Last month, my friend Dan from Mingo Fishtrap sent me this link via Facebook. The link is to the great 'You Are What You Hear' blog of live jazz recordings, and this particular page is to a solo Tenor Saxophone performance by Chris Potter of the great standard "All The Things You Are". I must be living under a rock, because this solo has been around since 2003, and I seem to be the last saxophone player to hear about it!

Anyway, I listened to it a few times, and was hooked. There was something about the way that he builds the solo, and how creatively he plays with the time and meter in the 'a capella' format that I really liked. His use of triplets throughout is crazy good. I listened to the solo over and over, and really wanted to learn to play it. I started scouring the intertubes looking for a transcription of the solo with no luck (and I looked really hard). A friend of a friend of a friend knew a guy who knew a guy who transcribed it, but that was as close as I got.

Finally, I decided to take matters into my own hands and transcribe it myself. I did a bunch of transcribing in High School and College, but honestly, I hadn't done much in years. I figured this would be a good project to get me back into it. Also, Tenor Sax has always been the horn that I've played the least, and that I'm the least proficient on. Transcribing did a lot for my alto playing, so I figured this project might be just what I need to work me tenor chops up to snuff.

Get the Transcription

Without further ado, here's a link to the solo for you to download (for free!):

DOWNLOAD HERE: XPS or PDF

If you are on Windows Vista (or Windows 7!), the XPS version should load without installing anything. If you are on Windows XP, and need an XPS viewer, you can get one here or use the PDF version. If you're on a Mac or Linux, you'll probably want the PDF version. I don't plan on posting the Finale file

The Process

One of my (many) excuses for not transcribing more in the recent past is that I didn't feel I had a good, productive setup for it. I wanted to be able to do it all on the computer - playing an MP3/WMA on the computer and using my MIDI keyboard to notate the transcription directly into Finale while using my horn to pick off the notes as I heard them. Afterwards, Finale would be able to play the transcription back to me as well. The first problem I had with this setup was that I didn't have a good playback program. Most media players are too heavy-weight for transcription work, and don't have decent transport controls, let alone pitch/speed control, looping, etc. In the past I had tried plug-ins for Windows Media Player and Winamp, but they were all band-aids for the real problem, which was that they were the wrong tool for the wrong job.

The solution to this problem was Transcribe!  A friend turned me on to this program, and it's amazing. I could make a few minor UI suggestions, but it was otherwise perfect for me. I can't recommend it enough. Not only is it a great transcription tool, but it's also a great practice tool since I can loop sections and slow them down (without changing the pitch) to practice. It goes without saying that I had to slow down parts of the solo quite a bit to hear each note that was being played.

The second problem I had with my end-to-end computer setup was transposition. if the soloist played a 'G' on the horn, I wanted to play a 'G' on my horn, play a 'G' on the MIDI keyboard (which would also sound the same 'G') to enter the note into Finale, have Finale place a 'G' on the transposed staff, and then have Finale play that 'G' back to me. Because I play a transposing instrument, this never seemed to work. I could tried everything and would always have at least one link in the chain that didn't work correctly - the keyboard would sound a Bb instead of G, Finale would put an E on the staff, or the computer would play back the wrong note.

The solution to this problem was to abandon the end-to-end computer setup. Even though I used Transcribe! for playback, and Finale for notation, I did an intermediate step of writing the solo out by hand with pencil(!) and paper. It turns out that this was much quicker for me anyway, since the notes were a lot easier to pick out (generally) than the rhythm. Had I done everything in Finale, I wouldn't have been able to finish a single measure until I knew how the whole phrase fit together rhythmically (which was often the hardest part to figure out).

So, I basically just roughed stuff out on paper, and then went back later into Finale to notate. This was often helpful as a sanity check and basic proofreading step. Admittedly, this is the least effective way to transcribe a solo if you really want to get the full musical benefit out of the process. Ideally, you don't write down the solo as you transcribe it. You memorize it (and thus, learn to play it), as you go. That way, when you're done, you can play the whole solo from memory. I knew that I couldn't do that with this solo for a number of reasons. For one, it's too difficult to play, and it's too long (12 minutes!) And since my schedule doesn't allow me to practice more than 2-3 times a week, I'd never finish it if I followed that approach this time. I was focused strictly on throughput - getting the thing done as quickly as I could!

I honestly don't know how long it took me to do the transcription. The work was spread out over 2-3 weeks with maybe 3-4 sessions per week tops. Some were as short as an hour, others were as long as 2-3 hours at a stretch. I'm sure I spent more than 20 hours total on the transcription, but probably not more than 40 (guessing).

Mistakes

"...I've made a few, but I did it my way". OK, that's not how the lyrics go, but you get the idea. I know that there are mistakes in the transcription, so if you find any, by all means let me know so I can fix them. One of the challenges of the a capella format is how loose the time is. Much of the transcription is open to interpretation - for example, "where is 1?"..."Does it even matter?" is a more interesting question. I've done my best to notate things in a manner that balances accuracy with readability, but inevitably there will be spots where other people might have made different choices. You'll see lots of odd-meter bars in the transcription. This is generally an attempt to get phrases to line up in a more readable manner when Chris is playing 'across the bar line'. I certainly wouldn't categorize these as mistakes on Chris' part, simply creative choices!

Several parts of the solo are very rubato with sections that slow down or speed up. I notated the solo with the idea that people reading it would either be familiar enough with the recording, or the specific tempo changes didn't matter (i.e. they just wanted to steal a few ideas here and there). So with that in mind, I didn't go crazy trying to make the notation accurate enough for a computer to re-create the performance exactly.

Again, feel free to make suggestions as to where I can improve! That's a big reason for sharing the transcription with everyone. I'm sure that I'll upload corrected versions from time to time. Look in the comments stream of this post for updates.

Analysis

Along with learning to play the solo at full speed, I'm also working on analyzing the solo. For starters, trying to figure out the roadmap. ATTYA has a well-known form and chord progression, but again, one of the biggest challenges of an a capella solo is that the player can be loose with both the time and form. So you can't really count 16-bars into the solo and say "this must be the bridge!" because it generally isn't. Some chord changes are compressed or extended, so it will take some more work (and interpretation) to try and figure out what chord progression Chris was mentally referring to at any given point in the solo. Once I have the form figured out, it should be interesting to break down the different types of scales and patterns that Chris uses in different situations. Since there is no rhythm section providing harmonic reference, I expect that he's taking more liberties with the chords and playing more 'outside' than he normally would.

There's already a lot on the page, so if I do add chord changes and section markers, I'll probably post a version with and without the chords and section markers (for those who just want to read the notes/rhythms).

You're Welcome : )

Just kidding! I briefly considered trying to sell the transcription (I would have paid for a copy if one were available when I was looking initially), but in the end, I didn't feel like it was worth the hassle. No matter how much or how little I would have charged, I would always feel like the quality of the transcription wasn't quite worth the price. So enjoy the free transcription! If you really feel compelled to compensate me for my time, you can always wire me a donation of your choosing via PayPal, I won't turn it down!

Keep in Touch

I'd love to hear your feedback/comments/corrections/questions. if you have complaints, just remember that you get what you pay for : )

Thanks in advance for any comments/suggestions/corrections. I may not have time to respond to people individually, and also note that I don't accept messenger/facebook/etc. requests from people I don't actually know...nothing personal : )

Scott

scott_dart@hotmail.com

P.S.

Thanks Chris for playing such an inspiring solo! It's a real credit to his level of execution on this solo that this transcription was even possible at the speeds he was playing!

Flat Stanley came to Seattle this weekend for a visit. He didn't have much time, so we had to hop in the car and go! Who's got the car keys?

First stop - lunch! Stanley loves Sushi!

Seattle (actually, Redmond) is the home of Microsoft, where Andrew's uncle Scott works. Stanley gets his picture taken in front of the Microsoft sign, like all of the other tourists.

Jenny took Stanley to the buildings where xboxes are made. Stanley had to stop and play for a few minutes! While he was there, he ran into Master Chief himself!

Then is was off to downtown Seattle. Stanley stopped at the famous Pike's Place Market, where they have the very first Starbucks coffee shop!

Right next to Pike's Place Market is an alley where thousands of people have stuck their gum to the wall. It's called the 'gum wall'. Stanley thought that it was a little gross, but he got his appetite back quickly.

Stanley walked down to the water. It was a nice day, so he decided to stop and feed the seagulls outside of Ivar's.

Seattle has beautiful scenery. There goes a ferry boat!

Stanley stopped by the Seattle Art Museum, and met the 'Hammering Man' statue.

Then it was on to Gasworks Park, where it was very windy.

One more stop by Kerry Park to see the Space Needle and the Seattle Skyline up close, and then Stanley just had one more stop to make

He had to visit the troll that lives under the bridge in Fremont!

Stanley had a very busy (but fun) day. Soon, he'll be on his way to visit more friends, before traveling back to Chicago.

Last week, the Dart-Clark-Benz family got together to celebrate Thanksgiving in Napa California. Christi and Charlie live just a few hours away in Sacramento, and Jenny and I are only a day's drive away in Seattle, so it seemed like a pretty convenient location for everyone to meet at. The Chicago crew flew in, and rented a beautiful house which served as our home base for the week. The house had several acres of planted grapes (which were as delicious as they were beautiful). We got some great sunset photos there, as well as our annual family photos. It's always amazing to see how much each the kids change from year to year. It's hard to believe that Hannah will be two in just a few weeks!

While in Napa, we did some wine tasting, but mostly just relaxed. An unexpected surprise for me was the fact that the house had a large tree/bush that was a hummingbird magnet! I've never really had the opportunity to photograph hummingbirds in the wild, but I had plenty of opportunities on this trip. Hummingbirds are fascinating to watch, and frustrating to photograph! They move too quickly and unpredictably, I found that the best strategy was to stake out a location, and not to try to follow an individual bird. Luckily, I had brought my 70-200 f/2.8 with me, and the Mark III performed beautifully. It's almost as if the high speed shooting mode was designed to catch these little suckers!

It's about a 10-hour drive from Seattle to Napa. We drove down the 'quick' way on I-5, pretty much a straight shot, with an overnight stop in Redding, CA. On the way back, we wanted to explore a little more, so we took the scenic route home. If we had a bit more time, we would have liked to stop in San Francisco to see the Golden Gate bridge (maybe next time). Instead, we made our way over to the coast by way of Hwy 101, and stayed on 101 all the way through California and Oregon until our final stopover in Cannon Beach, OR. Along the way, we saw a spectacular sunset in Trinidad CA, had a foggy hike through the sand dunes of southern Oregon. Near Yachats, we saw the Sea Lions (the free ones on the rocks in the ocean, not the rip-off ones in the stupid cave). We stopped at the Heceta Head Lighthouse, but opted to skip the hike this time. Our last stop on the trip was at Cannon Beach. The weather was beautiful! 

I've been keeping an eye on the skies over the lake, and haven't seen very many eagles lately. Looking through my photos from the last year or so, they tend to be scarce for the first few months of the year, and then they return in late spring. The same thing happened this year.

Last night I saw several eagles flying around outside my window: 1-2 adult bald eagles, and 2-3 immature bald eagles. I almost wonder if they are off nesting during the time when they disappear, but I can't think that the immature eagles I'm seeing now are that young. Plus, if they were nesting, I would expect there to be a nest or two in Marymoor park (maybe there is, I've never seen any evidence of one).  

Oh well, I'm just happy that they're back! I got maybe one decent shot last night (hey, I'm out of practice!)

The weather is getting much nicer now, so hopefully I'll start getting some good photo opportunities again soon.

Because it's time for baby birds!

A few weeks ago, I was driving past the Redmond Town Center (the mall in Redmond), and saw an unusual number of Great Blue Herons sitting in a tree across the street. There's a small pond there, and a bit of a wetland area that the bike trail runs through.

Soon after, Jenny and I saw a few Herons flying back and forth with sticks - they were building nests! It wasn't long before the nests were built, and all you could see was the occasional eye sticking through the twigs.

The weather has been pretty lousy here - cloudy, overcast, rainy (in Seattle - really??), so I haven't made it over to the nest very often, but I occasionally slow down as I drive past to see if there's any activity (to Jenny's protests). Once or twice we heard clucking sounds coming from the general area, but never saw any baby Herons...until this weekend!

The weather still wasn't great, but I did manage to get some good shots of the lower nest, where there are four baby Herons. They might be as much as a month old (I'm not sure), so they're actually pretty big - and goofy looking. They stay pretty well out of sight until food arrives, and then they go crazy! The upper nest has three chicks (I think). They didn't get fed while i was there, so it's hard to tell. There is another nest in the larger tree that borders the pond, but it's harder to see what's going on in it because of the location.

It seems like one Heron sits and watches the kids, while the other one hunts for food. When it shows up, it feeds the little ones, and the one that has been standing watch takes a turn at hunting for food.

I'd estimate that these little guys are about the size of chickens already. I can't imagine they'll all fit in the nest much longer at the rate they're growing.

After eating, they are pretty wound up for awhile, and roughhouse with each other for a bit until they settle back down.

I read somewhere that they take their first flight from the nest at around 60 days. They spend a lot of time flapping their wings, so they're eager to get going!

Hopefully the weather will improve soon...I'll keep trying to get good photos! 

Monday was Jenny's birthday, and I took the day off of work to spend with her. She got to decide how we spent the day, and she wanted to go to the Woodland Park Zoo to see the new tiger cub that was born at the zoo December 12th. Monday was the first day the public could view the tiger cub, it is only 37 lbs.

We happened to get there at the perfect time to get a great spot near the front of the line, with only 15-20 minutes before the exhibit was scheduled to open. In reality, it didn't open for another 30-45 minutes after that, but it was worth the wait! I couldn't believe how many people were in the line, and how much press coverage there was! John Curly from Evening Magazine was there to announce the tiger's name (there was a contest to pick the name).

Hadiah is a cute tiger cub, and was very active when we got to the exhibit - running and jumping, chewing on branches, etc. It was pretty dark, and we only had a few minutes there before they hustled us out. We did manage to get a few photos though...

More on Hadiah from the Seattle-PI (pictures).

Here are some of the photos of the family taken during our recent vacation to Sanibel Florida

Jenny and I just got back from a week-long vacation in Sanibel, Florida. It was very relaxing and a lot of fun as well. The weather was great (low-mid 80's every day, and only one day where it was cloudy most of the day). I have been to Sanibel twice before, but this was Jenny's first trip. We spent a lot of time exploring the area, and taking a lot of photos! Jenny and I both love taking photos, and I'm especially partial to bird photography. Although the main reason for our trip to Sanibel was to vacation with my family, the timing of the trip happened to coincide with the end of the peak birding season in Sanibel. Many species of birds spend the winter in the area, and Jan-March is typically the best time to see them.

Although I had been to Sanibel before, and knew a few places to get some good shots (Ding Darling, Corkscrew Swamp), the trip would not have been nearly as great a success had it not been for Arthur Morris. He's an amazing bird photographer based out of SW Florida. I purchased one of the guides from his site: http://www.birdsasart.com/, which gave me the low-down on all of the places to see. The advice was invaluable - the burrowing owls were worth the cost of the guide by themselves!

I'll post a few photos here, along with some details of the trip. As I get a chance to edit some more photos, they will eventually end up on my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scott_dart/

Equipment

I shot with my Canon 20D, while Jenny used her Rebel. I probably spent most of the time using my Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS, switching to my 70-200 f/2.8L IS when I needed more flexibility than the prime lens provided. When I needed more reach, I used either a 1.4x or 2x extender. Jenny spent most of the time with the 70-200 f/2.8L IS, and used it hand held with the 2x a lot at Ding Darling. I hand-held the 300mm for two hours at Cayo Costa, which is about my limit with that lens. The rest of the time, it was hanging off my Winberley sidekick on my RRS BH-55 ballhead.

Workflow

The workflow that I used for this trip was all new for me. Generally, I shoot RAW+JPEG with my Canon 20D (I do this so that I can use the JPEGs for small/quick previews that I can tag, share, etc. while still having the RAW files for when I need to edit photos for more critical output). I wanted to maximize the space on both my CF cards and laptop, so I only shot RAW on this trip. I used Adobe Lightroom for the first time, and found it to be a good tool overall (with some very frustrating quirks). I couldn't get it to import properly, so I just used the Windows Vista Photo Gallery to import my RAW files. Canon released their RAW codec for Windows Vista too late for me to use on this trip, but Vista can still import RAW files without the codec. I also used FolderShare for the first time, which worked amazingly well. By the time I got home, I had multiple copies of all of my photos waiting for me on various machines. Of course this only works when you have network connectivity...

Ding Darling

We went to Ding Darling almost every morning for sunrise. Sunrise was typically 15-20 minutes after the reserve opened, which was perfect timing for us. We usually got there early enough to get a good spot in line and get our gear in order. When the gate opened, there was a caravan of photographers racing to find the best spot to set up that morning. The experience was very hit-or-miss though. The first day was the best, with two major feeding frenzies in progress right after sunrise. Literally dozens of birds from many different species all hunting for food in close proimity to each other (and the road). We were lucky that they were on the left side of the road, which is ideal for the morning light. Unfortunately, we made a rookie mistake and didn't bring any bug spray on that first morning, so we both got eaten alive. Also, the spoonbills took off about 5 minutes before the sun hit them. Apart from the bugs, the biggest problem was editing: with so many subjects to choose from, it was a real challenge picking the right subject to focus on. At times, it was actually too busy, with a stray bird wandering into the background of what otherwise would have been a great shot of the subject you were trying to isolate.

Our second trip to Ding Darling was on the only day that it was overcast, so there was no direct light on the birds. This was too bad, because the spoonbills stayed around all morning, and we got some great shots of them (as best we could given the light). Again, there were multiple feeding frenzies underway throughout the reserve. We thought we were in for a great week...

...but the remaining trips to Ding Darling were pretty much a bust. Our third trip was cut short because we had to catch the boat to Cayo Costa. It was just as well, since there was hardly a bird to be found at sunrise that day. And it was one of the lowest tides of the week too, go figure...more of the same the next two days, although on the last day we did see quite a few birds (including several spoonbills) at sunrise, but they were all on the right side of the road, so we were shooting them into the sun. After the poor results on the previous two days, we were willing to settle for it! We also tried Ding Darling at sunset one evening, but it was unfortunately a ghost town.

Burrowing Owls

I think this was the highlight of the trip! Jenny and I got up early to make the commute to Cape Coral, following the tips that we had gotten from Art (which were spot on). It's amazing how many owls there are - just hanging out in the middle of the city. We saw a few on the way to the first nest we had targeted, and even more as we drove from site to site. We headed straight for the first nest, and got our gear set up right in time for sunrise. One owl was sitting outside the nest, and another soon came out to join him. In all, we must have stopped at 10 nests. The only downside was that we didn't see any babies, but all of the owls we ran into were friendly and photogenic!

Ft. Myers Beach

After visiting the owls, we headed south to Ft. Myers Beach. We wanted to check out the lagoon. We got there around noon, so the light was terrible, but we figured that we'd check it out. We saw a wild feeding frenzy in the small pond that used to be the lagoon. I don't know if it's due to the hurricanes over the previous years, or the general drought conditions that we saw everywhere else, but the lagoon didn't resemble what we saw on the map at all. We only got a few photos here. The light wasn't great, and by the time we had eaten lunch, many of the birds had moved on. We thought about making a trip back at sunrise, but instead we focused our energy on Ding Darling at sunrise.

Corkscrew Swamp

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...I had been to Corkscrew Swamp in the past. While not great, I had gotten a handful of shots that I really liked there, so I figured it was worth the drive again. I started to think we had made a big mistake - the traffic was terrible, and the water level was so low that it could hardly be called a swamp at all. I would say that 95% of the 'swamp' was completely dry. However, the remaining 5% was packed with wildlife. Several gators, turtles, and many species of birds. We were able to get some great shots, even better than at Ding Darling due to how close you can get to the birds. We were fortunate to observe an Anhinga and a turtle who appeared to be playing a game with each other. The Anhinga would poke the turtle on the back until it stuck its head out of the water, and then the Anhinga would poke the turtle in the head until it went back under water. They repeated this over and over for about 10 minutes until the turtle tired of the game and swam off (I don't blame him!).

Sanibel Beaches

We stopped at many of Sanibel's beaches over the course of the week. Some of our best shots came from Blind Pass Beach, where we ran into a very tame Great Blue Heron every time we were there. It was begging for leftovers from the local fishermen with great success. It also had its head in their bait buckets if they turned their back too long. Jenny got a great shot of this, but she shot it from a perspective that made it look like the heron was eating out of a bag of potato chips instead of bait! Too funny. We also got some nice shots of some egrets at the Sanibel fishing pier (by the ligthhouse). We tended to head there around sunset when we could.    

Cayo Costa

We took a boat to Cayo Costa, which is a small island to the north of Captiva that is only accessible by boat. They run charters for people who go there to collect shells. My family went for the shelling, but I took my camera in the hopes that I'd see some birds. I was lucky, there was an osprey nest right near the beach. I was able to get some good shots of the Osprey coming and going. Just as we were getting ready to leave, I caught one coming back to the nest with a large fish. I had a great shot of it landing with the fish that was obscured by branches in front of it. Eventually, I was able to move to a better vantage point. 

Wrapping Up

That's all for now, I've got a lot of unpacking and laundry to do! I've also got to get myself adjusted back to Seattle time...I still find myself waking up at 3:00am so that I can catch the sunrise in Florida :) 

Doctorfunk played at the Triple Door Tuesday night. The Triple Door is a beautiful venue with a great stage. We all had a lot of fun, and we had a better turnout than we had hoped for considering it was a weeknight.

Below are some photos from the show taken by our lovely resident photographer Jenny. The last two photos were sent to us by one of our fans named Grace

I was playing around with some new photo tools today, here are the results:

• Eagle: A few shots of the Eagles that hang out across the street
• Heron: A few shots of this Heron that hangs out across the street from Redmond Town Center
• Sunset on Seattle: Taken 10 minutes after a spectacular sunset in Seattle last weekend (grr)
• UW: Cherry blossoms in bloom on the UW quad, and a shot of the statue

On an unrelated note, I ran across this live webcam on an Eagle's nest in Vancouver, B.C. It's fascinating to watch! There are a pair of bald eagles taking turns sitting on two eggs.

http://www.infotecbusinesssystems.com/encoder/index.html

• Garage: check !
• Entry hallway: check!
• First flight of stairs: check!
• Downstairs bathroom: check!
• Downstairs bedroom: check!

I really wanted some color, so with the exception of the garage (stark white, it was unpainted before), I went with dark colors. For the hallway: Buffalo Bill, with Wagon Train for the ceiling. Then I reversed it for the hallway - Wagon Train on the walls and Buffalo Bill on the ceiling. Deep red for the bathroom, and a deep bright blue for the bedroom.

From here on out, the rooms get bigger and the ceilings get higher. But I'm working up to it one wall at a time. I'm not looking forward to doing the lofts and vaulted ceilings or skylights, but the end result will be all worth it when it's done...only 3.5 more floors to go!

Also, the tile floor doesn't really match the paint, but those are going as soon as I can get it together enough to put in hard wood floors.

P.S.

I took these photos with my new 17-40L lens. My next lens was going to be the 100-400, but due to financial constraints (and a hot deal from Dell on the 17-40), I decided to go with the 17-40 first. It's my first "L" lens, and I like it so far. I was so proud of myself with these photos - I used my new lens, used a tripod, and even used a grey card to set the white balance...the only thing I messed up was forgetting that the ISO was set to high from the last time I used the camera..D'oh! One of these days I'll get it right the first time...