Emile

Browsing Archive: June, 2012

DailySing - 150 (6.29.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Saturday, June 30, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
Listening to tonight's DailySing, I am surprised at how dynamic it sounds.

 I definitely took myself, as audience, on a true musical journey, not just through changes in rhythm, tempo, or melodic content, but in mood, and atmosphere, along with perceptions altered by musical choices.


 There's an emotional component to the very production of sound, to every facet and aspect of music.


 It felt like I was taping into a wide variety of choices, and a deep rich pool of musical possibilities.


To listen...
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DailySing - 149 (6.28.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Friday, June 29, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I tripped and fell into tonight's groove. It's one that bounces around inside my psyche and comes to the surface from time to time.

The cool thing about it coming up when I started to sing was that, with a semi-known groove, I had more freedom to experiment and play with the tempo, the rhythms, harmonies, and even some counterpoint.

Sudden departures from a theme can be attributed to my use of free will. I'm so used to feeling where the song wants to go that I rarely use my will to control outc...
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DailySing - 148 (6.27.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Thursday, June 28, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
What started as a fun island sounding groove morphed into something a little funkier and even more fun!

This didn't last all that long. The funky island fun groove became an exercise in staying awake, then when I did doze, it became about singing for the full 15 mns. Forget modalities, scales and musical theory. This was about something primal like survival. Like keeping my promise to myself! By the end it just involved making sound... producing sound... For 15 mns...!

To listen to DailySing - ...
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DailySing - 147 (6.26.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Wednesday, June 27, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
The drone idea was there with much more syncopation than the other night.

I did a good job of keeping it together as far as the exploration was concerned. The section where just the vocal percussion takes over and we follow some cross cultural rhythms was exhilirating.

Toward the end I fell into a jazzy swing-feel bridge which dropped into the main melodic groove.

To listen to DailySing - 147, click here.

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DailySing - 146 (6.25.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Tuesday, June 26, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
Tonight's DailySing finds me experimenting... as usual!

I started with a drone which slowly resolved into something with an inherent structure. I then added a beat on mychest, which further defined the structure and allowed for the creation of a melody.

I soloed over this creation and went off on tangents with different rhythms, and time signatures, berfore coming back to the main jam time and again. After a bit, the main jam morphed into a variation, but then went further and redefined itself....
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DailySing 145 - (6.24.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Monday, June 25, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
A funky little energy ball took over just as I opened my mouth tonight, and you can hear the result on the recording.

It was a field day for learning to keep the groove interesting and fun on the fly. 
I juxtaposed radically different rhythms together, divided by sections. The first split was into a slow jazz thang with swing, then I explored variations on a funky theme before coming back to the main melody. The next departure was into a tribal 6/8 PV groove, before dropping back into the 4/4 o...
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DailySing - 144 (6.23.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Sunday, June 24, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
Tonight, I experienced a true journey through my musical landscape. A part of me was the detached observer, yet I was still able to focus completely on what I was doing.

It was thrilling to watch ideas morph and grow through repetition. Each time through, the part I was singing would change in service to the song, sometimes getting more complex, but most often getting simpler and clearer.

There was a VP (vocal percussion) section where I was able to visit 4/4, 6/8, and jump from beatboxing to V...

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DailySing - 143 (6.22.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Saturday, June 23, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I kept falling asleep in the middle of singing various idea, during tonight's DailySing. Being up since 5 AM is no excuse.

I started tonight with a jaunty little African steeped motor to get the ball rolling. It was lively and made you tap your foot. 

After some vocal exploration, I heard the music stop.... I abruptly started up in a totally different genre. This new groove lasted for a little while.... silence... A different genre again, and so on and so forth.

To listen to DailySing - 143, cli...

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DailySing - 142 (6.21.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Friday, June 22, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
Tonight's DailySing felt like a jam straight through. Departing from and returning to the main melodic groove riff was fun, but I know that at some point early on, I came back to a slight variation and wasn't able to shake it to find the true original.

Oh well, I worked with that and it was all good.

The next sonic region I explored was VP-land. I went from straight beatboxing to different forms of stylized VP. I call stylized VP, any vocal percussion where the varied drum and percussive sounds...
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DailySing - 141 (6.20.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Thursday, June 21, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
Tonight's DailySing started with confusion. My friend Will talks about a "sit up" place, which I think I've discovered quite by accident. As I understand it, it's a musical transitional moment of discomfort or "turbulence" , when we don't feel as confident. Maybe our voice wavers, we feel vulnerable, we back off instead of singing with confidence.

This is the place where the real work needs to be done. This is the place that calls for courage, the courage to feel the discomfort, the constricti...
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DailySing - 140 (6.19.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Wednesday, June 20, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
Tonight I had odd meters on the brain before I started singing, so I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise when that's what came out of my mouth. The tempo was rapid and had a little swing to it. I didn't know if I could maintain. It wasn't a problem.

I skipped around between meters, like 5s, 7s and 9s, mostly because I really have to concentrate when I deal with odd meters, and I felt like I was on a runaway train that I had to hang on to for dear life.

I decided to give the VP free reign at...
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DailySing - 139 (6.18.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Tuesday, June 19, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
A funky beat is what came out tonight. As usual, I was thinking about the bass and the rest is history. Many a song or chant has begun with a slammin' bass riff.

As I listen to this, I am struck by how little is needed to make sounds, and by how much is needed to make the "right" sounds. This doesn't happen, unless there is some intense concentration involved.
I can feel and hear the wall that I'm hitting, when I concentrate.

You gotta know your scales... PERIOD!!!

 It's also time to start playin...

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DailySing - 138 (6.17.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Monday, June 18, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I started tonight's DailySing with a blank slate, so that I could be true to whatever was coming through me.

While the BP helped ground the music with a mean backbeat, I left it out for long periods of time to explore my voice qualities when I solo, without the distraction of a groove. I never thought I'd ever say THAT!

Other times, I changed the beat from a straight 4/4 to a 6/8 feel to see where the different peception would take me. It made for a varied and entertaining creation.

To listen to...
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DailySing - 137 (6.16.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Sunday, June 17, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
Still high from our performance at the L.A. Mixed Roots Festival and I wondered what would come of tonight's DailySing. I was not dissapointed at the results. The main theme took a few seconds to firm up once it was established, but after that is a rather extensive study of what to do if you're going to sing a long improv all by yourself.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, as all the ideas coming out of me seemed to flow effortlessly into one another. I found dfferent ways to depart from the main th...
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DailySing - 136 (6.15.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Saturday, June 16, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I felt like Reggae tonight, but what came out, while funky, was a far cry from Reggae. The accented beat was all wrong for Reggae, but it was danceable and had a good breat.

I went through a few different ways to approach soloing, but what really stood out was the vocal percussion or VP! What started out as just a section in the improv, turned into a full scale study of how I make the various sounds, how they can be modified, how different time signatures can all hang on the same tempo.

For exa...
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DailySing - 135 (6.14.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Friday, June 15, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I did it again... Got so lost in it that I went over by almost a minute before I realized that I could stop.

I originally let a fast paced jazz idea be the launching platform, once it was sufficiently developped. I felt the need to move into a solo from my upper register. I found different melodies to use in my next solo, and even went into a bridge. That was so much fun, I then decided to indulge myself with a vp solo before getting back to the main melodic line, with variations of course.
 
Af...
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DailySing - 134 (6.13.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Thursday, June 14, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I did it again. Just as I was sitting down to sing, I had all of these musical ideas come into my head. It took a conscious will to ignore them and just open my mouth while keeping a blank mind.

The intros are rough with this method, because I'm trying to fit what I'm hearing into a pattern for something already established, yet I'm trying to do just that very thing while establishing a rhythm.

The solo exploration was revealing as usual, about where I put my voice in my throat and chest along ...
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DailySing - 133 (6.12.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Wednesday, June 13, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I tried to stay open tonight, but nothing was working at first. I couldn't keep the main melody in my mind to save my neck. 

About a third of the way through, I felt better, and even went into the first of two vp solos of the evening.

Once I was able to establish a groove that I could remember, it was easier to go off exploring. My second vp solo of the evening had a North African flavor, as I was channeling a Middle - Eastern frame drum and laid down a thick pad against my chest whilst singing...
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DailySing - 132 (6.11.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Tuesday, June 12, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
It took a little effort to find "it" tonight. I had different riffs in mind before I even started, and wanted to remain open with no preconceived ideas. At first, I changed ideas every time something came out of my mouth, until I settled on something that was in the moment.

Once I found a groove, Itried to stay fresh by changing rhythms, having multiple solos each based on differing parameters, a couple of vocal percussion moments and I was down to 3 minutes.

I let go even further and lost trac...
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DailySing - 131 (6.10.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Monday, June 11, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
The first 10 mns of tonight's DailySing just flew by. All of a sudden, there were only 5 mns left to go.

I was able to come back to the main melody time after time this evening with no trouble.

 The explorations involved switching rhythm and tempo, spoken word, sung lyrics, solo tone work, along with body and vocal percussion.


To liten to DailySing - 131, click here.

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DailySing - 130 (6.9.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Sunday, June 10, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I was inspired... again... by my Improv Family. I was listening to what we did last night, and a piece of a riff stuck with me and when I opened my mouth to sing, it was there, with a little variation on the second measure, no less.

I didn't think that I'd have the breath to maintain that fast paced rhythm throughout, but I did.

I tried everything from switching rhythms to crooning over a bridge, from changing instruments and timbre to singing as purely as possible.

To listen to DailySing - 130,...
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DailySing - 129 (6.8.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Saturday, June 9, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I lost track of time again, and I was so into it!

Tonight's DailySing was inspired by my Improv Family, which consists of people who have taken any of Rhiannon's advanced workshops. It's a pleasure to sing with them, to connect different musical sensibilities and styles into a cohesive whole. So far we've done different permutations of Orchestra and Mystery Band.

DailySing - 129 is inspired by the session I just came from with my Improv Family. I explore the crafting of different sections tonig...
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DailySing - 128 (6.7.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Friday, June 8, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I got lost in the improv and didn't realize that time was up for an extra 38 seconds.

It started as a slow, lazy riff and meandered through various musical landscapes before picking up speed at the bridge and becoming a raucous island jam for a few measures, before dropping back down into the funk of the slow, lazy riff.

I even went for lyrics and they weren't half bad, if I do say so myself.
 
There was a moment where I inserted VP into the melody, which led to focus on the rhythm section, which...
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DailySing - 127 (6.6.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Thursday, June 7, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I started tonight with the idea of using unique, new, and different sounds for my vocal palette.

The exploration also delved into juxtaposing various time signatures and rhythms within the same musical context.

Soloing was different because even if I went to a default melodic place, I still did it in this new way with a unique, new and different sound vocabulary. I explored lead guitar improvisational lines and it wasn't easy at all. I rediscovered that an instruments dictates the development o...
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DailySing 126 - (6.5.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Wednesday, June 6, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
Tonight's DailySing was about holding on, for me. After establishing an island sounding riff, I gave myself over to an exploration of solos.

I wonder, how does your instrument affect how you interprete a piece of music? 

As a guitarist, I'll listen for melodic and rhythmic cues to follow.

As a percussionist, I'll listen for a pattern between the rhythms and the melody.
As a vocalist, I listen to the silence in between the notes, and try to taylor my musical ideas to fit.
As a pianist I listen to t...
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DailySing - 125 (6.4.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Tuesday, June 5, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I sang in the car tonight to wake myself up, and it worked to a degree.

I just closed my eyes and went with whatever came out. I stayed true to the main melody, coming back to it time and time again, after numerous departures and explorations.

I juxtaposed odd combinations, for example, warm rhythms with the austerity of classical music, or a rapid twist from whatever is in our comfort zone to sticking our neck out and feeling very much alone, or abruptly doubling the rhythm and giving it a 6/8...
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DailySing - 124 (6.3.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Monday, June 4, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
Head down, stayin' open, yet plowing on through the emptiness of the disappearing muse. 

Radical juxtapositions were what I was expecting to have to do, but it turned out to be radical jumps between genres that was my saving grace.

Followed by radical jumps from low to high in my vocal range. 

I've got to say that elements in tonight's DailySing were full of musical gems.

To listen to DailySing - 124, click here.

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DailySing - 123 (6.2.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Sunday, June 3, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I went about singing tonight with the same "nose to the grindstone" attitude that I had last night. This slogging through my own barriers and obstacles feels like a phase in the learning, and it doesn't feel like it'll end soon. 

I ranged far and wide in my vocal explorations tonight. To keep going in my upper register, several solos were based on the electric guitar with wah-wah pedal. 

There was a smidgeon of spoken word and some rhythmic play and some ballad-like passages.
I am very blessed t...
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DailySing - 122 (6.1.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Saturday, June 2, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
Tonight I just put my head down and worked it out. I tried some spoken word right away and that felt semi-ok.

Afterwards, I explored jumping from the groove to a solo and back again.

Toward the end of the session I wanted to go back to the original melody, but couldn't remember it. Exploration outside the box began at that point. Changing rhythms, no rhythm, plenty of soaring long tones for my solo search, etc...

To listen to DailySing - 122, click here.

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DailySing - 121 (5.31.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Friday, June 1, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
Tonight was special!
 
I let go of whatever tension/stress/angst I've been holding inside myself. It was therapeutic! I sang with no filter and was rewarded with an interesting and varied DailySing.

I gave myself permission to make sounds that are considered un-musical, and mashed them up with riffs that I was spittin' earlier.

I took radically juxtaposed rhythms and fitted them into something altogether different. Right here in my own living room, I felt the same freedom as I feel when singing i...
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If you can talk, you can sing


Emile Hassan Dyer I believe that singing is our birthright, and that it is good for our brains, bodies, and spirit. Singing releases oxytocin in the brain, and many studies have shown a correlation of oxytocin with human bonding, increases in trust, feelings of calmness and security, as well as reductions in anxiety. In other words, SINGING IS GOOD FOR YOU! I get high making up music on the spot. I get high(er) when I can do it with several people at once. There's nothing like riding the crest of a creative wave, linked harmonically and rhythmically, supporting, leading, following, creating, coaxing, cajoling, p-l-a-y-i-n-g... THAT'S MY BLISS! Singing for 15 minutes a day means trusting yourself. It means clearing your mind, opening up and discovering what sounds can come out through you, if you allow it. To listen to each of my daily sings, click on the "songs" link on the left in the grey field above the most recent post or on the link at the end of each post.

Categories

My DailySing practice is inspired by Will Hewett's Sing15 practice.

You can learn more about Sing15 at www.willhewett.com.

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