11 Days for Big Band.
I’m working on a big band pieces for large ensemble. Here’s the first one. To support mattotto.org please visit the store: https://mattotto.e-junkie.com/
Blues in all 12 keys – play along
This is a simple educational play along – blues in all 12 keys – swing at 144 bpm
125: Blues for Alice
Two of my friends, Peter Schlamb and Matt Villinger, mentioned working on Blues for Alice by Charlie Parker during Covid. They’ve been playing it through the keys, one key per week, really trying to get it down. I thought I’d
Aeon, an Original Piece for Marimba and Saxophone
I wrote a short original piece for my friend and Marimba player Michael Compitello. Mike is an amazing musician whom I’ve had the honor of working with at KU. This is a duo piece which is a study in cycle 5 motion using minor harmony.
124: Shell + triad
By playing a G7 Shell (1,3,b7) and adding a triad over that basic structure, you can create a lot of harmonic voicings and melodic material.
Lessons Available Now $30
Covid19 has ended my gigging life for now and so I have more time to teach. Skype/Zoom/Hangouts are great ways to both teach and learn from the comfort of your own home. I charge 30$ for a 30 minute lesson
123: Ear Warm Up
A warm up that activates both your ear and your sound. Trying to discover smarter ways to warm up and do ear training is often on my mind when teaching. Many students spend time doing long tones but still have
122: Major Melody – Triplets grouped in 5
A Simple Major Melody: Exploring Diatonic Enclosures and Descending 6ths I’ve been working on a little melodic exercise that I think you’ll find really useful. It’s a simple major melody utilizing an enclosure and diatonic 6th and is grouped in
Composition using the 7 diatonic chords from the major scale.
This is an original composition of mine using a common writing tool. all the chords and melody to this piece come from one major scale.
Harmonic Major modes over 2-5-1 in Minor
Harmonic Major modes over 2-5-1 in Minor. I’ve been working on using the 7 modes of Harmonic Major over various chords as alternate scale choices. The example below uses two scales over a minor 2 – 5 – 1 –
7 Note Diminished Scale
Steve Cardenas, one of my favorite guitar players, taught me how to create a 7 note diminished scale. These scales work over Dominant b9 (half/whole) type diminished as well, but we’ll look at regular Diminished 7th in this example. There
Composition “Cuba Reborn”
This a short tune I wrote at the piano for my father Bruce’s birthday. The melody with the bass note creates triad inversions. That was the starting point, just trying to come up with some nice inversions where there are
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