 09 Apr 2012 20:29:00 -0400<p><p class="p1"><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/20760308322/tumblr_m2719wvGlj1qahzi7"><em>LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</em><br/></a></p> <p class="p1">Jargon is a collective quartet focusing on original composition. On April 8th we will be presenting a set of of all original material at Cafe Racer. These compositions utilize melody, harmony, and form. Each serves as a parameter which we improvise within as soloists and as an ensemble.</p> <p class="p1">Jargon is interested in exploring: </p> <ol><li><span>The relationship between improvisation within the parameters of composition. How improvisation is dictated by the composition.</span></li> <li><span>Improvisation occurs as a compositional tool.</span></li> <li><span>Even when improvisation is void of harmony or meter, it still serves the composition.</span></li> <li><span>To achieve absolute improvisational freedom within the parameter of composition.</span></li> </ol><p class="p1">One of our collective inclinations revolves around an affinity for the way improvisation exists over structured form. There is a unique effect when convergence and divergence occurs in improvisation over a form. &#8221;Form,&#8221; being anything that exists as a harmonic or rhythmic structure or a composition. For the jam portion of the evening, we encourage the participants to improvise within the confinements of form or structure.</p> <p class="p1">Examples of structure or form could be:</p> <ul class="ul1"><li>&#8220;Note pools&#8221;- a select number of notes that create or define a composition.</li> <li>&#8220;Rhythmic structure&#8221;- Groove, an ostinato, repetition.</li> <li>&#8220;Cued structure&#8221;- cues in new chord changes, cues into altered feel changes, cues into _____</li> <li>&#8220;Foreshadowing&#8221;- Hinting at an idea or motif that will occur later.</li> <li>&#8220;Textural contrast&#8221;- Presto versus fermata, pianissimo versus fortissimo, velcro versus glue.</li> <li>A written composition (original, a standard, etc&#8230;)</li> <li>The possibilities are endless!!</li> </ul><p class="p1">Jargon::</p> <p class="p1">Bryan Smith || Saxophone</p> <p class="p3">Gregg Belisle- Chi || Guitar</p> <p class="p3">Isaac Castillo || Bass</p> <p class="p3">Max Wood || Drums</p></p>http://racersessions.com/post/20357553061http://racersessions.com/post/20357553061Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:16:00 -0400<p><p class="p1"><em><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/20480376686/tumblr_m1z0qaeowZ1qahzi7">LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</a></em></p> <p class="p1"><strong>&#8220;Cupid Boy&#8221;</strong></p> <p class="p1">By Kristian Garrard</p> <p class="p1"><em>*** Warning, get there early, the piece may or may not begin before 8pm, just so you know ;) ***</em></p> <p class="p1">I decided not to focus on any one musical element or theme in composing this piece, rather I just went with intuition and let the elements fall into place. The piece is organized as a list of events with cues played by different members of the band, which advance the piece to the next section. Only a few of the movements are actually notated music, the rest is written out in plain english, eg: &#8220;horns swell in and out on polyphonic tones&#8221; etc etc. The rhythm section holds a single groove throughout most of the thing, until the end where, well, you&#8217;ll see what happens. </p> <p class="p1">The inspiration for the different elements of this piece are from a lot of places. I really like the sort of endless &#8220;Motorik&#8221; jams that Sonic Youth frequently does, so we&#8217;re chugging our way through the whole thing, creating sort of a rhythmic drone/trance vibe. Inspiration for the written segments of the piece come from a choral piece I&#8217;ve been really into lately, called &#8220;Apologetica&#8221;, by Daniel Lentz. It uses a beautiful system of harmonic movement that I can&#8217;t claim to understand, but I tried to sort of imitate it with the horn parts in my piece.</p> <p class="p1">The band for this is:</p> <ul><li>Ivan Arteaga - Clarinet &amp; Alto Sax</li> <li>Andrew Swanson - Alto Sax</li> <li>Neil Welch - Tenor Sax</li> <li>Aaron Otheim - Keyboard</li> <li>Luke Bergman - Bass</li> <li>Clip Icasiano - Drums</li> <li>Kristian Garrard - Guitar</li> <li>Tape Deck - Drums</li> </ul></p>http://racersessions.com/post/19964773295http://racersessions.com/post/19964773295Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:43:00 -0400<p><p class="p1"><em><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/19939055205/tumblr_m1h4fwngkL1qahzi7">LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</a></em></p> <p class="p1">SONIC RESIDUE</p> <p class="p1">We were very pleased with the results of the Pungent Blast-themed Racer Session that we curated when we last played in Seattle this past July, so we&#8217;ve decided this time around to focus our attention on a more slippery yet similarly crucial aspect of music improvisation&#8230;</p> <p class="p1">1. We ask everyone to consider the inherently theatrical aspects of improvised music in a live performance setting, with an emphasis on the physical gesture and how it corresponds to its sonic residual.</p> <p class="p1">2. We encourage the creative application of movement, lighting, artifice, ritual, spectacle, and other means of attaining unimpeded out-of-body experiences that enhance music improvisation performance, enabling both the individual and the ensemble to soar beyond the restraining forces of ideology and identity.</p> <p class="p1">3. We will begin the evening with a performance of our newest long-form composition, A WAY IN, which utilizes visual uniformity, ritualistic collective action, lighting effects, and a multitude of creative approaches to improvisation that keep the structure of the composition in a perpetually evolving state. We will also be performing our full set the next evening, Monday, March 26 at The Josephine, and our vinyl and merchandise will be available on sale at both events.</p> <p class="p1">4. Thank you to everyone in the Racer Sessions improvisers&#8217; community for honoring us with this opportunity once again!</p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"><a href="http://realizationorchestra.com/"><a href="http://realizationorchestra.com">http://realizationorchestra.com</a></a></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"><a href="http://facebook.com/realizationorchestra"><a href="http://facebook.com/realizationorchestra">http://facebook.com/realizationorchestra</a></a></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7RGprK6Xos"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7RGprK6Xos">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7RGprK6Xos</a></a></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"><a href="http://vimeo.com/35282834"><a href="http://vimeo.com/35282834">http://vimeo.com/35282834</a></a></span></p></p>http://racersessions.com/post/19588287131http://racersessions.com/post/19588287131Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:11:00 -0400<p><p class="p1"><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/19555259259/tumblr_m14309yOC01qahzi7"><em>LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</em><br/></a></p> <p class="p1">Committing to the creative process.</p> <p class="p1">As professional<span class="s1"> </span>musicians receiving an overflow of<span class="s1"> </span>input working<span class="s1"> </span>in this city, we can easily lose sight of our own individual creative processes.  We both play in multiple bands and teach a plethora of students, and while these experiences are inspiring in their own right and serve as mediums for our artistic sensibility, we feel the necessity to place more value on our own artistic journeys. This session serves<span class="s1"> </span>as a call for<span class="s1"> </span>us all to be committed to our own creative process. </p> <p class="p1">We play music to be present, to create transformative experiences, to achieve a meditative quieting of our internal monologues.  We play music for the artistry of it, because it is expressive, raw and beautiful.  When we create music with presence of mind, that music is transcendent. </p> <p class="p1">While the creative process certainly includes the playing of music, it also includes how you engage with life and inspiration and struggle and practice both in music-making and outside of it.  </p> <p class="p1">What are you doing to nurture your artistic development?</p> <p class="p1"><em>“Why am I a musician?  Well, I kind of want to change the world” – Kate Olson</em></p> <p class="p1"><em>“The most holy of human rights is the right to art.” – José Antonio Abreu</em></p></p>http://racersessions.com/post/19183245022http://racersessions.com/post/19183245022Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:37:00 -0400<p><p class="p1"><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/19313626387/tumblr_m0wedqdO8d1qahzi7"><em>LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</em><br/></a></p> <p class="p1">I will be presenting two pieces I have composed for a new quartet project. Joining me will be Cameron Sharif, Jarred Katz and Mark Hunter. The idea for this group is to serve as a vehicle to experiment with various concepts in improvisation and composition that I have been interested in recently. Many of these improvisational concepts have arisen in the context of the Racer Sessions. Navigating and exploring form in the midst of a free improv continues to fascinate me (as it does most of us). In the first two pieces for this group I have tried to facilitate ways in which free improv can interact with composed material. There are a few specific concepts that I was working with for each piece. </p> <p class="p1">The first piece is called &#8220;Doubt.&#8221; Most of the material is derived from one pitch collection. I tried to explore the different colors and tonalities within that collection. The focus of the piece became a relatively consonant and diatonic melodic idea set against chromatic bass figures, creating a kind of loose polytonality. The beginning of the piece meanders as it tries to find clarity, gradually picking up steam until it reaches an oasis where the generative material is stated and again pushes forward to new material. </p> <p class="p1">The second piece is called &#8220;Wind Chimes.&#8221; Most of the pitch material belongs to a collection taken from transcribing wind chimes in my backyard. The meditative timbre and rhythm of wind chimes have always intrigued me. Needless to say, it was difficult translating the bizarre overtones of the chimes to our 12-note chromatic system. Instead, I tried to focus on recreating a similar soundworld to what I experience listening to the wind chimes.</p> <p class="p1">In the end, the ideas on which the piece is based are really not that important. They only serve as starting material for further development in the piece. As I have come into more musical contact with some of the great contemporary classical composers (Stravinsky, Bartok, Schoenberg etc.), this idea of development in composition has become increasingly interesting. The nature of development, how and why aspects of a piece change and what effect it has on the listener is at the core of all great composition. </p> <p class="p1">The presentation of these pieces marks kind of a beginning of my own grappling with these ideas, which will continue for a long time. This brings me to another recent realization: that music is just an endless process. There&#8217;s no end destination, no goal except to engage deeply in the process. There&#8217;s always more to learn. Recognizing this has made it easier for me to be more creative and more free in musical endeavors because external pressure to reach a certain point is eliminated.</p> <p class="p1">For the jam part of the night, I would like people to think of their improvs in this way and simply engage in the process of improvising, free from preconceived bench marks of right and wrong, good or bad. Hope to see you there!</p></p>http://racersessions.com/post/18863218253http://racersessions.com/post/18863218253Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:44:00 -0500<p><p class="p1"><em><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/18872751639/tumblr_m0hnq5dLDG1qahzi7">LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</a></em></p> <p class="p1">GRID: gregg keplinger, sean lane, cj stout, andrew rudd, erica carlson, kate olson, neil welch and jen gilleran.</p> <p class="p1">GRID aspires to create an environment in which everyone&#8217;s ideas can be expressed. this group makes amazing choices and better &#8216;mistakes&#8217; because i think fear and insecurity are accepted and confidence is born out of that. i love that i have absolutely no idea what is going to happen, even when i am conducting. i choose obvious hand signals to invite the audience into the choices musicians make and to feel the narrative more personally. thanks to the racer sessions staff for having me back.</p></p>http://racersessions.com/post/18389831859http://racersessions.com/post/18389831859Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:44:00 -0500<p><p class="p1"><em><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/18366177207/tumblr_m01cmfCH0b1qahzi7">LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</a></em></p> <p class="p1">We will explore ways of cultivating melodic and harmonic control during free improvisation.</p> <p class="p1">Melody and harmony are meant here strictly in terms of pitch. The nature of free improvisation makes it difficult to coordinate and structure melody and harmony in a manner similar to that of a pre-composed work. Despite this, they remain a compelling sources of musical tension and release, compositional unity and formal definition.</p> <p class="p1">Most of the jams on Sunday will be structured so as to encourage playing and listening that facilitate attention to melody and harmony without compromising the sense of immediacy and emotional rawness that set the improvisatory experience apart.</p> <p class="p1">*     *     *</p> <p class="p1">My opening piece draws from the narrative provided by the current financial crisis and the recent Occupy Movement. Particularly within the United States, this saga manifests conflicts that I believe transcend &#8220;99% versus 1%.&#8221; Certainly, the basic story is one of loss, and, for many, chronic disadvantage, at the hands of the powerful, but as a society, we must temper our idea of and question the purity of &#8220;the American dream&#8221; in the face of forces such as greed and unbridled self-advancement, which has motivated both consumer irresponsibility and preying financial institutions.</p> <p class="p1">We see a landscape is dotted with people who want to live simply (or simply live), those who don&#8217;t, behemoths that create and behemoths that consume, and neon signs that promise to deliver &#8220;the quickest way to satisfy your cravings.&#8221;</p></p>http://racersessions.com/post/17962616268http://racersessions.com/post/17962616268Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:59:00 -0500<p><em><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/19045618018/tumblr_lzoitdvAhq1qahzi7">LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</a></em></p> <p>Stratic is an improvising trio based in Oakland, CA. The group is made up of Aram Shelton (saxophone and processing), Michael Coleman (keyboards and electronics) and Alex Vittum (percussion). The trio&#8217;s approach to improvising combines elements of free jazz, post-rock and noise music. Through the combined use of acoustic instruments and electronics, the music treads the line between more traditional improvised music and some sort of futuristic soundscape. While the music is entirely improvised, the trio has been experimenting with different types of cues to explore new ways of making quick shifts and changing textures in an attempt to avoid the common pitfalls of free music. Using cues presents new challenges of staying present in the music while being ready at any point to make a shift or call for a change. In the end, the goal is to be as aware as possible and let the music guide the musicians.</p> <p><span>The members of Stratic are all very active in the Bay Area music scene. Aram leads groups under his own name as well as the sextet Marches and quartet Cylinder. He has toured extensively in the US and Europe and maintains very strong ties to the music scene in Chicago. Michael leads his own groups Arts &amp; Sciences and CavityFang as well as being part of the collective trio Beep. Alex has worked with numerous Bay Area luminaries in both the improvised music world and the experimental pop scene. He has released an album of solo percussion and electronics and continues to explore the processing percussion in his own compositions. </span></p> <p><span><br/></span></p> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5319316/Stratic3B.mp3">Listen to a track</a> from Stratic!</p> </blockquote>http://racersessions.com/post/17554697858http://racersessions.com/post/17554697858Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:24:00 -0500<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG /> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting /> <w:PunctuationKerning /> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas /> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables /> <w:DontGrowAutofit /> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables /> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx /> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <mce:style><! /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} --> <!--[endif] --> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><em><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/17535193998/tumblr_lzbcvqwNnr1qahzi7">LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</a></em></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><img height="124" src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5319316/guitar.jpg" width="468"/></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>I’ve played piano for about ten years, but more recently started learning guitar. By removing previous technical facilities developed on keyboards, I find myself oddly more capable of connecting to my music. Plucking strings and sliding around the fretboard, music feels different through the electric guitar. The instrument is no longer stationary, it moves with me, and I can feel it vibrate. This new interface is restructuring my mind. My goal this week is to encourage you to restructure yours.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>For some portion of the jam session, please limit yourself physically in an effort to “relearn” how to play your instrument. The goal is to discover new musical choices, rather than shredding out music via muscle memory. Basic examples:</span></p> <ul><li><span>Play with only one finger, hand, or arm</span></li> <li><span>Limit yourself to a set of only a few pitches or drums</span></li> <li><span>Only play notes of a certain duration and volume level</span></li> <li><span>Try playing piano for the first time</span></li> </ul><p class="MsoNormal"><span>“Linguistics” is a piece I wrote for this session to map my previous musical experiences to a new instrument. It has a simple form, two composed sections connected by free improvisation. The first section consists of a unison line influenced by the music of Lee Konitz and George Russell. The ending section is actually influenced harmonically by the kind of music I was writing two years ago. While “Linguistics” does not mark a compositional development in my style, it has certainly helped me relate to music in a drastically new way. Joining me will be Ray Larsen (trumpet) and Thomas Campbell (percussion).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Big thank you to </span><a href="http://www.tableandchairsmusic.com/"><span>T&amp;C</span></a><span> musician Jared Borkowski, who I’ve been taking guitar lessons from. Check out his legit website if you’re interested: </span><span><a href="http://northseattleguitarlessons.com/">northseattleguitarlessons.com</a></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Amazing local artist Fritha Strand painted my guitar’s pickguard! <a href="http://www.wix.com/frithastrand/frithastrand1">Her art</a> has been blowing my mind ever since I moved to Seattle. See above for a sneak peak.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>By the way, this video is the result from my previous Racer Session: </span><a href="http://vimeo.com/30707299"><span>vimeo.com/30707299</span></a><span></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> <p class="p1">_____________________</p> <blockquote> <p class="p1"><strong>Past Session:</strong></p> </blockquote> <ul><li><a href="http://racersessions.com/post/8390900820/andrew-olmstead-august-7th-2011" target="_blank">August 7th, 2011</a></li> </ul><blockquote> <p><strong>Website:</strong></p> </blockquote> <ul><li><a href="http://emptyroom.bandcamp.com" target="_blank">emptyroom.bandcamp.com</a></li> </ul>http://racersessions.com/post/17143652495http://racersessions.com/post/17143652495Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:20:00 -0500<p class="p1"><em><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/17128026781/tumblr_lyy6egqRaG1qahzi7">LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</a></em></p> <p class="p1">I read somewhere that the humans have a tendency to turn judgments into law or pertaining to religion, judgments into divine commands.  All too often, I will listen to string players on the radio or in a live performance, I am bugged by what I perceive is a flaw.  Whether it is intonation, tone or technique, the flaw immediately clouds and classifies my listening experience as not satisfactory and I fail to actually hear the music.  I would like my Racer session to be void of judgment.  The music should stand alone. </p> <p class="p1">I invite the audience to close their eyes and listen to the beautiful harmonies and bizarre tones that are being created and to feel the relationship between the players.  For those jamming, I want you to listen to each other.  Once you fully comprehend the other musicians, you may comment.  These jams should be treated like chamber music or a conversation.  So if you cannot hear what the other players are saying, you need to play softer or turn down.  Blasting away and second guessing yourself will be strictly forbidden. </p> <p class="p1">I will play <em>Grāmata čellam</em> (Book for solo cello) by Pēteris Vasks. </p> <p class="p1">Hugs, Natalie</p> <p><span>———</span></p> <p><span>Past sessions:</span></p> <ul><li><span><a href="http://racersessions.com/post/3268694253/natalie-hall-february-13th-2011">February 13th, 2011</a></span></li> <li><a href="http://racersessions.com/post/8700420371/natalie-hall-august-14th-2011">August 14th, 2011</a></li> </ul>http://racersessions.com/post/16766008428http://racersessions.com/post/16766008428Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:28:00 -0500<p class="MsoNormal"><em><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/16744783707/tumblr_lylg6jC0DK1qahzi7">LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</a></em></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong>The Blues: </strong>not as a structure, but as an experience, for lack of a better term.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">You know, I’ve been thinking about this for a long time now, I had a whole other thesis and many examples including rebetika, shaker hymns, Ayler, and a bunch of other cool stuff to throw in there, but I think that this is one of those things that is so personal it makes it hard to pin down or put into words: we all experience it as having a different cause, we all experience it in a different way, but we all experience it at some point in time and my blues is not your blues. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">For me, the blues envelops longing, desire, disappointment, hope, expectation; that which is or might be and how we feel about that. It’s something that is distinctly personal and created with great intent going beyond the notes being played and the technique that creates those notes. The expression of it, for me, is the expression of who you are.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The Simon Henneman Quartet will be playing a couple pieces to start out the night with, even an actual blues, and I invite everyone to play along and explore with us and then the night will open up. I urge you improvisers following to explore being personal, even to the point of not making sense to you inside of the improvisation with other folks, and having great intent and really putting yourself out there.</p> <!--EndFragment--> <p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;</p> <p>Past session: <a href="http://racersessions.com/private/3847823572/tumblr_li13aeOOkI1qahzi7">Gregg Keplinger &amp; Simon Henneman - March 13, 2011</a></p> <p>New album on Table &amp; Chairs: <a href="http://www.tableandchairsmusic.com/artists/wa/">WA: <em>Cross the Center</em></a></p>http://racersessions.com/post/16353883688http://racersessions.com/post/16353883688Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:28:00 -0500<p><em><a href="http://racersessions.com/private/16335566325/tumblr_ly8jd1vm8S1qahzi7">LISTEN TO THIS SESSION!</a></em></p> <p><em><strong><span>NOW meets the PAST, plus CONDUCTION</span></strong></em><span><br/></span></p> <p><span></span><span>For this evening I am planning to combine live players, performing simultaneously with recorded players! My colleagues Kenny Mandell and Kate Olson will be joining me as we revisit a recording by <em>VOICES</em>, one of Kenny&#8217;s past projects. Over two decades past, <em>VOICES</em> sounds like it could have been played at Racer last week! We will blur the gap between the past and the present as we apply our 21st century sensibilities to this visit from spirits of the past.</span></p> <p><span>After this, we will ask players in the various areas of the audience to get their horns out and play from their seats, as part of a conduction that will follow our <strong>Present / Past</strong>  piece. As a transition from the curated presentation to the free session, we will blur the <strong>Performer / Audience</strong> gap with this conduction. </span></p> <p><span>So come ready to listen, and then join in with the curator and jam, as always, after the presentation. </span></p> <p><span>I may have a list, as I did last time, calling random groups from it up to play so that everyone who wants to, can sign up and be guaranteed his or her chance to play. This worked great last time. It combined folks who perhaps have not improvised together before, allowed all who hoped to play, to get to play, AND there was still time left over for the free-for-allers to come up on their own and play after that.</span></p>http://racersessions.com/post/15935210278http://racersessions.com/post/15935210278Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:56:00 -0500