ulian Lage Clinic @ Anne Arundel Community College 2/22/13.

4:09

Well, thanks very much. So, you all know that song, “All the things you are.” I hope so. So, yeah I can now kind of introduce my background a little bit. I'm 25. I started when I was five, so I've been playing about 20 years. And, um, I started as a blues guitar player I guess it's my parents listened to this, a lot of blues. And (I enjoy) being a singer-songwriter stuff. And a little bit of jazz, but you know my family is a real big design family. They love anything that's to do with aesthetics, (so it is). It sounded cool. They listened to it. It looked cool. We had it in the house, or you know what I mean. There's always about art and things like that. So, um, I was a blues guitarist, and so …, Muddy Waters, and then like most of us people, you know, see that you're … oh, if you want know about theory you should study jazz. And so I was there, “Okay.”  You know, I was eight, nine, (twelve) years old.

5:16

And so I started taking lessons with the jazz teacher from California. And I just got into it from very technical point of view, you know, um, like, theory, chords-work. And I just, I basically took two three-hour lessons a week with my teacher form the time I was well eight until twelve. He was very much a student, and he also write tunes- so he was, you know, we would learn things together. (He begged) “Now I work on this and help me solve it.” So it's one of those relationships. That’s wonderful.

5:48

Um, then I started playing a lot, professionally around this time, both my own projects and with Gary Brewer, great vibe player. And around that, when I was 12 or 13, I started sitting in an classical music a little bit, which was relatively short then, … we did for about a year, sitting table to sit and talk. But I loved it, you know. And all the while, is kind of a classical that, you know orchestral music, string quartets, piano pieces. I just loved film scores. I really want to be a film composer, still do.

6:16

And then I, through my teens, I was touring a lot and then went to Berkeley for college and did a couple of years there, made a record, made a couple of records under my own name, and, and in the last few years, I'd say I've kind of this, this full circle thing where I am going back to some earlier roots with regard to my interest in bluegrass, American folk music and also more avant-garde improvised music, both acoustically and electronically, with computers and noise and sounds, things like that. So, um, that's kind of my disposition towards the whole things. Just whatever you're into, go for it. And, um, I've been very fortunate. People in my life who encouraged that. And I think you probably tell that we only played that song to, a lot of, it's just like “What happens?”, you know. Maybe I'll totally crash and burn and I do many times, a lot. But, um, it definitely is one of the things that makes this music interesting to me, is that, that, that risk of totally failing or totally discover is, you know, that was possible. That's my background in the …

7:28

I also trained as a teacher, something called Alexander Technique. I don't know if any of you are familiar with this. In a nutshell, it's, um, it's basically a modality of movement education, you call it that. You know, some people study found in Christ which is another form of this film Christ study with this guy Alexander, but essentially dancers do it, actors, musicians, when you go to a teacher. And it's not a treatment at all, like, you know, a massage, or things like that, but it's a lesson. And you kind of, learn how you're getting in your own way. I'm sure some of you have already experienced it where you're practicing all the time and you're really sore or you're typing all the time and you just feel kind of awful and you don't know what it is that you're doing exactly. And, oh, … technique kind of helps teach you the language of kinesthesis, which is developing a sense of like, “Oh, I realize I'm pulling my shoulder down and this is going to hurt about 20 minutes!” You know, “Maybe I can chill out.” But it's a sensitivity that, unless you're accustomed to it, isn't always obvious. You just kind of wait till you get the big red flag you go, “Oh, shit! That’s awful!,” which that works, too. You do something.

8:36

So, that's kind of, I have a background in that. It did a real deep interest in anatomy of the human body and mechanisms and all that kind of stuff. So, what's on your mind? I mean you have me for another 15 minutes on my, you know.

I have a question.

Yeah.

I was thinking that technique or whatever anyone calls, ah, ah, ah, is it quite …?

Well, to me, yes. I mean, for me and it's very personal. But I think a lot of people share. I think we're in the business of movement. You know, more than anything. It's like for, as a guitar player we move and it translates to the sound of the instrument. But it's a partnership. Um, it's not just like I'm the, I hold all the answers on this great guitar player and then I just, … it happens. No. We have to be very clear with, um, so, that's, that applies physically to the act of holding guitar, yes, in playing. But also, I think, is inextricable from the thought process of how we improvise, which is to say how many, I mean how many of you have, I know, I have, so I speak to myself. I felt like so often I'll learn all the stuff that people tell me to learn. And then I have this burden so to speak of applying it to an actual situation, right?

9:54

And that's kind of the jazz education paradigm in the traditional sense. “Oh, I know a thousand scales.” Great. Why did the last night's gig still suck, you know? And why do I play … sucking for the next foreseeable future. It's because, I think that thought process of “let me stop, let me consolidate” and sometimes at odds with this experience of really improvising with the band where things happen reflexively. You ever play something that sounds great, scare the shit out of you. Like, that's almost worse than playing bad because then you're like now responsible for, I can't blow it like that. So, you know what I mean? That's what I've always felt. So yes, it's about movement in terms of holding answering but it's also about your fluidity and thought. And it's amazing how much they're connected.

10:45

If you're ever interested now in technically I encourage you to find a teacher in your area or … You know just do what you do - that's what I did. I just read a lot of Google search to watch videos. It's been around for a while since about early 1900s at Julliard, New York. It’s mandatory for a couple years. A lot of schools, it’s mandatory now. So you'll, you'll hear about it …

11:12

Questions. What’s the different way of approaching like II-V-I?

II-V-I, well, okay. I want to ask you some questions. What do you mean approaching?

Are you always trying to think, maybe, like dorian, mixolydian, … major, … like go … different … like instead of use ionian, dorian, … outside the box,   

Everyone …two five one, there’s anyone not familiar with it? You know you're totally safe to speak up because … Two five ones have their kind of thing, they get a lot of attention in jazz study, right?  Because they're, they’re one of most fundamental mechanism to find in traditional music of 40s and, 30s 40s or 50s, they’re just kind of what we talk about. We talk about standards and showtunes, you know. So, from a very, you know, textbook point of view, absolutely Dorian works over the two chord, mixolydian on the five, any kind of Ionian, Lydian, whatever you want, be one. Increasingly, I don't think about those things literally. So, if I had, … right? It all works. You know, it's kind of what I consider like green light music, if you like it. It, yeah, it's correct totally. The things that I'm attracted to improvising tend to be more gestural. So I early on, kind of set out to find other ways of honoring the II-V-I but also kind of having the freedom to go up if I wanted, or go down or jump, right? You know, without always sticking to, so, a very practical thing is to look at it as open voice, triads. You know, like …

I think a lot of things more in terms of triads. What's the triad? The triad to me is kind of acts as like a spine, in a way, from which you can go, you can leave in and out. So that, so II-V-I becomes three different shapes. And on the guitar, you know, I think of it as a blessing, a lot of ways that we have, about 8 million ways to play every …

13:41

So, and you get, you know, getting … obviously. So that's one way to look at it. Ok, I'm just going to, you know, let's do II-V-I, you know, I-VI-II-V, one of those loop kind of thing and I'll just try a different. in version.

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