Transcribing on the job // VLOG
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2018
- When it literally pays to transcribe, Ben Wendel drops by, BAM case update, and slow practice cuz...
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Bob Reynolds is a Grammy Award-winning tenor saxophonist known for his work with Snarky Puppy, John Mayer, and 9 solo albums. His latest album, Quartet, debuted at #3 on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz charts. He is a D'Addario Woodwinds artist.
“A self-assured saxophonist and an unassuming yet effective composer…”
NEW YORK TIMES
“…Reynolds flexes an assured hand with melding hip-swiveling jazz and funk as a bandleader.”
LA TIMES
“Some of the freshest, most compelling, and most soulful music I have heard recently. Bob Reynolds is an amazing musician, with something very exciting and original to say.”
Joshua Redman, Grammy-nominated saxophonist
“Bob is one hell of a saxophonist! His sound is rich and his execution is effortless.”
Michael Brecker, Grammy-winning saxophonist
LONGER BIO
Saxophonist Bob Reynolds is an in-demand jazz performer, educator, and sideman, as well as a regular member of the Grammy Award-winning band Snarky Puppy. Born in Morristown, New Jersey in 1977, Reynolds grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, where he first started playing saxophone at age 13. Although he listened to a range of music as a kid, by his late teens he was a dedicated jazz student. After high school he honed his skills at Boston's Berklee College of Music, where he mentored with George Garzone, Hal Crook, and others. As a leader, he debuted with 2000's The Bob Reynolds Quartet, followed by 2006's Can't Wait for Perfect. That same year, he joined fellow Berklee alum John Mayer's band and spent the next five years with the pop star, touring and appearing on such albums as 2008's Where the Light Is and 2009's Battle Studies.
In 2013, he returned to his solo work with Somewhere in Between, which reached number one on digital jazz charts. He then made his Snarky Puppy debut appearing on the genre-bending group's 2014 effort, We Like It Here. Two years later he was back with Snarky Puppy for the Grammy Award-winning Culcha Vulcha. In 2017, Reynolds delivered the EP Guitar Band, which featured appearances from Kneebody bassist Kaveh Rastegar as well as fellow Snarky Puppy members Robert "Sput" Searight (drums) and Mark Lettieri (guitar). ~ Matt Collar - เพลง
Bob's sound never gets old
Ben Wendel's face always makes me laugh when he's playing. Looks like hes squeezing one out
Love this cat man! What an amazing player, and he is ALWAYS willing to share his knowledge which very few players are willing to do.
I love how he says that the instrument is a vehicle to make sound of what you hear in your head...very inspiring
That tone @ 9:33 is to awesome! So mellow! When i think of jazz, I think of this sax tone, a walking double bass and a grand piano comping! :)
That's always my favorite game. Hide the sax behind the back. 😂 I had to fly LAX-Gatwick and then Ibiza, Spain. With my 6,2 Frame I was able to hide my tenor that was in a Bam case which are huge and square. Especially on those little horrible airlines that barely let you have a decent carry on. Felt like an accomplishment.
You forget to mention...transcribing is just plain fun!...great skill that comes in handy when recording for sure.
Mychelf is the cutest slip of the tongue ever !
Hey Bob, love your work man. Totally agree about slowing down transcriptions. Even the ability to pause and play recordings really precisely is a luxury (I use it heaps of course). None of the old masters would have even been able to do that. I heard once that Charlie Parker would sit next to the radio practicing until the song he was transcribing came on and he would have to learn a new phrase each time from a single play by remembering a fragment and singing it before learning to play it. Takes internalising things quickly to a whole other level. (I reckon he would have been smashing the pause and rewind if he could though).
Hey bob , I’m new to your channel but the idea of playing what you hear in your head is known I think is known as audiation. Adam Neely sent me and I’m hooked.
Might have been 21st century classical music, still a DOPE lick.
Such a nice, generous person. And amazing musician. Thanks Bob.
Love your videos! By the way, about the case latch issue. After an expensive incident, I now wrap a strap bought at a climbing shop around my case. Works great. Looks pretty OK. Cheapest insurance ever.
Hey Bob! I’m a guitarist and I just wanna say how awesome your vids are for me! I appreciate your dedication to your craft, your ability, and your willingness to be transparent with your experiences throughout your musical journey!
thank for your magic Bob.
Thankyou a lot of great info
I had a vinyl deck with a 16rpm speed - it played LPs an octave down and at half speed. Very handy. I think I could cope at full speed now.
Hey Bob!
Love the part with your jumper over your case.
I have the same case as yours (since 4-5 years) and totaly understand what you mean ;-)
😂😂😂
the FL ligature you tried is the one I use. I love it. Gets me a better seal on the reed.
Beautiful!
Question. First dig your vlog have learned a lot from it, thank you. I play guitar so I can play multitone i.e. chords. In video you mention learning the changes to a song and I wondered what that mean to a single note instrument like sax means. Are you learning the chord symbols written on the paper, or are you learning it as roman numeral system so you can transpose as needed. Just wondered how horn player think about chord changes.
Hello Bob. You mentioned that you don't transcribe to learn more vocabulary. Is it because you did that extensively in the past, or because you think it's not necessary? I see many people talking about transcribing a solo, analyze it, pick vocabulary (licks/motifs) you like from it, learn them in all keys, modify them, apply them to tunes etc. Do you think this process is not necessary?
alexandros papadopoulos I very much think it becomes apart of your vocab whether you realize it or not...most of our licks comes from places we don't really remember.But I think transcribing with only a intention to gain vocab can be stressful and put you in a loop of habits.If you dont have any already. Lol
Great question!
Hey Bob! It's Michael from Wyoming. I've been catching up on your VLOGs recently and thought I would add my thoughts on the durability of the BAM case! I have one for my tenor, and last year down in Texas ended up wrecking my moped with my horn! The case went sliding quite a ways, and now has some serious gouges, but my horn was fine! I was super impressed!
wow! glad you're ok-and thanks for sharing; good to know.
See you at Rudy's!!
Thank you for sharing, I also do better playing by ear in real time, I do have a app that slow it down. I perf to do in real time 🎶🎶🎷
Going to try this out on Eric Alexander's take on Dexter's "cheesecake".. I have used slowdowners in the past , let's see if I can do without. I like Eric Alexander's playing a lot, everything he plays is very clear, which makes it ideal stuff to transcribe. Also promised myself to not write it down this time..
Hi Bob! Congrats for your amazing videos! I would like to ask, how do you escape of doing the same lines/ patterns in improvisation? How do you heal your vocabulary ? Thank you!
Ben Wendel standards with friends?
7:28
What saxophone? Jhahahahaj that moment before going into the plane is scary
Love the blue t-shirt you are wearing in the session. Where did you get it, Bob?! :-)
Greetings from Greece, I saw you use the metronome on 2&4. Talk a bit about it. Do you use it on slower tempos too?
Do you use "half tongue" for to play some "ghost notes"?
Hey Bob, when you are transcribing on the spot like you did in the session, are you trying to listen to the intervals in between the notes (m2, M3, etc.) or do you hear the scale degrees of the notes in relation to the chord? I know that might be a weird way to ask that question, but I’m trying to improve my ear training, and I was wondering about your internal process when you hear something and try and play it back. Thanks!
Is transcribing the wrong way to go about learning "vocabulary"?
I bet my horse it is a faster rout to go using a slow downer, to get to the goal faster. There's so many examples this work, sports, etc, slow it down and increase the speed.
Hey there Bob- is this tshirt available anywhere? Can’t find it on google…. Thanks man, merry merry happy happy!
Hi Bob, what's that microphone you're using to record yourself at home? Loving the vlogs!
Hey Bob. I am an alto player and i’m trying to get into playing tenor. I was wondering which mouthpiece, lig and reeds you are using. Thanks
Hey, Bob! I studied classical and jazz saxophone in college and I am 6 years out of school now. These days I have the urge to work on jazz transcriptions and jazz language but it seems like most of my time for practicing is used for learning a bunch of tunes for upcoming gigs, mostly in the funk, pop, reggae, and soul genres. I learn all these tunes by ear, but it's more like learning "parts" rather than "tunes". I want to be a strong player in any style. Do you think there is as much value for your musicianship if you spend your time transcribing popular horn parts as opposed to spending your time learning solos/licks by jazz artists? I try to do both but sometimes the time I have is only enough to learn these parts for gigs. Thanks for your videos!
How did you start transcribing?? I can't seem to do it well at all
Lewitt sounds great is Ben playing an AEA ribbon or....? Both sound good.
What microphone do you use to record yourself playing?
Hey Bob, love your channel and playing. It's nice to see a great cat like you sharing your wisdom with us. I just have a question. I know you said in one of your previous videos, I think you were transcribing a Clifford Brown lick, that it is important to practice slow as well as transcribing, but here you are saying to transcribe faster at speed. Personally, I do quite a bit of transcribing and I find it beneficial and to much success by slowing it down and not to rush learning it. But learning it at speed also seems to be a very valuable skill and hip. Should I continue learning it slow, or try focusing on learning it at speed? I'd just like to see your perspective on it. Thanks!
Hi Christopher I think Bob meant not slowing the recording down but still working on what you hear slowly to gradually bring it up to speed. In past videos he mentioned grabbing a few notes or small phrases one at a time slowly working through the section you're focusing on. That was my take on it anyway...
Phil Judd yeah that definitely makes sense. Some phrases I do not feel the need to slow down to learn as I can pick them up at faster tempos, however when comes to other things (ie most fast solos by Bird, Trane etc.) I feel I have to slow them down. Thanks for answering!
Lol...I am relatively new to the transcribing thing after many years of playing. I have been using a slow downer over the past year and can see great improvement. But recently Bob and another artist I admire mentioned not doing it. I must admit the little I have done at speed it definitely seems to be pushing my hearing in a way that feels hard but good. Almost hearing music in phrases and melodies rather than individual notes...no problem these discussions are important for learning...:-)..
Are you and Ben making a duet book 😱
yea..transcribing in real speed is better...and harder..I end up using the looping feature on my player alot!
Yup, it’s all about the looping :)
"memorising" might be a more accurate word than "transcribing". You are so right, it's a valuable skill all jazz players should develop.
Yep, I couldn't quite get why Bob's using "transcribing" since that refers to writing the music down. And yes, that too.
Transcribing in jazz does not necessarily refer to writing it down once it's learned. The essential part of transcribing is learning the music by ear, whether or not you write it down. "Memorizing" more often than not refers to memorizing a piece of music from a piece of sheet music, which is unrelated to this topic.
I memorise by listening to music and committing it to memory, with no written music involved.
I would call that transcribing and memorizing. I know it's a bit odd since transcribing usually refers to writing down music or speech, but I've heard learning solos and such by ear referred to as "transcribing" frequently
Those louis francois ligatures are very expensive
The not slowing things down argument is illogical. It’s like saying that if you want to be able to play scales fast, you should never play them slow. It’s a skill you learn, if you start doing it slow it makes it easier to do it fast. I can transcribe at speed now a lot better than I used to from doing it slow. My ear is a thousand times better. But if I need to put something at 15% to figure it out, I do.
I just don’t get it. It’s damaging to prevent people from learning things at speeds they can deal with. The fact that it’s new technology doesn’t change how helpful it is. Perhaps it allows people with crappier ears to transcribe stuff, I’m ok with that. Transcribing is a good thing.
Paul McEvoy Don't really think what you are saying is true. I have never been slowing things down and it really helped me to hear the microtime. Even with tempos 340+. You can transcribe stuff even when it is faster than you can hear it right away. Just stop after 2-3 notes and find them on your instrument. Repeat.
@@mrgabifour4 maybe you started when you already had a great ear or you're a natural talent. Point is, that it is for many people easier at least to begin with to slow the audio down at fast parts. It is then also much easier to actually stop after 3 notes and not overshoot.
I know I'm responding a long time since this comment was posted, but my teacher had a good way to back up the argument. He says that choosing solos that are slow (not simple) will build your ear with no need to slow it down. Its good to start technique and scales slow, and choosing what to transcribe correctly based on your ear is as important as what bpm you first learn your scales at
YES. so important... what do you do to help your students understand how important this is other than saying it over and over? haha.
Sam Hausmann oh I’m on board, it’s just convincing my students that I’m curious about 😜
Bob, i understand what you r saying, but i,ve Heard master classes or interviews of Michael brecker and Jerry bergonzi saying that they slow down things...it cant be that bad 😬
erlee
The danger is hearing other's ideals and not feeling as deeply as when we do it ourselves. That's just one reason why despite all the transcribers they sound like clones. Today's Jazz is not the same quality of the earlier eras and minus the Innovators who did things more naturally. Many reason's have developed what is heard today. The same talent is here today minus the life experiences that developed the Blacks that invented and Innovated the music. It's truly sad what I hear compared to the days of Roland Kirk,Oscar, Bird, Lee Morgan Wes and many more. Fortunately for the clones there are enough folks who think Kenny G is the greatest! Don't let the gigs and money fool you! Good Luck you certainly are a very good sax cat ! The thing to me is to be called an artist and not just a good instrumentalist by say someone who worked with GB, Oscar or anyone one who knows the differences.
Transcribe in real speed but slow down the tunes you're learning ok I guess. Lmbo
Slowing down to transcribe is for cowards.
As much as i love you Bob, I find your certainties
with regard to your way of transcribing being better
for you than slowing things down due to real world application
EVEN though you readily admit to never having slowed things down
very irksome - you can lump Gwizdala in with this criticism too.
On the topic of glaring hypocrisies, Why do you not apply
this 'real time' mindset to the rest of your practice ?
At this point you both sound like a couple of superstitious
old fools.
I challenge you (and that low ended wastrel of a bass pluckerer) to
actually try - with an open mind - a slowed down transcription session
(i recommend Transcribe software - no affiliation).
For the sake of science, sanity and the value of expert opinion -
DO IT!!
:D
Lol...I think he's right in one way though. I slow stuff down but it doesn't help a lot live to hear things straight away...it's like working a muscle hearing things at speed. In the moment being forced to hear it...slowing it down and gradually speeding it up doesn't do the same thing...like learning a language slowly compared with finding yourself in an active conversation. Also if you're trading it enables you to possibly grab lines from the instrument your trading with to deepens the conversation and make it more interactive...plus it shows you're listening to the other involved. My two cents anyway...:-)
I totally agree, transcribing in real time has huge merit. For me, this shouldn't ever be an either-or situation.
I'm advocating for both. Transcribe the things you can with your ear and when that genuinely fails, pull out the transcribing software to get you over the hump.
Yes both are good...but if you do one then at speed is best I think...but I am doing both because at speed I can't get some stuff at all...:-)
Should just be called memorize rather than "transcribe".