Guns 'n' Roses on Fiddle

Check out this video of DHS Alum, Adam DeGraff. He was our concertmaster and even played in the jazz band for a bit in the early 90s. He has since gone on to a fine professional career as an orchestral player and soloist. Currently, he is one half of Pianafiddle, a nationally acclaimed duo that plays everything from classical to bluegrass. Pushing the boundaries of what it means to be a concert violinist, he can be seen here playing "Sweet Child O' Mine." Well worth your time!

Band Camp, Day 4

Here is a batch of pictures from day 4 of band camp. Congratulations to the flutes who won the section march by, followed by the saxes in 2nd and tuba/euphoniums in 3rd. Today we will polish up pregame and halftime, clean up the music, and have our traditional march off. One week to the first game!

Band Camp, Day 2

A beautiful day in Deerfield with sunny skies, a cool breeze, and much less humidity than yesterday. We worked on more fundamentals and percussion cadences and started the halftime music. Tomorrow we will learn the pregame drill during our extra-long afternoon and evening rehearsals. It looks like it's going to be a bit stormy over the next few days, so hopefully we'll find some windows of opportunity.

Check out the slideshow of pictures from today. Notice how we are sharing the practice field with the football team! How many schools can boast of a football program so supportive of the band that they make space during their pre-season two-a-days for a marching routine? A special thanks to our wonderful coaches!

Warrior Marching Band Camp 2009

We are one day into the new marching band season, and I'm very pleased with the band thus far. We have 52 members, so we are right where we were last year. With a total band enrollment of 150, that means over a third of the students have volunteered to march, which is great! We had a number of officers in last week to get everything ready, and the band moms are busy preparing for Wednesday night's dinner and uniform distribution. Our two drum majors, Nick and Logan, spent a week at the Smith-Wallbridge camp with their instructors, who included former DHS drum majors Emma Burrows (University of Illinois Drum Major), Wade Wheatley (Vanderbilt University Drum Major), and Pres Maxson (former University of Iowa Drum Major). I'll be sitting down to write up our pregame and first halftime this morning, so everything is in great shape for another wonderful season. We even have fresh editions of the Fight Song, Alma Mater, National Anthem, and America, as well as some of our favorite stands tunes.

If you are a parent, alum, or just a friend of the band, I'd like to invite you to join us on Friday, August 28 at 7:30 for our first home game at Adams Field. Check out the new students and see how our veterans have taken on the mantle of leadership. It's going to be a great year!

Check back later this week for some pictures of camp...

Saturday Morning Run Playlist

These are the songs that came up randomly on my iPod during this morning's 5-mile run:

Cuyahoga - R.E.M.
She's Already Made Up Her Mind - Lyle Lovett
Stop - Jane's Addiction
With a Gun - Steely Dan
The Legend of the Golden Arches - Frank Zappa
Love You To - The Beatles
Blessed Relief - Frank Zappa
Little Creatures - Talking Heads
Aja - Steely Dan
Familiar - Pufferfish

The last one is particularly interesting as Pufferfish is a Seattle alt-country band featuring Scott Bilstad and Jonah Baker, DHS Band Class of '92. Jonah played guitar in jazz band, and Scott played drums as well as serving as drumline captain and percussion section leader. They were also members of the legendary student band, None of the Above, which was kind of like the Living Heir of the early 1990s at DHS. It's great to hear that they are still making music on the side these days.

You can tell by my playlist that my rock music interest is fairly rooted in classic rock and early alternative. My other iPod (which is very old school and too big for running) has a ton of jazz and world music, and is therefore much more diverse on shuffle. But for an early morning run through the middle of my town, I'll take Zappa and R.E.M. any day.

Annual Summer Mailing, Etc.

By Wednesday, current students should be receiving the annual summer band mailing with details about the new year, such as some calendar dates, curriculum info, marching band camp, and my not so gentle reminder to become reacquainted with your musical instrument. I've actually been somewhat busier than usual with my saxophone over the past two months. While at the Wisconsin Comprehensive Musicianship workshop, I played every day in the demonstration rehearsals. My favorite session had me sight-transposing the alto clef viola parts to alto sax on orchestra day. Then, this past Sunday, I played in a combo for a jazz service at church. We had our contemporary worship pastor on piano, along with drums, bass, trumpet, trombone, and myself. One of the three singers was my daughter, who is a regular in the group. I got to write out some horn arrangements for a number of the pieces and do some improvising as well. It was interesting doing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" as a 5/4 Latin and "Ode to Joy" as a big-band swing tune. (Neither were my idea--I just did the voicings).

Anyway, I hope you are practicing now and then and enjoying yourself wherever you are!

July Jazz Listening

Here you go, Jazz Band members! Listen and reply by email. Enjoy!

For your July dose of jazz listening, I want you to begin with some big band music. Remember, 99% of the high schools in America have a big band as their main ensemble. That means 5 saxes, 5 trumpets, 5 trombones, and rhythm. Everybody plays off of sheet music, just like in concert band, and there are a few students who improvise. The focus (usually) is on learning the charts, note for note, with proper jazz style, blend, and balance. At its worst, it becomes the same thing as a concert band rehearsal. Our model focuses on everybody learning to improvise and creating our own arrangements of classic jazz combo tunes.

In any case, you should be familiar with the big band style and sound, and the Count Basie Orchestra is a great place to start. His album, Straight Ahead, is a classic, and it is filled with tunes that high school bands play often. After listening, write me an email about how this differs from a typical combo recording and provide your own thoughts and opinions.

Straight Ahead - Count Basie

If you have never listened to Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, please read on. You don't need to do album three. If you know the album well, skip to recording number three.

This album is considered by many critics and jazz aficionados to be the greatest/most important album of all time. Listen to how the three main horn soloists, Miles Davis on trumpet, Cannonball Adderley on alto, and John Coltrane on tenor, differ in their approaches. Compare the two pianists, Wynton Kelly on "Freddie Freeloader" and Bill Evans on all the other tracks. Notice how the chord progressions move very slowly, especially in "So What." This was the birth of modal jazz, when Miles and others decided to focus on improvising interesting melodies by limiting the number of chord changes they had to navigate. That allowed them ample time to explore a single scale or mode. After listening, write up your thoughts about the three horns, two pianists, and any other thoughts you might have.

Kind Of Blue - Miles Davis

If you've already explored Kind of Blue in the past, listen to this greatest hits package by pianist/composer Thelonious Monk. His tunes are some of the most often played in all of jazz, and his playing style is very individual. Note how he uses clusters (dissonant bunches of closely-spaced notes), little flourishes on whole tone scales, and a very punchy touch on the keyboard. He is also a master of rhythmic displacement, meaning he will play a lick on one beat of a bar and then repeat it on another beat in a later bar, giving it a new perspective. You'll especially hear this in the main theme of "Straight No Chaser." Write up your impressions of his playing and tell me about one or two of your favorite tunes.

The Very Best - Thelonious Mon...