Divers : The Essential Collection: Classical Gold

SKU: AD.ADG242

ISBN 9781958017296. UPC: 663389124226. 9 x 12 inches.

The Blues Play A Long and Solos Collection for Harmonica is an indispensable instructional book written by renowned musician and educator, Andrew D. Gordon.

Specifically designed for beginners, this book provides a comprehensive guide to playing the blues on the bass while offering a plethora of play-along tracks and soloing opportunities.

Andrew D. Gordon, with his extensive experience as a multi-instrumentalist and music educator, has meticulously crafted this book to cater to harmonica players who want to delve into the captivating world of blues music. Whether you're a complete novice or have some basic knowledge of the harmonica, this book will guide you step-by-step through the fundamentals of blues playing, enabling you to develop your skills and confidence.

The Blues Play-Along and Solos Collection for harmonica is part of an esteemed series of instructional books, with other editions available for a variety of instruments such as piano/keyboards, guitar, bass, alto and tenor saxophone, flute, trumpet, trombone, ukulele, recorder, mandolin, bass and violin. This series ensures that musicians across different disciplines can explore the blues genre and its unique characteristics.

Key features of The Blues Play-Along and Solos Collection for Harmonica include: Play-Along Tracks: Explore a diverse selection of 30 professionally produced play-along tracks, featuring authentic blues grooves in various Blues styles, keys and tempos such as: Funky Blues, Boogie Blues, Jazz Blues, Minor Blues, Country Blues, Latin Blues, Old Time Jazz Blues, Jazz Swing Blues, Classic Blues Rock, Soulful Blues, Slow Blues and many more. These tracks allow you to apply your newly acquired skills and play alongside a band, providing an immersive and enjoyable practice experience.

Each of the 30 play-a-long tracks has been recorded with 10 choruses of the 12 bar blues progression giving you the opportunity practice soloing techniques totaling over 3 hours of music. Each of the 30 Blues styles contains a solo improvisational melody line, 12 measures in length, designed for the beginner student in mind as a starting point to create your own improvisational solos.

Soloing Techniques: Discover various soloing techniques and improvisational approaches, empowering you to create your own expressive solos and melodies within the blues framework. Repertoire Building: Develop a repertoire of blues songs, licks, and riffs specifically tailored for the harmonica. Expand your musical vocabulary and gain confidence in your ability to perform and jam with others.

Music Notation : The book contains clear and easy-to-read music notation ensuring accessibility for beginners and facilitating a smooth learning process. Whether you aspire to perform on stage, jam with friends, or simply enjoy playing the bass at home.

The Blues Play-Along and Solos Collection for Harmonica provides you with all the tools you need to embark on an exciting blues journey. Andrew D. Gordon's expertise and passion for teaching music shine through in this book, making it an essential resource for any bass player seeking to explore the expressive and soulful realm of blues music.

SKU: ST.C463

ISBN 9790570814633.

This volume contains contrasting works by Federico Ruiz spanning quite a large and rich period of his compositional output that goes from his early Micro-Suite (1971), to lilting, sweet and rhythmic Venezuelan waltzes passing by the mysterious, intimate, and intense Nocturno (1994) plus pieces originally composed for film, and theatre. Real eclecticism in styles, moods and atmospheres that show Ruiz�??s talents and scope.

The Nocturno is a deep, intriguing, substantial piece presenting a satisfying length which moves from different paths of the mind and the heart written in an abstract, chromatic idiom, that does not dissociate itself from the Venezuelan waltz and the joropo. One could perhaps say that there is a deconstruction of the latter. For the interpretation, the composer has suggested to me that it is allowed to have some flexibility in the tempo. Ruiz kindly dedicated it to me, and I have had the pleasure of performing it in many concerts.

Although all highly expressive, the Three Venezuelan Waltzes present in this collection as well as the piece titled Aliseo, are works that are close to the colourful Venezuelan folk tradition. Federico Ruiz had given me two of them when we first met: �??Tu Presencia�?? (1981) and �??Eloísa�?? (1989) and then I attended a performance of the play �??Office Number One�?? by Miguel Otero Silva with a fantastic actor, Elba Escobar in the role of Carmen Rosa and, I just fell in love and was very moved by the incidental music that I later discovered, by reading the programme, had been written by Federico Ruiz. Later that evening, I called him and asked to please make a piano score of the composition, so I could have the desired piece in my hands. That is how �??Carmen Rosa�?� waltz (1987) came to exist in a piano version.

�??Eloisa�?? is another Venezuelan waltz with more jazzy harmonies where precision in the rhythm and elegant playing is also essential, as it is in most of his pieces.

�??Tu Presencia�?? was dedicated to his mother, Margarita. It is written with the structure of the Venezuelan waltz, which consists of a nostalgic subject that leads to a faster, happier middle section where the typical graceful rhythm is given by the left-hand accompaniment figure of a dotted crotchet followed by a quaver and a crotchet.

The craft and magic found in the five movements of the Micro-Suite is based on a dodecaphonic row by Ernst Krenek. They remind us of the idiom of the Second Viennese School. These real miniatures seem to tell short stories. The �??Preludio�?? is full of humour. I imagine dancing figures given by the jumps all over the keyboard and extreme dynamics; the phrases give the impression of a conversation with many questions and answers. The �??Invención�?? is a kaleidoscopic piece where the hands mirror each other. The �??Passacaglia�?? is the longest movement, at just over a minute where the prime motif is repeated three times on the bass line. For its construction Federico Ruiz uses as well the retrograde and the retrograde inversion of the twelve-tone series. It must be played expressively with dynamic contrasts between pianissimo and louder events. The �??Scherzo�?? has repetitive motifs of a minor third in both hands and the �??Final�?? displays virtuosic passages for the pianist.

Aliseo was originally written for the film �??Aire libre�?� (1995), by Luis Armando Roche. It contains elements of diverse types of Venezuelan joropo. In the film, the character of Aliseo Carvallo is played by the composer himself who performs this piece on a harpsichord to welcome scientists Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland one day at the turn of the 1800�??s, as a sample of the new music from the South American land. It presents the refinement of the late European classical era in fusion with Venezuelan folk music.