Emile

Showing Tag: "instrument" (Show all posts)

DailySing - 183 (8.1.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Thursday, August 2, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I thought I'd try something different tonight and actually sing while playing another instrument, other than my body.
I used a flower pot or planter with a hole smaller than the body for the tabla-like sound. My mind wandered while I did this and I thought of a duet between voice and bass.

I also soloed and used long drawn out notes over highly rhythmic percussion. At other times, using my voice, I played rhythmic counterpoint to the fake tabla.

My explorations were often in an entirely differen...
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DailySing - 180 (7.29.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Monday, July 30, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
There's an up energy that I have around my music lately. I can hear it in the choices I made in tonight's DailySing, in the choices I make when I randomly pick a sound pattern from a crowded room or the street and riff on it.

I haven't been too worried about going to my defaults lately, but have been working them in new ways and from more of an architectural perspective. Crafting a sonic piece from a perspective other than that of a singer or even of an instrumentalist, but the perspective of ...
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DailySing - 152 (7.1.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Monday, July 2, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
Percussion is a part of the array of rhythmic sounds that we relegate to instruments, yet these sounds can be imitated and new ones created as part of a larger vocal vocabulary.

Instead of using vocal percussion to merely keep the beat imitating a drummer, this vocal array of percussive sounds can be incorporated with tonal sounds to enrich a solo, bass line, or main melody.

To listen to DailySing - 152, wait until after 7/9/2012, then click here.

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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 - 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 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 - 101 (5.11.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Saturday, May 12, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I've been enjoying these last few DailySings because of the dynamic quality that's come through each session. Tonight was no different, but the cause was unique.

Tonight was the first meeting of what I like to call Improv Family. Several of us got together and improvised in different configurations. I then left and got dinner out in downtown Culver City. By the time I was ready to do my DailySing, I had the richness of this entire evening to draw upon.

Towards the end, I even tried to sing word...
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DailySing - 99 (5.9.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Thursday, May 10, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
Dynamic...! That's the best way to describe today's DailySing. I've been listening to Carlinhos Brown and Kurt Elling lately and I could feel the bits and pieces I've been picking up, start to gel and make sense inside me.

I started with a rhythm which I then layered (a la Carlinhos Brown) into polyrhythms using my hands and mouth. I then added my actual voice, played with made up language, and rhythmic counterpoint. Later on in the improv, I explore how I use my voice to solo with my falsetto...
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DailySing - 95 (5.5.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Sunday, May 6, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I literally started this DailySing with 14 minutes left in the day. I explored that jumping back and forth  between holding down the groove then singing in my extreme upper range, as I imitate different solo instruments, guitar, piano, trumpet...

After a while it's no longer about the kind of instrument or the different melodic choices made because of the nature of the instrument, but the examination of my extreme upper range and that dead space that comes after my highest note.

When that's ove...

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DailySing - 74 (4.14.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Sunday, April 15, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
I feel that I am at a crossroads and facing some tough decisions. I am also reclaiming a fundamental part of myself, and while that part feels unclear and amorphous, I know that I can't live without it...

... Which led to tonight's DailySing of a familiar melody that's kept bouncing around in my consciousness for several years. This melody has always spoken of new vistas of undiscovered life and experiences to me. It just welled up in me as I opened my mouth, and I just rode the wave through s...
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DailySing - 73 (4.13.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Saturday, April 14, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
Tonight's DailySing started off big and brassy and ended sweetly and quietly.
 
 The opening feels big brassy because of where I was putting my voice. I started by thinking of horns, how they sound, how melodic choices are made on a horn, and how their sound complements other instruments.

From there, I let my voice lead my choices. Sometimes high, sometimes rich, sometimes soft, sometimes loud, sometimes full voice, sometimes falsetto, my voice took me on a journey and I was happy to follow it i...
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DailySing - 69 (4.9.2012)

Posted by Emile Dyer on Tuesday, April 10, 2012, In : Daily Sing 
My journey tonight feels non descript, or a bit bland. It feels like I am being safe. I set up a pattern and keep coming back to it after several excursions into soloing as a voice or being one of the instruments. It feels like I stay safe within the confines of my structure...

Now that I listen to the playback, it sounds richer and more dynamic than when I was actually doing it. Perceptions are everything, it seems. 

Using my chest to beat on while I sing is not technically VP, but it really h...
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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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"creative wave"percussive lyrical vocal solos melody "richard bona "sing out loud 'vp guy" riffs sounds patterns 4/4 4/4 feel 4/4 time 6/8 6/8 bell 6/8 feel 6/8 time a cappella a cappella thang abandon accented beat accents act of singing actors adaptability addendums aeolian african vocal delivery afro blue afro funk afro-cuban air flow alive ambient apex approach arc arc of the improv architecture arrange arrangements arranging art artless aspect of music atmosphere attacked the singing audience backbeat background hum balance ballad ballad-like bass bass line bass lines bass llne be the sound beat beatbox beatboxing beats berimbaus berzerker bird song birthday birthing the melodies blog blues bluesy body percussion body rhythms bp brain brassy bre bridge bridges burst carlinhos brown catchy tune cd channel chant chants choices choir chops chorus clapping claps clarity classical clave climactic crescendo codification of play cohesion color compose compositions concert conduit 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