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Winter 2009 |
Rockin' in the Holidays!
What a great way to kick off the holiday season! My second annual holiday student concert took place on Saturday, December 5th and it was a resounding success! I want to thank all of the families and friends of students who came and enjoyed some pizza and cocoa, as well as to all my helpers who worked hard on both events. Check soon for photos: http://paulrobertsguitar.com/events.html
We began with Max, a middle school student of mine who did a fine rendition of Dylan's classic Times They Are-a-Changing. It was Max's first time singing in front of an audience. Well done Max! Number two in the line up was Wade who did a great job with Sor's Opus 44 No.6. Wade's hard work on this piece was evident to all! After Wade, we had Myles who also played and sang a rousing version of the John Denver classic Country Roads. Myles' singing and playing was excellent! Next up was Dorsey who did a lovely version of Greensleeves. Dorsey was followed by his Dad Brendan and brother Wilson who did a great job with U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. Number six in the line up was Nate who performed a classical piece Walking. good job Nate! Tyler has only been a student of mine for about two months and he brought the house down with his singing, playing, and leg swingin' version of Hey Jude - awesome! We had two lovely classical pieces by Walter and Jack after that. Walter has just started learning classical pieces and he did a nice job on Aguado - a Study. Jack rocked it with an SG on Vivaldi's Concerto in D Major. Ryan contined the fingerpicking with the first of two self compositions called Winter. This piece was a wonderful combination of classical ideas and chordal harmony. Many in attendance were spellbound.
We had a lot of Beatles favorites being played and this continued with Max and Nathan who did a lovely job with Eight Days a Week. Both guys have only been with me a short while and did such a good job with the chord transitions. Next was Damon who I happily accompanied on Help. Damon is a new student of mine and I think he did great work on remembering the chords and playing at tempo! The last student to perform was Stan, who wowed everyone with his self composition Stan's Groove. I was proud to accompany him on ryhthm guitar. Awesome Stan! I finished the concert with a sing-along on Jingle Bells.
LIghts of December Parade 2009
After the concert ended we made our way down to Pearl Street for the second event of the day - the Lights of December Parade. It was cold and blustery and apart from a few minor glitches - our generator stalled and heavy traffic on broadway, we began rockin' the crowd with hearty versions of Rocking around the Christmas Tree, Jingle Bell Rock, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It was my turn to play and sing! We had a hayride style float and some extra students who joined us who couldn't do the concert - Riker and Bella. I want to say thanks to all of the parents who supervised the float, especially Jenny, Paul and Lillan, who made sure everyone was safe. What a great way to ring in the holidays. I want to say a special thanks to my wife Jean, who supervised many of the day's activities and responsiblities. Many thanks to Tiffany, Tristan, Dustin, Stan, John, Danny, Hagan, and Carter who helped put the float together and were also the after-event dismantle and cleanup crew. I hope that both events were memorable for everone who took part. Thank you!
PracticeTips - Using the Dorian Mode to Improve Fretboard Knowledge and as a Improvising Tool
In jazz, after the major scale - also called the Ionian mode, we come to the Dorian mode. Dorian is commonly used in many different styles of music - Jazz, Folk, Irish Traditional Music are some examples. If we take the C major scale and start on the 2nd note - D and ends on the D in the octave above we have the D Dorian mode. The difference between Dorian and Major is the use of a flatted 3rd and 7th. This is possible with any major scale.
Often I will have a student practice the Dorian mode using the whole fretboard - this is a great way to improve fretboard logic and theory skills. Secondly, once a student becomes proficient in playing Dorian in different positions and octaves, I have them team up with a practice buddy who plays a Dm7 chord (used as a chordal accompaniment to the D Dorian mode) as the student tries soloing in the Dorian Mode. This stretches the beginning Jazz student's abilities to play outside the Major Scale and to improvise single note lines (riff or solo) in the Dorian Mode.
This Time in Music History
Twenty-five years ago this Christmas, a group of musicians gathered in a London studio to record a "Charity Single" as it was known back then. This song wriiten by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure was called Do they Know it's Christmas? Written as a social commentary on the increasing famine in the Sudan, Ethiopia and other African Countries, it featured many of the leading lights of the British New Romantic Movement of the early 1980's - Duran Duran, Culture Club, Bananrama, Wham, as well as a few lads from Dublin named U2! This was a seminal moment for many of my generation because it began a movement that re-ignited a call for social issues and global perspective to be a part of popular music! This was important because it had been a number of years since the punk rock movement which detailed the inner city squalor and chronic apathy in working class Britain. Music had become plastic and very narcisstic and Geldof, and later Bono, who both came of age in the punk rock era, made sure that popular music returned to keeping it real and about real issues, and real lives.
Keep on playin'!
Paul Paul Roberts Guitar Lessons, Workshops, Entertainment Kids and Beginners Especially Welcome! Phone: 720-479-9697 paul@paulrobertsguitar.com http://www.paulrobertsguitar.com |
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 Spotlight Key
Dorian mode - try using the minor seventh chord - the 2 chord in any key as an accompaniment-
The following are single notes not chords - note the 3 and 7 are flat.
Here are some to try out. Enjoy!
D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D ( D Dorian)
E-Gflat-G-A-B-D flat-D-E ( E Dorian)
F-G-A flat-B flat-C-D-Eflat-F ( F Dorian )
G-A-Bflat-C-D-E-F-G( G Dorian)
A-B-C-D-E-G flat-G-A ( G Dorian)
B-D flat-D-E-Gflat-Aflat-A-B ( B Dorian)
C-D-E flat-F-G-A-B flat-C ( C Dorian )
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Winter issue of my newsletter!