After graduating with a Computing Science Degree (sub-major in Piano Performance), Mark worked in both the Computing and Theatre industries for several years before becoming a full-time freelance musician.
His involvement in theatre was in the capacity of arranger, pianist, musical director and composer. He has played for the Sydney Production of Phantom of the Opera and was arranger pianist and musical director for the long running one-woman show Piaf - No Regrets. In the years of involvement within the theatre industry he has arranged and composed for over 100 productions. He has worked with the Troubadour Theatre Company for several years and in 1997 was composer, arranger and musical director for Hot Pies and Potato Chips - a show which was awarded the Frator Award by the N.S.W. Department of Education. His television appearances include Channel Nine’s The Midday Show and Good Morning Australia and Channel Seven’s Nine to Five - as well as numerous live Radio performances.
In 1996 he was arranger, and musical director in a project funded by the Australian Council - Bella’s Caravan: a cross cultural a'capella presentation involving music from diverse cultures and periods such as; Bulgarian and South American folk songs, German art song, 16th century madrigals, African and Gospel singing traditions and music drawn from contemporary jazz idioms. Additionally he was involved in a project funded by the Department of Immigration - Outback Mungo Way: a project which required a composed tape for a one hour play which explored the interaction of teenagers from immigrant families with indigenous Australians – this involved living with members of the Muthi-Muthi Tribe at Mungo National Park N.S.W. Both of these diverse projects were administrated by Shopfront Theatre.
In 1997 and after many years as a freelance musician, he decided to study composition at tertiary level at Sydney University - in 2000 he was awarded the University Medal and the Frank Albert Prize and achieved 1st class honours in Music Composition. The year 2000 has seen his success in participating in the Australian Composer Orchestral Forum (resulting in performances of his pieces Promiscuous and Broadband), as well as winning jury selection and being played at ISCM World Music Days 2000 in Luxembourg with his piece Agra - for solo flute. In 2001 Mark was awarded an Australia Council Grant for the creation of an electro-acoustic work Voiceprint.
Mark is currently undertaking a Philosophy Doctorate in Composition sub-majoring in Film Music at the University of Sydney.
The effective performance of this piece lies in the ability of the duo to maintian considerable intensity throughout. The two parts are tightly integrated and at times the two instruments should be indistinguiable from one another. With few gaps in the saxophone part, circular breathing essential. The lines weave in and out of each other leaving neither instrument prominent. With the pedal depressed throughout the 2nd movement, some of the saxophone notes should cause the piano to resonate. It was not my intention to have the saxophone playing into the piano but rather a resonant 3rd voice in the distance. The final movement requires clarity of articulation and a hint of a Celtic feel.
This arrangement of the lovely traditional Christmas carol is set in a lush, sometimes romantic style of a quasi-jazz saxophone section. It is packed with interesting harmonic movement and yet always stays true to the original melody that all know and love. The writing is challenging enough to make it interesting and yet it never crosses over into the “too difficult” category that some jazz saxophone section writing can stray in to. The short “Supersax” two thirds the way through is guaranteed to give listeners goose bumps and all in all this chart is sure to be a crowd pleaser no matter where it’s performed.
Noah Getz is a jazz and classical saxophonist based in Washington, DC. Hailed as a “highly skillful and an even more highly adventurous player” (Washington City Paper) with “virtuosity, sensitivity, and beauty of tone” (Fanfare), Getz has performed and lectured worldwide, including appearances at the 2012 Summer Academy of Wind Instruments in Poland, the 2011 Australian Clarinet and Saxophone Festival in Melbourne, Australia and the 2011 World Harp Congress in Vancouver, Canada. A finalist in the Havervill International Soloist Competition in the United Kingdom, Getz received a first-round Grammy nomination for his contribution with the New Hudson Saxophone Quartet to America’s Millennium Tribute to Adolphe Sax, Vol. V. His albums Crosscurrents, exploring the intersection of jazz and contemporary classical music, and Still Life, featuring works written for him, were released to rave reviews and are available through Albany Records.
Getz is committed to commissioning and premiering new works for saxophone, including recent collaborations with Aaron Jay Kernis, David Amram, Lewis Spratlan, Judah Adashi, Andrew Earle Simpson, and Andrian Pertout. His premiere of Steve Antosca’s in every way I remember you in March 2011 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC was acclaimed as “spectacular and wonderfully provocative” (Washington Post). With harpist Jacqueline Pollauf as the duo Pictures on Silence, Getz regularly commissions and performs new music written for their unique instrumental combination. Getz also maintains an active schedule performing jazz with the Levine Jazz Quintet and the Noah Getz Trio.
An avid and enthusiastic educator, Getz has presented masterclasses, recitals, and lectures at universities and events throughout the United States, including at Peabody Conservatory, Mannes-The New School of Music, the Aaron Copland School of Music, the International Saxophone Symposium, and the Sigurd Rascher Centennial Celebration. He instructs private students and coaches saxophone and jazz ensembles as a Musician-In-Residence at American University, and also teaches jazz saxophone at the Levine School of Music in Washington, DC.
This volume (120+ pages) was created to provide a practice method for four years of study in jazz. The large majority of this book focuses on exercises and patterns that form the technical framework for this study and addresses the first element of this practice strategy. Exercises are in all twelve keys moving by step, chromatically, circle of 4ths, and minor thirds to prepare for common progressions. Key signatures in exercises are in the tonic key and some accidentals have been altered for ease of reading. The text in the beginning of this book explains how to take these technical exercises and create the eighth note lines which form the basis for many jazz solos.
David is an Australian/British composer. He holds a bachelor of Creative Arts and a Bachelor of Laws with honours from the University of Melbourne. David began composing while studying at University. In 2006 he was selected as an Associate Composer of the Australian Music Centre. Since that time he has developed a focus on concert music, but continues to take commissions to write for theatre, contemporary dance, and film in a variety of genres. In Australia he has worked with leading contemporary classical musicians including Silo String quartet, and collaborated with artists from other disciplines including Gerard Van Dyke of Kage physical theatre. So far, the concert music he has produced is predominantly chamber music, which has been performed at such venues as the Great Hall of the National Gallery of Victoria, and the Brisbane Convention Centre. He has explored and studied other art forms and has also acted as author and creative director for theatre in both Melbourne and London. When not pursuing artistic work, David also works part time as law and policy advisor on climate change with European environmental law activists ClientEarth.
In 2006 David won second prize for piano composition at the Keys Australian Music Competition, and well as the encouragement award for advanced composition. In 2008 he received an arts development grant from Arts Victoria to create and record new chamber works (Transfigurations). In 2012, he was commissioned by Nyctolopic dance-theatre company to create and record an original soundtrack for The City Will Crumble, with grant support from the UK Arts Council and the Norwegian Embassy. This was a new physical theatre work inspired by the philosophy and aesthetic of film noir. Through his representation with the Australian Music Centre, a number of his works have been included in the music syllabus for New South Wales. David is a member of the Melbourne Composers League and has had works performed at a number of their concerts.
The goal of these etudes is to help students gain technical command of multiphonics and to become familiar with the phrasing, interpretation and notation of contemporary music. Multiphonics, or the simultaneous production of more then one note, are an important element of the new experimental style know as musique contemporaine, or contemporary music. The following studies are not a compressive listing of multiphonics, rather they introduced them progressively in a musical context. Technical mastery of multiophonics will require students to gain fluency in two areas. The simpler task is to learn the often awkward cross-fingerings characteristic of multiphonics. This is just a question of practicing individual multiphonics as they are encountered. More challenging is learning how to make multiphonics speak which will require a mastery of voicing, the correct placement of everything behind the lips, including the tongue, oral cavity, soft palate and throat. The best way to accomplish this is to become fluent in harmonics or overtones. A series of exercises on harmonics have been provided as preliminary studies. In addition to helping produce multiphonics the study of harmonics will also facilitate altissimo and a general improvement in sound production. If harmonics and multiphonics speak it is a good indication that proper embouchure, air support and voicing are being used.
