After choosing a song to include in a live performance you’ll want to sketch out a basic arrangement. Here, we’ve chosen the tune Soul Eyes by Mal Waldron. Listen to this version:
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Keep these objectives in mind:
- Decide the best strategy for building your solo piece. In this case the melody for Soul Eyes is on beats 4 and 1 for many of the bars. (See lead sheet). It makes sense to place our chords and counter lines on beats 2 and 3. That way we get a nice “conversation” going between the melody and the accompaniment. At the end of a phrase you can vary this and play the melody and chords together. Using a simple method like this will give your arrangement a nice sense of flow and movement.
- Be sure the melody is positioned in a good register. In Soul Eyes I play the first 4 bars up and octave so I have more room for my accompaniment. You can always move parts of the melody around to keep them in a good register. If the melody seems generally too low or too high then consider moving the entire tune to another key.
- When creating an arrangement for solo vibes try not to work everything out so that you wind up playing it exactly the same way each time. It is tempting to do this, but it can make the piece sound stiff and dull. Sketch out a basic concept for how you want to play the tune, find some voicing shapes that you like for the chords, and leave it at that. Then just play the tune a lot, trying to keep it fresh and inspired. You don’t need to come up with a completely original arrangement each time, but you want it to sound relaxed and a little spontaneous. That will be hard to do if your arrangement is cast in stone. Remember, try to keep it loose!
There are a lot of potential solo gigs out there for vibes players at local eateries, cafes, street fairs, etc. Granted they don’t pay much but it is a great opportunity to work on your repertoire and your solo chops.
The problem is most of these gigs are usually around 3 hours long, and that’s a LONG time to play solo. So I always bring along my secret weapon – a sequencer full of piano accompaniments I’ve created. Armed with these accompaniments I’ll play 2 or 3 nice solo pieces then fire up the sequencer and play a good bop tune, a fast blues, or a nice bright samba. I can concentrate on just playing the head without having to worry about filling out background parts. It really breaks up the pace and lets me focus on just the single line for a bit. Adding 2 – 4 “duets” into each set can really perk up the gig. Here’s an example: Continue reading 'Using Technology on Solo Gigs'»
Gigs for solo vibes may seem to be few and far between, but in reality there is lots of potential work out there for a vibes soloist. True, many of these gigs are in restaurants and up-scale bars where your job is to provide background or “mood” music, but you are still playing to an audience so you want to be prepared.
Most of this solo work tends to go to pianists and guitarists, but it is not too difficult to convince a restaurant owner to try out something different – a vibraphonist! I did this for 10 years and it really helped me develop and expand my technique and repertoire. More and better gigs come your way as people hear you play and hire you for concerts and events. Here’s what you need to do: Continue reading 'Solo Vibes Performance'»
Choosing what to play for an upcoming concert or gig can take time and effort. The obvious choice to “play what I know best” is not always the complete answer. Try asking a few basic questions:
- About how many people will I be playing for?
- What is the approximate age range of the audience?
- Is the performance in a public place or a private one?
You want to choose music that you can really play well, but you also want to choose music your audience will (hopefully) understand and enjoy. Continue reading 'Choosing Music'»
When you need to amplify your vibes for performance there are several good options to choose from. The simplest method is to place 2 general purpose microphones in front of the instrument – one at the upper end and one at the lower end. Using 2 mics is much better than trying to use just 1 because with 1 mic you need an omnidirectional pattern to cover the whole range of bars. However an omnidirectional mic will likely pick up the other instruments in the band too, which defeats the purpose of trying to mic the vibes altogether. Using 2 mics means you can use mics with a narrow pick up range. The other instruments near you will be less likely to bleed into your mics. Continue reading 'Choosing Microphones'»
Choosing the right mallets for a gig or concert is an important decision you need to make. Mallet selection is critical not only to ensure your audience can hear you, but to help define your unique identity as a vibes player and musician.
For vibes players, the first consideration is making sure you are loud enough. The vibe is a rather soft sounding instrument so you need to consider many factors to determine which mallets are suitable for your performance. Continue reading 'Choosing Mallets'»
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