That guy who plays Big Band bass gives an update. Part 3: Rehearsal 4 is neat and parking tickets suck.

Rehearsal 4:

I felt more confident for this rehearsal. Practice creates confidence because it creates mastery... or a greater illusion of mastery in this case. 😊 I have a long way to go and a concert approaching. My goal for this rehearsal was to avoid losing my place in the music at all costs. Worry less about wrong notes, take educated guess about rhythms, use the "8th note rule", count, and get to the end of the songs without derailing the weaker players. I'm there to support the other players, I can learn the details of my bas parts later. Sometimes less is more here too. Does that mean jazz is funky? AS LONG AS IT'S FREE RIGHT?!?!?!!?!?

No.

Traffic and Parking:

Last time, the third rehearsal, I was unprepared to "sight read", sounded like sh!t, and found a parking ticket when it was all over. It's my fault. Like I said before, I should have practiced and I should have placed the receipt on the car's dashboard. The word "should" is horrible. NSFW?

My improper display in visible in the image below:

The parking ticket costs $45. I was not happy about it and I expressed my anger in the form of a this tweet:

No one liked my tweet, but that's not what I'm after. I wish the fine of a parking ticket would go towards the purchase of a parking permit. I'll just say that, next time... no, no next time!

This next picture features the two dollars I'm about to spend on parking. Hooray for education.

I thought I would stay away from pictures like that to avoid another accident, but I couldn't resist. Finding new ways to express a previous theme, it's kind of fun. The next shot is my new addition/addition to the tradition, you know what I mean. My new tradition is to place the parking receipt on the dashboard and take a picture of it through the window. The only digital editing on the image below might be my water marking and colorization, but that's it. It's one image created by the window's reflection. It's not two images blended together.

The lesson with this ticket situation might be to follow my preemptive instinct. That instinct was to buy one in the begging. Before the semester started, I considered purchasing a parking permit. I even declared it in a few conversations. I thought I was a big baller. Keeping tack of expenses was going to help reduce costs via an active perspective.

Feline Distraction Update:

Sometimes distractions are cute , sometimes...

This little guy is coming along. He is traumatized and it's hard to tip-toe around him all day. He is coming along though. Each week I can see progress. He is less afraid of less things. I'll stop say he is afraid of everything. Despite all his fear, he is a good boy. Brave and trusting so he never lashes out. Get comfortable during play. Oh and food is a hell of a drug too. What is in that stuff? Poppy seed derivatives?

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Big Band Broadcasts:

This week I separated the rehearsal's broadcasts into four different broadcasts as seen here:

1. Click on this broadcast to hear me play bass for the songs, "On A Clear Day", "Punta Del Sol", and "Somewhere": https://www.pscp.tv/w/b2jwMzFtTUtQdldZa3lnRUd8MVlxR29ycG5wTGtLdlOmW1-zaAlvqir5rVPkvUOhUZQdD3nJq582jvO4QBaT?t=48s

2. "I actually practiced this song" is the title of this broadcast, but I'm not bragging: https://www.pscp.tv/w/b2phkjFtTUtQdldZa3lnRUd8MU1ueG5Oa09QZ214T8n_eeVkQYoLddLlzjSuBp_ae_07jKrhBeEZ3wtKJxUi?t=1m52s

3. This songs sounds like a hip-hop tune and the view is awful: https://www.pscp.tv/w/b2ph-zFtTUtQdldZa3lnRUd8MWpNSmdPZURWUXdKTEpL8Jac1ggeklZkGW3Dw_AGWyTSi9p_rkHh37EJep7m

4. I play the bongos in this broadcast: https://www.pscp.tv/w/b2pidzFtTUtQdldZa3lnRUd8MUJSSmpYbm9EV1FLd6ShD5VoTRfhjNtCWD7fi88eNMGv6kwUgXJjC8mXtnDn?t=14s

The numbered list above is in order of occurrence. The image below features the broadcast thumbnails with the first one starting on the bottom.

New broadcasts are posted at the top of our Periscope broadcast's lists. Click here to see start at the top: https://www.pscp.tv/Tetrahedroseph/follow

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Big Band Expenses:

My expenses have gone up because of this parking ticket.

I came up with $9.15 from rehearsal 1 and 2. Expenses for rehearsal 3 was a record breaking total of $60.15 because of the $45 parking ticket.

This rehearsal 4 adds $6 for gas and parking to the previous total and creates a new total of $66.15.

I probably had a donut that day, but I don't see any evidence. I've been trying to cut back... to be continued.

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NEW: What is Big Band?

Warning, I'm about to tell you how drums work.

I mentioned the rhythm section last time. Drums are an important part of a big band's rhythm section. The drummer creates lots of excitement and provides musical anticipation/direction for the band. Big band drummers are expected to play specific parts to accent the melody or mood of the lead players. It can't be faked. A drummer must be able to read music. The drummer must be able to correctly articulate the rhythms expressed in the music. Big band drummers have room for interpretation within the structure of the composition. That's my monkey headed interpretation of big band drummers. When our long lost neighbor @steelparade gets a chance, he can correct me in the comment section below.

The GIF above features a the names of a few types of the drums that make up this drummer's drum set.

• The high-hat makes the "chick" type sound when people say "boom, chick, boom, chic..." It's usually on beats 2 and 4 in Jazz.

• The crash cymbal is used for long notes and also short notes if they pinch it. That's fancy stuff though. They can ride on it too though and use it like a ride cymbal that we can't see very well in this image.

• The snare drum is used for lots of stuff. Scratching, sniffing, side sticking, brush stroking, ear drum popping... most wester music has it on beats 2 and 4... shuffle feels has it on beats 2 and 4, funk usually does too, but there are always exceptions. I hate saying some of that because I can think of lots of exceptions too. Have you heard of bebop? It's a type of jazz where the snare drum is rarely on 2 and 4 and we instead hear the high-hat on beat 2 and 4.

• The tom is the last drum in the GIF about. It's used to make a bonk bonk type sound. It's sometimes more obvious in the Latin tunes we play. This is a smaller tom drum and is accompanied by another larger (we can't see it) tom drum on this drummer's setup. The tom drum is fun for fills and marking sections of the music. It's also used to make fun jungle sounding stuff.

Maybe that's not the best explanation, but I know this much for a fact: "If the drummer sucks, the band sucks!"

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Homework:

Last week I was very unprepared and this week I'm not happy to admit that I did a minimal amount of homework.

I focused on some fingering. Fingering is a term used to describe how I will decide when to move one finger verses the other. For example, if I want to play something fast, I need to know the best way to start sequence to section. There are many ways to play something. Sometime the speed need to play that piece can determine how I play it. I find it difficult to explain without mentioning a term that a drummer or percussionist might use, "sticking". They need to know if they should start a musical sequence on the right or on the left.

✅ Per the band directors request, I found my favorite bass amps. and emailed my suggestions.

✅ I reviewed the bass charts so that I don't get lost. I did lots of listening and I reviewed the 12/8 section of caravan. The swing sections (walking bass) in Caravan are different. I demystify those parts also.

Homework due next week:

1. Practice bass parts faster and slower too. More precision is required. More grinding.

2. Bring my personal bass amp to compare and practice like we're at a concert. The other bassists's bass gets too much feed back. Sound makes it's way inside the hollow body, bounces around, gets absorbed by the pickup again and starts feeding back into itself. It's out of control sometimes. A disruption when I'm the only person that knows how to manage it. I have a million other distractions to avoid.

3. Reply to the big band director's email containing various amp options.

This is my reply to the band director's email questions:

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Concert Announcement:

May 17th 2019

This will be our first concert for this semester. That picture is old and from a different venue than the one advertised. Can you see me? It wasn't easy to be there that day, but it worked out. Another story for a another time.

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Next:

Big band Part 4: Rehearsal 5 Fancy Gear goes boink and a percussion lesson.

Previous posts in this series:

1. "2019 Big Band Series Warning from Steemseph" https://steempeak.com/music/@steemseph/caution-2019-big-band-series-from-steemseph-coming-soon or https://steemit.com/music/@steemseph/caution-2019-big-band-series-from-steemseph-coming-soon

2. "Big Band Rehearsals 1 and 2 February 2019 Part 1" https://steemit.com/steempeak/@steemseph/big-band-rehearsals-1-and-2-february-2019-part-1

3. "That guy who plays Monday night Big Band bass. Part 2 Rehearsal 3 scrambled and ticketed" https://steemit.com/music/@steemseph/that-guy-who-plays-monday-night-big-band-bass-part-2-rehearsal-3-scrambled-and-ticketed

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THANK YOU!

Thanks to all the local Steem supports and to all the Steem neighbors that are supporting these big band broadcasts on Periscope and Twitter. Please visit them and show them thanks with me: @pearlumie, @nathanmars, @anthonyadavisii, @hafizullah, and more.

Look for other Steem neighbors on Twitter too! We must spread the word about Steem on the other social media platforms.

https://twitter.com/tetrahedroseph

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