www.vibesworkshop.com

Hi everyone,

This post is further to my shoutout earlier on...

I've just ordered a pair of SE1as on trial from SE-Electronics.
You can see them here: http://www.seelectronics.com/se1a-pair-mic
They're pencil condensors - perhaps not the perfect mic, but a massive step up from the dynamics I've been using up until now.

I think they come with a stereo bar, so that you can put both mics on one stand, and separate them slightly.

Does anyone set their mics up like this when playing live? Does it work as well as placing them apart?

I've been thinking lots about the open/closed thing that Tony brought up again recently, and so I've come up with an exercise which I've been doing everyday this week. It's quite big... I can just about get through all the keys in a hour now, and it still makes my head hurt following it through and remembering which chord I'm on! But I really feel it's improving my knowledge of scales (just major so far, but there's no reason why it won't work through other scales/progressions etc.), and the chords within scales.

Hi everybody,

So I know it's a bit late, but the new TOTM (Days of Wine and Roses) has really inspired me to build up a wider repertoire of tunes, so I've come up with a new year's resolution.

From today, I'm going to try and learn a new tune every two weeks (by ear), and at the end of the two weeks post a recording on here, to give a sense of finality to the exercise.

Hey everybody.

First post of 2011, so happy new year!

Just before Christmas, I had a letter to say I'd been offered a place to study Jazz Vibes at the Royal Academy of Music, London, from September 2011. Needless to say I replied accepting the place in seconds!

So I've discovered, Gary Burton and Joe Locke are both performing on the same night, in London! What kind of bad planning was that?! And to make it infinitely worse, my college have their concert on that night!! Urgh, so irritating! Wish I could go and see both those guys!

I was lucky enough to get along to Ronnie Scott's on Saturday night, to see an absolutely fantastic gig. I rushed over to catch the late show, (all the early tickets were sold out, unsurprisingly) and a packed out club was treated to some amazing music.