Tuesday, We Made More Jazz Go and THEN Saturday, We Performed Steel Drum and Ukulele Music for FOLAR Volunteers in California.

Technically, this all occurred a few weeks ago. I don't see the harm in being late. Can't sit around and flag spammers all day, can I?

Tuesday: Jazz trio for an Earth day event.

On Tuesday our Steem neighbor @SteelParade and I helped one of the singers in our big band perform for an Earth Day event at Santa Anna College.

I often broadcast my live performances on Periscope with my iPhone. Does dLive do that? I really want to switch, but I'm scared. (I do all this with my iPhone.)

This is combo jazz. This is not a big band. We are still the bass and drums for this band's rhythm section, but it's a different beast when we get into it.

In Big Band we read notes and specific parts and arrangements. Bass parts are specifically written out in Big Band because sometimes they want me to play something specific with the rest of the band. I still get lots of opportunities to improvise though.

When we play together in combos, we read sheet music, take more creative liberties, follow each other and communicate musically. We still observe an arrangement, it's just not as stringent. Bass notes/parts are rarely written for jazz combo music. We use lead sheets or simple chord charts. These songs are usually memorized. Anyways, I get to improvise all of it in a combo setting.

There are lots of differences, but I'll mention one more obvious one. Big band has lots of wind instruments (horns). Big bands are usually over 15 musicians. (not a rule though)

I usually play bass and our neighbor @steelparade usually sings and plays steel drum in Steel Parade (professional band).

🎹

We also had a Rhodes keyboard guy and our big band director was also there to play trombone. Jason was the singer and he's the one that asked us to play for him. I told him I would only do it if he brought Vietnamese sandwiches and coffee. 😐 I don't usually do free gigs, but these guys and their sandwiches are worth it.

Read, Set, Jazz:

I broadcasted the performance on Periscope. Is there a Steem platform for live broadcasting with mobile devices?

• Click here to skip to where we actually start playing music at 05:47: https://www.pscp.tv/w/bcJQfDFtTUtQdldZa3lnRUd8MUx5eEJyeW1FWVl4TiJ3iipdvBY2CtidBxZlO_ZdafROIpAHJlI3YHnJdofR?t=5m47s🥁☝️🎺👆🎷

• Click here to hear us perform "ComeFlyWith Me" at 16:38: https://www.pscp.tv/w/bcNGezFtTUtQdldZa3lnRUd8MUx5eEJyeW1FWVl4Ts0zPfW-phLJ9rD_0n94H6aXojS2V3jK5QdM2Du1RQ8c?t=16m38s

• Hear us perform the ballad "Georgia"by Ray Charles at 22:99: https://www.pscp.tv/w/bcNGezFtTUtQdldZa3lnRUd8MUx5eEJyeW1FWVl4Ts0zPfW-phLJ9rD_0n94H6aXojS2V3jK5QdM2Du1RQ8c?t=22m9s

🎦

Jazzy for the annual earth day event by permission from Santa Ana College. That was a lot of fun and also healthy. I'm was really looking forward to our performance later in the week. It's featured in the next section of this post.

🌏🌍🌎🌝

Saturday: Music For Volunteer Trash Pickers!

Four days later we performed together again, but this time as a Steel Drum and Ukulele duo. Every year for the past five or six years, we've been asked to play music for the volunteers collecting trash in the riverbed.

Wanna hear our Ukulele and Steel Drum Duo? This is a short video on @steelparade's fbook page: https://www.facebook.com/44627391081/videos/10155139779561082/

Remember how I said I usually play bass, well, for this performance, I'm playing ukulele. I normally perform music on bass and backup vocals with our neighbor @steelparade on steel drum. This is his steel drum too:

Today, i'll be using my mind in a different way to play the same songs on a ukulele. I can't simply trust the habits i've developed performing the songs on bass. Ukuleles are neither played nor tuned the same as a bass. I need to think of the songs as if I were learning them again, by concentrating on the chord changes.

I must remember the chords instead of letting my habits and ear guide me through the songs. It takes a different concentration. After a while it kind of gets easier because I'll visualize performing the song on the base board and somehow receive a mental translation that lets me play on the ukulele fretboard.

Musician Tips:

• Know all the chords in your songs and remind yourself to verbally state the chords when you are away from your instrument.
• Play your songs on different instruments. Just trying this will create a new and healthy perspective on your song.
• Learn your old songs on a new instrument using each chord's full name.
• Do what I say and not what I do. 😳

FLASHBACK!

We have performed for FOLAR several years in a row. I've lost count, but we've probably entertained the FOLAR volunteers for 7 or more years in row. Maybe @steelparade can verify!?!?!? Here we are in these two images from 2016 and 2017.

Feel The Love:

One of our adoring fans dropped by to take a cool picture. I've been granted permission to use it and I decided to superimpose the awesome image on top of the tweet that went along with it.

Look for me on Twitter to see the original awesome image our adoring fan shared. My name is @tetrahedroseph on Twitter.

Have you ever used that QR code to find a Twitter account? I haven't, so let me know if it's really cool.

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