Transposition Inquisition
a study in literacy and musicality through the performance of excerpts in all keys.
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This project was started in 2019 (modeled after Will Baker's ‘Get Fluent’) in conjunction with my dissertation on sight-reading (Martorano 2019). If you are seeing this series before you have seen "Get Fluent", you should definitely click this link and check it out!!
In an exploratory study, I found that select factors significantly correlating to sight-reading ability (Mishra 2013), were significantly improved using these transposition exercises. Practicing these exercises not only increases fluency but the user’s overall musical expression and performance ability.
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New Exercises Every Monday!!!
Mishra, Jennifer. "Factors Related to Sight-Reading Accuracy." Journal of Research in Music Education 61, no. 4 (2013)
Update:
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The first study in a new series I'm calling "The Basics" starts today! Here is Study 1, 12 Bar Blues. The reader should strive for both technical accuracy (press all the right buttons at the right time) and fundamental accuracy (play with a purposeful sound). Once this is archived, feel free to start experimenting with tempos, styles, an accompaniments to help you find your musical center.
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Here is a preview of the first study, 12 bar blues. [posted December 29th, 2023]
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Welcome Back!
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​I've been a little busy during the time spent away from this exercise series. We had another ice storm that tested ERCOT. I've invested a substantial amount of time in researching neural plasticity and their numerous underlining outcomes (both physiological and psychological). I also accepted positions at Texas A&M - Kingsville and Hutto ISD teaching music performance. I return to this series to study in a field I've long loved, the Bass Line.
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A comprehensive study in this field is lacking in the traditional tuba performance degrees, generally sidelined by wind/orchestral/chamber excerpts. I will not tell the reader these areas are not critical to a performers success; Quite the opposite. The demand for precision, scholarship, and creativity needed to be successful in these fields is exactly why they are at the core of most programs. It is with these skills that we now expand into new areas of self expression and of service.
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Let us now explore Season 8, The Bass Line. [posted December 29th, 2023]​​
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