Challenge #6: Melody with Space by Ear
Submission Deadline: May 31, 2013
Learn this part of a melody by ear.
0:38 to 1:00
(when you play it, it should also be around 20 seconds long)
There are ten notes over that section that is about twenty seconds. It’s very slow with sustain and space.
It’s played on piano by Omar Sosa, a Cuban pianist. The song is on the album Mulatos. You can get a CD or the mp3s if you like it on that link. I think I have three of his CDs ad this is one of my favorite tracks. Have seen him play live three times, always puts on a great show if he’s in town near you.
Playing music done by a piano will be a little bit challenging in some ways because a sustained note requires different things on saxophone and moving between notes is different. You want all your transitions to be smooth, so work on the transitions that are more tricky, think about how you practice the Lindeman.
Included a recording of myself playing this on saxophone below the video.
Here’s me playing it on saxophone, sosa_reposo_piece_tenor_saxophone_tribe (mp3, right click and save)
Comparing the rhythms of how we played it, I was fairly close when I recorded it a couple of days ago. His recording is about 21 seconds and mine is about 19 seconds, so slightly different. The main thing to consider is the relative lengths of the notes.
(Since Omar Sosa has other musicians playing with him, I labeled the piano with blue arrows to indicate starts of notes).
Looks like I played the third note a little bit early, seventh note a little early.
Keep in mind that there is a lot of space and you will sustain notes.
Very different approach compared to bebop!
Need to slow down with this one.
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