Play A Tune … And Then Play It In 12 Keys
Sequences are one of the most helpful tools for a musician. In jazz, learning a lick and then playing that same lick in all 12 keys prepares any musician for the time that tune may be called for a gig. So why not bring that same approach to other areas of music?
Will Baker, a bass trombonist in the San Francisco area, has done just that and more.
Back in February 2018, Will was subbing with Malaysian Philharmonic for Mahler’s Seventh Symphony. With a very exposed excerpt for the bass trombonist, Will decided to practice playing this excerpt in all 12 keys. By experimenting with this practice, the #GetFluent movement was born. Since then, Will has written out sequences to many classical music melodies by Bach, Ravel, Schubert, and Wagner as well as many familiar pop/rock tunes by artists such as Chicago the Band, Stevie Wonder, Kansas, and Shakira.
Starting in 2019, Will made the goal of writing one new sequence each week. Not only creating a new sequence once a week, Will has gone the ‘extra mile’ by writing the sequences for almost any possible instrument configuration. For instance, one of his recent sequences is a melody from “Hysteria” by the band Muse. With this sequence and others, any musician is able to download in the following keys/clefs:
- Treble Clef in C
- Treble Clef in Bb
- Treble Clef in Eb
- Horn in F
- Alto Clef
- Tenor Clef
- Bass Clef
- Bass Clef (Low)
While the sequence downloads are free, you can financially support Will’s work by contributing to his Patreon page for exclusive perks. To see all the sequences created thus far, click on this link and be sure to subscribe to his newsletter to receive a new sequence in your inbox. Also, click on the link below to hear an interview with Downstream about Will’s story.
Check out the list of sequences, go practice, and #GetFluent.
