PABLO RODRIGUEZ GONZALEZ AR2(rev.2) Violin – World Music 1st INTERVENTION CYCLE Keywords: Chop: The “chop” is a percussive bow stroke invented between 1965 and 1966 by pioneering fiddler Richard. It is produced by hitting the string with the first 5 cm of the bow resulting in a high pitch, fast & sharp sound. Fiddle: Alternative name for violin along folk music players Casey Driessen: (1978, Owatonna, Minnesota, United States) is an American bluegrass fiddler and singer. He is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, where he studied with Matt Glaser, and an alumnus of Homewood- Flossmoor High School in Flossmoor, Ill. He has performed with Béla Fleck, Abigail Washburn, Steve Earle, Tim O'Brien, Darrell Scott, Jim Lauderdale, Lee Ann Womack, Mark Schatz, John Doyle, and Chris Thile. He has recorded with Darol Anger, John Mayer, Jerry Douglas, Jamey Haddad, and Blue Merle. (wikipedia.org) ARTISTIC RESEARCH QUESTION (Old) How can I add depth to the use of rhythmical & harmonic aspects of my violin technique (percussive bowing effects used by fiddle player Cassey Driessen & Darol Anger) by transcribing, analyzing cajón & melodic grooves/riffs within modern flamenco music (Bulerías)? ARTISTIC RESEARCH QUESTION (Reformation) How can I add depth to my knowlegde & use of percussive bowing techniques used by fiddle player Cassey Driessen by transcribing, analyzing his music to translating commun cajón grooves/riffs so I can incorporate into my violin solo compositions & rhythmical improvisations? WHY CHANGE = CLEAR GOALs As my the work of my thesis was progressing I realized about two important aspects: - The technique of chopping it is a percussive bowing technique. My main interest is to generate my own rhythmical language by first analizing Casey Driessen own language and later exploring the possibilities of importing licks from percussion instruments. So I decided to narrow down the work by taking out the harmonic aspect which it could lead to another different research. TOOLS OF RESEARCH These are the stradegies which I followed to complete my First intervention cycle: Literature (desk) research: Method of Bibliography Case study: Method of Cross examina DESK RESEARCH INTERNET Techniques & Skills with Cassey Driessen Vol.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfvVyKiiFGE It is a series of small lessons where he explains the most important elements of his chopping technique. It will be useful to understand the technique and its sub-techniques he uses in order to facilitate the transcription of his music later on. I discovered this material through my peer Carmelo Emanuele Patti (jazz violinist). Fiddle/Sticks: The Drummer Project (From www.caseydriessen.com) The Drummer Project by Casey Driessen is a collaborative exploration of rhythm which pairs Casey – the leading voice in percussive fiddle/violin technique (AKA The Chop) – with a list of the landmark drummers and percussionists of our time. BOOK/DVD Chops & Grooves: Rhythmic Explorations for Bowed Instruments Darol Anger, Casey Driessen, Rushad Eggleston (DVD+Book) It is a two hour DVD guided by violinist, composer, and educator Darol Anger where he shows how you can create driving rhythms in a wide variety of musical styles such as bluegrass, celtic, ska, latin, rock and funk. It is acompany of a booklet with all the tunes played. This material was found through a reference in the Techniques & Skills with Cassey Driessen (snowball method) CD The Singularity. 2013. Cassey Driessen It is a violin solo work where he combines his own compositions and arrangements with electronics and loop station OUTCOME OF DESK RESEARCH BOOK/DVD Chops & Grooves: Rhythmic Explorations for Bowed Instruments Darol Anger, Casey Driessen, Rushad Eggleston (DVD+Book) - Notation used to represent chop strokes and notes - There is no specific or appropiate right hand position for chopping. Being confortable is the most important. It is an individual process - Gained knowledge about how they adapt different kinds of styles to the chop technique. - Explanation of how the chop technique works from Casey and Darol point of view. CASE STUDY:TRIANGULATION METHOD “Working in a Casey Driessen Building” Analysis Interview “Tanuki Attack ” CASEY DRIESSEN Analysis RHTYHMICAL CHOP LICKS ANALYSIS Techniques & Skills with Ca sey Driessen (Literature) TECHNIQUES & SKILLS WITH CASEY DRIESSEN From the analysis of the series chopping lessons I learned various subtechniques that allows me to enrich the palette of sounds. It is a full explanation of his chopping technique and its corresponding sub-techniques The Chop ° All the chop happens in the very frog of the bow. 3 inches maximum ° Rosin the bow is very important to have a good grip. Put more than usual ° Principles remain the same for the two forms of holding the bow (thumb bended or below the frog) Cyclical Slant ° It is variant of the traditional chop. The main function is to allow the bow chopping faster. ° It adds tone variation Kick Drum ° It refers to all the notes place on the strong beats on the meter as a kick drum usually is. Bass Lines ° Playing bass lines along with the cycle slant technique ° Most important is that left hand keeps moving even if a hard chop stroke is played (which won’t produce the desired pitch) The Triple Chop ° This technique comes from Cycle Slant. It allows to play fast sixteenth triplets ° It works by applying to the bow some motion towards the bridge. As Casey describes, it is like a plane landing in aircraft carrier. ANALYSIS OF TANUKI ATTACK - Tanuki Attack is a song which belongs to his last solo CD called “The Singularity”. - For a better comprension and transcription of the music I decided to transcribe this live version at Bonnarroo Festival in 2012. Original video can be found at this adress: - It is percussive song based purely in chopping. For the porpuse of this research I focused in the first minute because he is not using the loop station or FX. - The structure of the tune is: o Theme “A” from bar 1 till 4 o Theme “A1” / bar 5 till bar 8 / He adds triple chop to surprise o Theme “B” from 11-28. The inner structure is: ° B’ 15-18 / B’’ 19-22 / 23-25 “drums fill”/ B’’’ 26-28 ° Every B is slighty variated from the previous one - He uses left hand to achieve a truly kick drum sound. This happens because he uses a clip microphone and a EQ that emphasis the 60hz-250hz. It is notated as a square notehead. - Bar 23-25 He plays very interesting “delay” effect by using cycle slant technique. - Besides its function as kick drum, left hand rests over the strings to get a muted chop sound. - Bar 20 creates tension with the quintuplets - From bar 17 he increases the tension by playing more “nasty” or close to the bridge. ANALYSIS - Working in a building belongs to the CD “The Singularity” - This is the structure: o Intro-warmup /verse intrumental / Chorus instrumental o Verse 1 / Chorus 1 / interlude 1 o Verse 2 / Chorus 2 / interlude 2 o Verse 3 / Chorus 3 / solo... CASEY DRIESSEN INTERVIEW There are several questions that came out of the transcriptions and the analysis of his Technique & Skills video series. I’m planning to meet him between next september & november (depending on his availability). These are some of the questions: You are playing with the left hand a kick drum sound. How do you get that low frequency sound? In Working in a Building, you started to speeding up for the first 8 bars. Was it a a way to warm up or it just was a musical idea? Where does bar 20 of Tanuki attack come from? And lick nº 2 from bar 8 of Working in a Building? The licks mention before, sounds to me as drums fills. Were you inspired in drums playing or other instrument? How much tension do you apply to the bow when it comes to chopping? In the DVD of “Chops & Grooves” with Darol Anger, we see that he uses black hair on his bow. Which kind of hair was it? Did you try other kind of hair for the bow? Does it work better?(black, synthetic) Do you use to write down your compositions? If so, how do you notate chopping? Do you know fiddle players that are working on the same field? INTERVENTION - SYNCRONIZED SCORES As soon I finished transcribing I synced the score with video. It helped me to understand and learn faster. Here are the links for the both tunes: Tanuki Attack https://youtu.be/O3PUrkVQZ3c Working in a Building https://youtu.be/PTnxx9sMfGs - LIST OF INTERESTING RHYTHMICAL PATTERNS FROM WORKING IN A BUILDING - LIST OF INTERESTING RHYTHMICAL PATTERNS FROM TANUKI ATTACK - CLASSIFICATION OF LICKS: GROOVE PATTERNS & VARIATION WORKING IN A BUILDING TANUKI ATTACK - CLASSIFICATION OF LICKS: FILLS & VARIATIONS WORKING IN A BUILDING TANUKI ATTACK - NEW NOTATION SYSTEM - UPDATE ON “AIRES” USING THE NEW NOTATION Aires is an original composition for DOT Quartet based on flamenco sonorities that I wrote in November of last year. It is based on 12/8 shuffle and crossovered with 6/4 rhythms. After my work with Casey Driesen transcriptions I updated the score. Now, On bar 122, I played an enhanced groove using Cycle Slant. OLD VERSION NEW VERSION 2º REFERENCE RECORDING Link for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byPshSX3bTE This my 2º Reference Recording on my tune called “Castillo de Castellar”. There are 3 main additions compared to the first recording. As you noticed, the first difference is that I’m playing now on viola and that allows me to fill better the low frequency spectrum. Second is that I changed the form of the song. After I have shown the first and second theme I start to solo from min 1’ 51’’ and I start to show chopping around 3’.Then comes a solo percussion using just chop and left hand as a kick drum (idea from Tanuki Attack).