Pate and gherkins... summer school withdrawal symptoms
I've just had a baguette, a wodge of pate, a little garlic sausage and a couple of gherkins for lunch. That is not, I would have to say, my regular lunchtime fare. I'm well and truly into summer school withdrawal. Well, certainly for the food. What a completely excellent couple of weeks with top French chef serving up completely yummy, fresh, delicious grub morning, noon and night. I could get quite used to having fresh French food made for me throughout the day. In fact, the experience seems to have entirely sapped my ability to make food for myself. I just want it out there on the table, ready to spend another pleasurable meal reaching for the salad, the pate, the meat, the salad gravy, the meat sauce (you had to be there) the cheese, the chocolate mousse and of course, the cakes; chatting with gathered musos under the wide French blue sky. Awwwww. Lovely. A top jazz summer school in a top chateau with top tutors, top swimming pool, top friendly dog, top people, top weather and the music wasn't bad either. Check it out at www.jazzsummerschool.com
Anyway, I promised a couple of top tips for some of the people on the course and here they are.
Firstly, if you're looking to learn how to read music, there are a couple of places online where you can get a really good heads up. http://www.tutorials.com/09/0917/0917.asp seems to spell things out very clearly. There's also http://www.noteableflashcards.com/ which you eventually have to subscribe to but only after 25 free sessions and for only $25 which, lets face it, is not that much.
It's also worth checking out your local adult education and evening schools for reading music, music theory and ear training courses. In London, CityLit and Morley College both offer excellent music classes of all levels and all varieties but I'm sure there are places in every town where you can amble along and join in.
There are certainly plenty of things you can order for a bit of self learning with the help of your trusty computer. One package you can order which gives you a thorough ear training workout is 'Improviser'. Visit http://invite-software.com/ to check it out. It's about £50 but has a huge range of exercises to put you through your paces, including intervals, II,V,Is, chord types, rhythm transcriptions, melody dictation, solo transcriptions, and much, much more folks... Another simple package is Band in a Box which you might just have heard me mention before. Once or twice. Actually, a lot more than that. Go to www.pgmusic.com to check it out. A really good multipurpose music package to help you write your leadsheets, to practise with, to use for ear training and to generally get your teeth into music. Very good value and really good fun.
There are loads of books out there to help you with jazz theory and jazz singing but a really good start is Jay Clayton's book, Sing Your Story, which comes complete with CD and gives you several exercises along with tips on intros, outros, getting your sets together and all that kind of stuff. You can order it at www.jazzwise.com along with just about every other music book available. If you're looking for info about a song, an album or a performer, www.allmusic.com is a great site. Really good for finding out all the different artists who have recorded a particular song. It also has clips of all the songs so you can check out all the different versions. Very handy.
I can't think what else I said I would mention, so if there are things I've missed out, do get in touch and let me know. Keep up with the vocal exercises - you know they make sense! Here's to some exciting music times ahead.
Right, time for more pate and gherkins...
Rx
Anyway, I promised a couple of top tips for some of the people on the course and here they are.
Firstly, if you're looking to learn how to read music, there are a couple of places online where you can get a really good heads up. http://www.tutorials.com/09/0917/0917.asp seems to spell things out very clearly. There's also http://www.noteableflashcards.com/ which you eventually have to subscribe to but only after 25 free sessions and for only $25 which, lets face it, is not that much.
It's also worth checking out your local adult education and evening schools for reading music, music theory and ear training courses. In London, CityLit and Morley College both offer excellent music classes of all levels and all varieties but I'm sure there are places in every town where you can amble along and join in.
There are certainly plenty of things you can order for a bit of self learning with the help of your trusty computer. One package you can order which gives you a thorough ear training workout is 'Improviser'. Visit http://invite-software.com/ to check it out. It's about £50 but has a huge range of exercises to put you through your paces, including intervals, II,V,Is, chord types, rhythm transcriptions, melody dictation, solo transcriptions, and much, much more folks... Another simple package is Band in a Box which you might just have heard me mention before. Once or twice. Actually, a lot more than that. Go to www.pgmusic.com to check it out. A really good multipurpose music package to help you write your leadsheets, to practise with, to use for ear training and to generally get your teeth into music. Very good value and really good fun.
There are loads of books out there to help you with jazz theory and jazz singing but a really good start is Jay Clayton's book, Sing Your Story, which comes complete with CD and gives you several exercises along with tips on intros, outros, getting your sets together and all that kind of stuff. You can order it at www.jazzwise.com along with just about every other music book available. If you're looking for info about a song, an album or a performer, www.allmusic.com is a great site. Really good for finding out all the different artists who have recorded a particular song. It also has clips of all the songs so you can check out all the different versions. Very handy.
I can't think what else I said I would mention, so if there are things I've missed out, do get in touch and let me know. Keep up with the vocal exercises - you know they make sense! Here's to some exciting music times ahead.
Right, time for more pate and gherkins...
Rx
posted by Rachel at 2:18 PM
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