{"id":2001,"date":"2014-09-15T09:43:53","date_gmt":"2014-09-15T02:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/?p=2001"},"modified":"2014-09-15T09:43:53","modified_gmt":"2014-09-15T02:43:53","slug":"prepping-for-my-kazoo-debut-91114","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/?p=2001","title":{"rendered":"Prepping for my kazoo debut, 9\/11\/14"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday\u2019s are early for me this year, so I head for the train at 6:30 am.\u00a0 <\/span>Arriving at school, I have to chase down someone to open my classroom.\u00a0 <\/span>They hadn\u2019t given me keys yet, so it takes time before I\u2019m able to set-up for class.\u00a0 <\/span>Classes go well.\u00a0 <\/span>We\u2019re working on rhythmic reading, and I have their attention right now, especially when I single out individuals for counting.<\/p>\n

After class, I begin to work on ideas for my kazoo performance tomorrow night.\u00a0 <\/span>I have the rest of the day to kill before Orchestra Club at 4:00.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s not going to be good enough to just play a few snippets, so I\u2019m trying to figure out how to get an accompaniment I can play with.<\/p>\n

I decide to use \u201cStars & Stripes Forever\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ve taught it, and worked on it enough times that I have most of the parts memorized.\u00a0 <\/span>I start working with an iPad app called \u201cLoopy\u201d to develop some 16 measure percussion and bass loops to accompany the kazoo.\u00a0 <\/span>It takes a while for me to figure it out, but I begin to make progress on verbalizing a snare drum and bass drum part, and then singing a bass\/tuba line to go along with it.\u00a0 <\/span>I have to figure out what key works best for me on kazoo, and then make sure the bass and the chord changes work in a range I can hum it in.\u00a0 <\/span>The whole act will only be entertaining if I can get into some extreme low and high ranges in parts of the song.<\/p>\n

Along with \u201cStars & Stripes\u201d, I decide to use a simple \u201cBlues\u201d progression I can improvise on top of.\u00a0 <\/span>I setup a second \u201csession\u201d on the Loopy App, and start recording the loops, trying to make sure they\u2019re in tune with each other.\u00a0 <\/span>This is way too much work and serves me right for agreeing to do it.<\/p>\n

After lunch, I record some loops for Michael Jackson\u2019s \u201cDirty Diana\u201d, in case the others don\u2019t seem to work.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m beginning to get quicker at the recording process.\u00a0 <\/span>I don\u2019t sound any better, but it\u2019s happening faster.\u00a0 <\/span>Later in the afternoon, I finish up an arrangement of \u201cThe Pink Panther\u201d for the Orchestra Club.\u00a0 <\/span>I get all the parts edited, printed, and copies ready for the students.<\/p>\n

At the rehearsal, we work through our performance piece for the Club Fair next week.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s beginning to sound decent (for such an odd\/eclectic instrumentation).\u00a0 <\/span>Then I passed out Pink Panther, and we began to talk about swing style, etc.\u00a0 <\/span>They\u2019re really good students, and a few of them are truly great musicians.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s a shame I can\u2019t offer them more.\u00a0 <\/span>They are so busy getting ready for all their tests and college entrance exams, they have little time for music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday\u2019s are early for me this year, so I head for the train at 6:30 am.\u00a0 Arriving at school, I have to chase down someone to open my classroom.\u00a0 They hadn\u2019t given me keys yet, so it takes time before … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2001"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2002,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001\/revisions\/2002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}