Vibraphone

Hi all,

My first blog ever!

I just got home from the Vibes workshop at the University of Delaware, and what a great time it was. Meeting David Friedman was terrific; what a genuine, warm person he is and how passionate about imparting his encyclopedic knowledge of the vibraphone to the students. I truly envy the vibraphone students in Germany that get to study with him.

Thanks Tony for organizing this, and thanks to Harvey Price for hosting the event. I hope to go again.

So 2 great workshops this summer! I'm amazed at what how vibe players can grow in one week of hard work! It's really cool because I meet vibe players from all over the world now. It's all the same, you work hard you get better!

I'm amazed also at how this site is used in the workshop. Players bring up lessons as topics to talk about, they have questions about lessons. Between all of us, the site has grown into a HUGE source of information. I see this at every workshop.

Here we go. At the end of each Delaware workshop comes the vibraphone parade!

David talked at the Delaware 2011 workshop about the time when he wanted to work on wide intervals... So he grabbed paper and would just write anything on paper and then play this etude. Just dots, and then he'd make the rhythms on the fly.

Here David talks about solo playing and makes the point about syncopation. Why play the same rhythm with both hands? Play another rhythm with the left hand.

A few years ago, I did a lesson where I talked about minor surround tones. I feel like surround tones are often discussed over dominant and minor, but not major as often. So I decided to talk a little about how to surround chord tones on major chords, enjoy!

Behn

All the Things I Can Eat