Monday, April 18, 2016

Chord Melody on "I'll Wait & Pray"

Here is a chord melody on "I'll Wait And Pray" (George Treadwell, Jerry Valentine) utilizing a variety of voicings, as well as mallet & hand dampening in order to keep the clarity of the melodic line and counterpoint. I created this chord melody for a great student of mine at Berklee, James. He is a drummer, but is studying vibes with me this semester. James transcribed both the melody & chord changes from the beautiful John Coltrane version (Coltrane Jazz - 1959). We compared it to Sarah Vaughan's 1944 version and took elements from both. The goal was to keep it simple, honor the melody and maintain clarity, while using different type voicings. I included pedal markings in the written music to help make clear what needs to be dampened by the mallets/hands. Types of dampening utilized here are alternate and same mallet dampening, slide dampening and hand dampening. If you have any question, feel free to ask. #AllThingsVibraphone #BerkleeMalletsNetwork

Written music can be downloaded here: