Review by: Giovanni Pagano
Location: Delaware Water Gap, Mt. Bethel, PA at the home of the Dorough family.
Attendees: Markus Reuter, Giovanni Pagano, John Councill, Aralee Dorough, Corin Gatwood, Courtney Vallejo, Erik Weissengruber, Lloyd Dyson, Marc Pelath, Tim Gardner, Rob Bryant, Colin Jenkinson, and co-hosted by Colin Gatwood on oboe.
Day 1, January 1st: Happy New Year! We were all excited to start of the new year with a wonderful group of people and dedicating our time to learning more on the U8. A familiar countryside home to some of us, and to others a new perfect setting to focus on our craft. The day was focused on set up and gathering for an informal dinner at the house with catered food and wine...afterwards we would dance. The dance was a warm up to timing exercises we would revisit through our time that week. The underlying foot steps would be our quarter notes, and later to superimpose single hand claps on the up beats 4, 3, 2 and 1. Later that evening, most of us set out to local Airbnbs, while a small group remained at the house. The course was to start early the next morning.
Day 2, January 2nd: Warm-up with Do, Re, Mi led into the Yoko exercise which would become the foundation of much of what we would focus in this course. Staying in the chromatic bracket, we practice different starting fingers chromatically from C to D#. We also discuss the diatonic scale and Markus demonstrated how there are no "wrong notes" in that perspective. Exercises were always methodically approached in both ascending and descending iterations. Frequent breaks and a mid day siesta aided in our stamina for a long first day to nearly 9pm. While we remained mostly indoors, the weather was great and mid day walks were always a thing.
Day 3, January 3rd: The sunsets here were stunning and compelled me to take early morning drives, walk around town, and overload my phone camera with nature scenes. At low tempo, we began our early morning warm-up. 10 minutes each of the 4 Yokos starting fingers sufficed. Reminders of underlying beats loomed as we set metronomes at a 72bpm. This was the start of our octave up and octave down as part of the Yoko three repeated notes. That evening met us with a fun polyrhythmic jam, and we began working on Mike Oldfield's "Mount Teidi”.
Day 4, January 4th: Warm-up exercise Yoko starting with 4th finger, 10 minutes each...working on building speed eventually. Aralee then showed the group the core makeup of the Eternity Exercise as many had not yet seen it. This was followed by more octave work with Yoko in all positions. Another great lunch with the group, a siesta, nap for some, walk for others, and an afternoon session that took us into the evening again. Dinner, stories, and music listening rounded out the final hours of the day.
Day 5, January 5th: Warm-up at 100bpm 3rd finger start...more challenges now. This day was a bit more "open." We began to work on a Marcello piece divided into alto and soprano parts. Then improv in Am (C) to C# challenged our ears and confidence as we took turns playing over the two chords. We continued with Yoko octave up and down and increased the tempo. Later that evening, we spent some time listening to some special projects Markus had in the works. Snow was imminent, and the steep hills and windy roads proved to be problematic for our drive back to slumber.
Day 6, January 6th: Digging out of the snow, and morning exercises are now at 112bpm starting with the 2nd finger Yoko. Staying with the Yoko theme we spent a good amount of time on researching proper exercises that employed all fingers and could be played in a formatted loop. This led to utilizing 3rd interval, 4th, and 5th consecutively. Marcello was next with Colin on oboe. The practice led to performance for some special guests via FaceTime! Markus, John, and I decided to have lunch at a local diner, just for a change of scenery. During lunch Markus pointed out that we have a unique opportunity doing we are doing here. All of us in a concentrated "retreat" dedicated to music and a wonderful instrument. After siesta we worked on hearing the impact of tone C on the up and down beat. C# was next, and each singular note had dramatic impact depending on timing placed within the phrase. Markus then demonstrated a pulsed A note and how it pairs with each note of the diatonic scale. More jamming in the evening session, this time at 84bpm (168) to feel underlying beats.
Day 7, January 7th: Early morning warm-up with increased tempo with 1st finger. New challenge: Yoko with 2 notes instead of 3 meant changing hands as to not collide... interval Yoko refinement, finding 6th interval solutions, Eternity revisit, jam at 96bpm with alternating hands, and C scale in 3/4 time were all part of today's experience. Plans were now coordinating for flight departures and long drives upon completion of the course. Another great and productive time.
We all look forward to meeting again. The course research has proven to be quite effective. I think everyone noted how quickly even the newest folks in the group progressed. Until next time...
