MPO Jazz Camp

Attended Malaysia Philharmonik's first Jazz Camp today for a 90-minute performance by an international mix of talented performers. It had a 6 man band; piano, double bass, drums, saxophone, trumpet and trombone.

Generally a full house audience which had a good mix of local and foreign guests. For RM30/person, it was a reasonable price for such a good performance. Each man had (on almost most pieces they played) a solo exhibition of their talent.

They're here for a 5-day Jazz Camp event organised by MPO to showcase and share their experiences with our local talents. Some of the musicians are regularly featured at Alexis Ampang, in case you're interested to "take in" some jazz experience.

I was there basically to watch Greg Lyons' performance. It was rather good, though not much solo time as I guess the focus was on the international performers. Unfortunately it wasn't as fun to listen as trombone, trumpet and drums.

More of the man himself can be found here; http://www.greglyons.net/

*forgive me for the non-existent musicians' name to their respective instrument, as I've forgotten them*

Returning back...

Been a long break I took from writing on this blog, about 2 months since.

November pretty much had very little practice, or made any much changes in improvements.

December was a bit better because had more time from the weekly Friday public holidays.

Almost completing Book 1 lessons (took about 4 months) and trying to prep myself for Book 2.

It will be much harder in fingering, learning shorter notes (therefore faster), and paying the increase in lesson fees from Yamaha. Well, the price for improvement...

Have taken to learning scales continuously, which I find improves my fingering and note recognition (sight, mind, sound and finger co-ordination).

So far have done the following;

C major (no sharps & flats),

A major (F, C, G sharp)

D major (F, C sharp)

G major (F sharp)

Bflat major (B, E flat)

C minor

C Chromatic

Normally I'll start off my practice sessions (normally 1 hour) with the following;

Setup - greasing cork, moistening reeds, book placement, air-cond, close curtains/blinds/doors

Long notes - from low C to high D, holding a full breath on each note

Scales - like the above then adding a new scale once a week/month

Book 1 - at least 4 lessons, from past 2 lessons then current then next week's chapter

Cooling down playing long notes

Cleaning up

The metronome/tuner will be placed alongside to assist me. I'll use its dual-purpose nature (tuning and metronome) depending on what the practice requires.