John Coltrane: Ascension by Gooi Tah Choe https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657 Q&A en-us 2022-03-29 03:40:28 UTC 2025-12-23 07:28:19 UTC hello@padlet.com What are some features that you think are important or prominent? gooitahchoe1 https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2118518310 constant messiness

motif from love supreme

Which instruments are doubled (Maybe even tripled for the tenor sax)]]> 2022-03-29 03:41:05 UTC https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2118518310 What elements are pre-determined before the performance? gooitahchoe1 https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497365425 Instrumentation, dynamic, when to play
where and when to play

Drum rhythm 

Who is leading the intro

- Tempo

melodic motif at the start of the piece which the rest of the improv builds on

Mode]]> 2023-02-28 03:51:23 UTC https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497365425 What elements are not pre-determined? gooitahchoe1 https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497365784 - The specific pitches in the improvisation

- rhythm ]]> 2023-02-28 03:51:37 UTC https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497365784 If you were to create a free improvisation? What would you discuss with your performers? gooitahchoe1 https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497366507 ඞ
how to actually make it sound good

range of improvisation and who plays in what range at what time (so that no two people are improvising in the same range at once) , when to start improvising

]]> 2023-02-28 03:52:37 UTC https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497366507 Ernest https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497448183 Important/prominent features 


-opening 4 note motif establishes tones and intervals for Improvisation 
-distinct break between opening ensemble section to a faster tempi in the next section
-Coltrane solo and prominence against the rest of the ensemble 
- range and exploration of Color and harmony within the motif
(sortof like exploring a rag in Indian Music) (eg. through exploration of a higher tessitura)

-textural compression and depression within the sections  

Transition to next section marked by the entrance of the drums (allusion to gat?)

Predetermined 
- cues to break into separate sections 
- tones and intervals of improvisation 
- velocity of improvisation 

Indeterminate
-range used 
- rhythm of improv ]]> 2023-02-28 05:31:07 UTC https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497448183 Jaden https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497453582 -Call and response between soloist(s) and rhythm section 
-Dense tone clusters
-Ligeti's micropolyphony?
-no clear soloist, perhaps more than one
-Afterwards, a section with thinner section with clear sax soloist, with mainly piano comping and drums playing groove
-Why does it sound like Mwandishi 
-Motif Love Supreme?]]> 2023-02-28 05:39:19 UTC https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497453582 About making it sound nice... gooitahchoe1 https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497606435 It is sometimes not about making sure that it sounds good. Rehearsals are important to get what you want, and it is sometimes not easy to predict the outcome. 

Coltrane knew and played with his performers for years. Yet, the recording of Ascension still came with a lot of tension among players and frustration. 

Alto Saxophonist, Marion Brown mentioned that both takes "had that kind of thing in them that makes people scream. The people who were in the studio were screaming. I don't know how the engineers kept the screams out of the record.“]]> 2023-02-28 08:35:40 UTC https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497606435 On deciding when and what to play... gooitahchoe1 https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497609333 Like Ascension, you may have a motivic idea and lead sheet to start This is what recorded during the studio session, see what you think:

•The recording took place, unrehearsed, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on June 28, 1965. At the start of the session, Coltrane handed out lead sheets. According to Archie Shepp, "The ensemble passages were based on chords, but these chords were optional... In the solo plus quartet parts there are no specified chords. These sections were to be dialogues between the soloists and the rhythm section.“ 

•"Trane had obviously thought a lot about what he wanted to do, but he wrote most of it out in the studio. Then he told everybody what he wanted: He played this line and he said that everybody would play that line in the ensembles. Then he said he wanted crescendi and decrescendi after every solo. We ran through some things together, until we were together, and then we got into it.“ – Marion Brown (alto saxophone)
]]> 2023-02-28 08:38:36 UTC https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497609333 For Jaden gooitahchoe1 https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497612430 Go listen to Mwandishi again and compare for similarities and differences. And no micropolyphony. See the Saxophone demo video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnFrGC1n-Gk

]]> 2023-02-28 08:41:33 UTC https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497612430 Lead Sheet for Ascension gooitahchoe1 https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497616769 There is actually a lead sheet. But performers can add other chords to it and not play some of the chords]]> 2023-02-28 08:45:23 UTC https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497616769 Think about the following when you improvise! gooitahchoe1 https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497618557 Think about the following: 

·       Melodic improvisation (solo or collective?)
·       Layers that create Texture (what is the density?)
·       Ostinato or Vamp (through out or entre at various points?)
·       Leadership (who to follow? How free is free? How to begin and end?)
·       Listener (who to listen for in the performance?
·       Think about different “models” that you have encountered (Ascension, Mwandishi, Ogunde, A Love Supreme

]]> 2023-02-28 08:47:08 UTC https://padlet.com/eunoiapadlet/Bookmarks1741061657/wish/2497618557