Bassduckk Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 For a part of my Uni course,I have to do a 45 minute solo performance. I have hundreds of ideas but I'm not quite sure what would fit the criteria for the grading it has to be at least grade 8 and generally an all round good performance, I am being marked on style, technique, musicianship and context. the pieces I have decided so far are. Blues for Alice Portrait Tracy Continuum Has anyone got any suggestions, I'm not really strong on slap bass but any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 The only track I know is Portrait, but I would approach these with an interpretation rather than a copy. So if you had a blues tracks I would swing it with all sorts of chords changes underneath... standard enough changes or substitutions but depends how much of a reference they will have.. I assume they will have to research the pieces to know how you played it..?? and I would think they will have been hit loads of times by 'Portrait'.. If you must do a Jaco track.. How about 'Chicken' as it is such a good nod to his style, lends itself to blues and jazz influences ..?? [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgntkGc5iBo"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgntkGc5iBo[/url] It is a lesson in itself.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassduckk Posted December 29, 2014 Author Share Posted December 29, 2014 [quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1419845768' post='2643065'] The only track I know is Portrait, but I would approach these with an interpretation rather than a copy. So if you had a blues tracks I would swing it with all sorts of chords changes underneath... standard enough changes or substitutions but depends how much of a reference they will have.. I assume they will have to research the pieces to know how you played it..?? and I would think they will have been hit loads of times by 'Portrait'.. If you must do a Jaco track.. How about 'Chicken' as it is such a good nod to his style, lends itself to blues and jazz influences ..?? [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgntkGc5iBo"]https://www.youtube....h?v=TgntkGc5iBo[/url] It is a lesson in itself.. [/quote] I was thinking the chicken actually or possibly teen town. I have to hand in the sheet music so they know how it is meant to sound and whatever. Thanks for the help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scalpy Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Variety would be nice, not only of genre but of tempo and timbre as well. I'd definitely get a baroque piece in there, along the lines of a Bach cello piece. When you say solo, is that all by yourself or will you have accompaniment? (When I did my finals solo meant piano accompaniment if I wanted) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassduckk Posted December 29, 2014 Author Share Posted December 29, 2014 [quote name='scalpy' timestamp='1419847818' post='2643093'] Variety would be nice, not only of genre but of tempo and timbre as well. I'd definitely get a baroque piece in there, along the lines of a Bach cello piece. When you say solo, is that all by yourself or will you have accompaniment? (When I did my finals solo meant piano accompaniment if I wanted) [/quote] Solo with accompaniment if i want, I have a guitarist and a drummer playing alongside, the thing about it is I am trying to keep it closely related in genre so I have a more solid theme, Its not essential but I have been recommended to try keep it together so I'm thinking jazz related songs like transcribing parts from Charlie Parker songs its why I'm going to do blues for Alice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-bbb Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Bach cello preludes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scalpy Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 I'd be speaking to my tutor about this. If the title of your course is jazz performance then stick to that genre by all means, but if it's just bass performance then we'd have been told on our course to broaden our palette. If you do a bit of Parker and a bit of Jaco that's only a 40 year snapshot. Worst case scenario (and I'm not saying you'd do this at all) but examining 45 minutes of burpy back pickup jazz would be wearing even to the most enthusiastic of experts, and would only demonstrate you have the persistence to improve your dexterity after a while. Have you looked at the examination success criteria? Is there any mention of musicality and expression? (To clarify I'm not saying Blues for Alice isn't expressive, but I'd have thought you need to have more than one flavour on your plate as it were!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubsonicSimpleton Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Try listening to what these guys do with the double bass, I find them really inspiring to listen to, and they really bring a very broad palette of dynamics and phrasing across the full range of the instrument. Rinat Ibragimov http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgZ_-f7pVk4 Bozo Paradzik http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2FGE8h8YSw There are some real gems in the classical repetoire if you want to go that route, but probably best to find something that really resonates with you personally, and inspires you to take the challenge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliusmonk Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 I'd go groovy for a while - examiners are humans after all and no one resists a good groove. You can evolve it and do some fancy stuff while keeping the basics underneath. Is looping allowed? You could accompany yourself with pseudo-drums and pseudo-EP... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No lust in Jazz Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 (edited) Go for melody and focus on the music.. Lennon and McCartney are a reasonable starting point - this is a cover of a Jaco cover, but you could easily construct your own. [media]http://youtu.be/D2-mQjx2_9c[/media] Edited December 29, 2014 by No lust in Jazz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Try this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvUNaegKBUU Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassduckk Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 thanks for all the suggestions and help guys, Its greatly appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonky2 Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 (edited) What about some of victor wootens more melodic solo stuff..... He does a great version of isnt she lovely Looped parts but fantastic none the less http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eynnYLXW3Fo Great Edited December 31, 2014 by Wonky2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Sausage Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 [quote name='Bassduckk' timestamp='1419844251' post='2643049'] For a part of my Uni course,I have to do a 45 minute solo performance. I have hundreds of ideas but I'm not quite sure what would fit the criteria for the grading it has to be at least grade 8 and generally an all round good performance, I am being marked on style, technique, musicianship and context. the pieces I have decided so far are. Blues for Alice Portrait Tracy Continuum Has anyone got any suggestions, I'm not really strong on slap bass but any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers [/quote]I think if you did those you'd be fine! When i did my degree solo thing i did a few grade 8 rock school things and then loads of impriovistaion. I gave them chord charts that i was improvising over, threw in a few gimmicky techniques, tapping, chordal tapping etc. Got a first for that section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Brookes Music Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Is this for a final recital in your 3rd year? If it is, then Grade 8 standard isn't really going to cut it imo....Grade 8 is usually the accepted minimum standard for players at the end of their first year of a degree course. Check out Classical Thump and Amazing Grace by Victor Wooten, and as mentioned there are some existing transcriptions of Bach stuff out there. I think that a guy called Nathan Navarro has transcribed a couple of his solo bass compositions that would be at the required standard. Jaco's Donna Lee is a good one too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skej21 Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 (edited) [quote name='Tom Brookes Music' timestamp='1420032623' post='2645003'] Is this for a final recital in your 3rd year? If it is, then Grade 8 standard isn't really going to cut it imo....Grade 8 is usually the accepted minimum standard for players at the end of their first year of a degree course. Check out Classical Thump and Amazing Grace by Victor Wooten, and as mentioned there are some existing transcriptions of Bach stuff out there. I think that a guy called Nathan Navarro has transcribed a couple of his solo bass compositions that would be at the required standard. Jaco's Donna Lee is a good one too. [/quote] Agreed! At my uni, you weren't allowed to take the performance modules from first year onwards unless you had a grade 8 (merit or above) OR passed a thorough audition. All of our performances had to be accompanied by notation for the examiners so they could see whether you were playing themes, dynamics etc correctly. Some of the pieces I did during my performance modules were; Portrait of Tracy Donna Lee Continuum Chromatic Fantasy Blackbird Teen Town (with looper) Sex in the Pan groove Wooten's version of Amazing Grace A less common piece but highly impressive one is Chromatic Fantasy by Jaco. Similar difficulty as his other works like Donna Lee etc but more freedom for expression and one they won't have heard a thousand times :-) http://youtu.be/2xTG9CU0K98 Edited December 31, 2014 by skej21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jude_b Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 (edited) 45 minutes sounds fairly heavy for a bass solo set! Why not transcribe a less well known classical piece if you've got time? I could imagine something like Gershwin's first piano prelude working well on bass - I'm just not good enough to work out how to do it. I think Chromatic Fantasy is a good one - the original Bach score is easily available, although I think Jaco plays it too quickly! Edited March 31, 2015 by jude_b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesBass Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 How are you with beat manipulation? I'm at the same stage as far as I'm doing a performance for uni very soon and I've got a range of influences to include and expand upon in my own styling and approach. I've focused on jazz harmony, improvisation, and groove. With groove being all about beat manipulation and the Jazz harmony aiming to get some serious chops in my playing! Improv is kinda tying everything together as I'm an off the cuff player and guy so it keeps me on my toes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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