1. dig up some lessons from the past.
2. You sign up here and tell me what 4 lessons you will do. A Friedman etude counts, btw. So you post here that you're in and then you post the 4 lessons you will do, posting each lesson each week (…
Balafon to Vibraphone: a unique path to new ideas
I wanted to share some thoughts about my balafon lessons and how they might connect to your primary instrument: vibes, marimba, piano, etc.
African Origins to Drum Set:
In my collection of…
I'm kind of regurgitating these old articles and things I did when I was more involved in the music scene but I'll have new stuff soon. I think these articles are pretty good and I wrote them when I was doing a lot of teaching. This…
Hi all,
Below is some general balafon history that I send to my students. Hopefully, this provides some traditional context to several West African countries where it is played. I’ll let the info speak for itself and keep checking in on…
I am not able to play two times exactly the same and with the same attack, but I hope you can get a feeling of the sound.
It was a simple recording using ZOOM H4n on both foldable suitcase frames in my workshop.
I recorded a 4-mallet balafon improvisation that managed to keep the time and rhythm cycle clear enough for me to layer grooves on Cajon and stick. My goal in this samba-like sculpture was to surrender all tension and rhythm gravity, to…
Spending time with and learning how to play this beautiful instrument today with the classic "The Nearness of You" by the great composer Hoagy Carmichael. The first chorus is a slow, rubato ballad and then I thought I would try something…
For some reason this etude is especially challenging for me. If I went a little faster, then you can hear the dampening mallet almost ring. I tried using harder and softer mallets and these worked the best. I tried to keep the dampening…
"Yesterdays" is a 1933 song about nostalgia composed by Jerome Kern (lyrics by Otto Harbach), and written for the musical “Roberta.”
This rather rambunctious and “no fear” rendition features my new leather mallets. I’m…
Here's a lesson I wrote years ago on Misty. I had permission from the owner who was Erroll Garner's wife. Then it turned out that she sold it to Warner Brothers. I contacted Warner Bros. and I paid them and they issued me a license for the…
Here is week 1 for the Practice Club. I really enjoyed working on this etude. It allowed me to work on my reading and learn some new voicing’s that I can now start implementing into my playing. Then taking those voicing’s and putting them…
Check out Gene. Great vibe player, lived in LA and played with everyone out there! Great Drummer!
If you know anything about Gene Estes please share it!
Getting acquainted with this beautiful vibraphone (Dave's vibraphone which we think is from around '67) and playing a song that I composed in honor of Dave. This is instrument is a gem and will be well looked after for sure. It's a gift…