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Thursdays are the best. Songwriting class is first, which is full of really excellent colleagues whose music I inevitably either love or am disinterestedly impressed by (but usually love), and who seem to really appreciate mine. David Schockett, guys. He's the Tufts double-degree program pianist and man can he write some music. I snagged him for collaboration in World Music where we have to write/arrange something for the ensemble, and I'm excited about it.
Also exciting (because it's also with Hankus) is Advanced Aural Skills. I know, being excited about an ear training class seems like an unlikely reaction, but seriously. It's fun, because Hankus is having fun, and we get to do great things like learn a performance of some song (not the song itself, but that ONE PERFORMANCE) exactly perfectly by rote so we can reproduce it precisely. And then we learn the chord changes that go underneath it so we can arpeggiate them in between phrases of melody. And then we learn the saxophone solo that happens after the tune, to play, sing, and transcribe. Yeah, obscure, I know, but I promise it's fun. Plus, Simon's in the class, and I like having a class with him.
Especially since he, Andy and I got together to practice right after that class, and we got to keep the room (which has drums AND amps). It's surreal to the point of absurdity, the same way as it was directing a show I wrote. I had a rehearsal full of a) playing Crash Kings songs as well and loudly as I could, with boys who get into it as much as I do, b) teaching the boys songs I wrote, and c) rewriting them to make them better for us as a team of people constructing excellent sounds. YAY.
Also exciting (because it's also with Hankus) is Advanced Aural Skills. I know, being excited about an ear training class seems like an unlikely reaction, but seriously. It's fun, because Hankus is having fun, and we get to do great things like learn a performance of some song (not the song itself, but that ONE PERFORMANCE) exactly perfectly by rote so we can reproduce it precisely. And then we learn the chord changes that go underneath it so we can arpeggiate them in between phrases of melody. And then we learn the saxophone solo that happens after the tune, to play, sing, and transcribe. Yeah, obscure, I know, but I promise it's fun. Plus, Simon's in the class, and I like having a class with him.
Especially since he, Andy and I got together to practice right after that class, and we got to keep the room (which has drums AND amps). It's surreal to the point of absurdity, the same way as it was directing a show I wrote. I had a rehearsal full of a) playing Crash Kings songs as well and loudly as I could, with boys who get into it as much as I do, b) teaching the boys songs I wrote, and c) rewriting them to make them better for us as a team of people constructing excellent sounds. YAY.