Low Eh!

I’ve been digging into this book over the last few weeks, and I love it. Everett Gates’ book, Odd Meter Etudes for All Instruments in Treble Clef is a great way to work on odd meter playing.

I have really enjoyed the progression of the the etudes. The book starts with consistent rhythmic patterns – the first etude is in 5/4 and is broken down into a 2+3 five beat pattern, and stays consistent throughout the etude. As the book progresses the etudes introduce changes in tempo, time changes, key changes, and changes in the pulse. This writing is really clever, and stays melodic through each piece.

As these variables compound through the later etudes, the book stays interesting to me – it isn’t predictable, and on the saxophone there are some passages that don’t fit under my fingers in a natural way. I love that! It adds new technique that I can develop.

As I’m coming to the end of the etudes, I will start extracting some of my favourite lines and taking them through all of the keys to build some language with different phrasing.

I can’t recommend this book enough for players who want to get their odd-meter playing, and reading together!