Recent Posts

This piece was created in an entirely different way to all of the other piece in the 'At Home' album. I often listen to quiet background ambient music as a source of relaxation and focus to work with, as I find the non-descriptive and passive nature helps to create an ideal environment for concentration or rest.

As I was learning and developing the arrangement of the tune Watermans for the full arrangement with Second Circle (link), I practiced a few different approaches to performing the melody on the bass guitar. There were a number of challenges in creating good articulation and representation of the tune on the 6 string Overwater bass. I hoped there could be some interest in transposing the melody to a different bass guitar that inherently contains vastly different tonal and physical performance qualities.

This post will briefly explain what Second Circle is and its aims as an ensemble. Second Circle as a name, is a tip-of-the-hat to one of my favourite groups and one of my favourite compositions- First Circle by the Pat Metheny Group (ECM). The piece and same titled album was released in 1984 and won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance. It has since become a favourite of jazz fusion fans the world over and still stands up today as a progressive piece of music.

Within this site you will find a slowly growing number of articles relating to my work as a PhD researcher at the Royal Northern College of Music, in Manchester, UK. My work is what is known as Practice-as-Research (PaR), an enquiry into the creative practices and creations of the individual. This is nested within an academic framework and lineage of similar enquiries within creative arts research and more specifically the electric bass guitar; my chosen medium.

This article's purpose is mainly for my own accountability and practice development, however, I do hope anyone reading this might gain some ideas to try - or not to try! - in order to further their own practice.

I was recently asked to perform for a friends undergraduate recital, a request I hadn't received for some time, and one that becomes more common the further from graduation one gets. The challenge for  undergraduate musics students in the current climate of lockdowns, tier systems, social distance and general Coronavirus anxiety is a difficult one to make music in, especially for the final of an undergraduate degree. the remit was this: pieces performed must be to filmed and recorded separately and remotely, preferably with a single take, i.e. without drop ins; and then edited together for submission. In this case the tune was Chick Corea's Spain. A solid, staple choice of repertoire for university music students, with a fun melody to play, irregular form, and a lovely chord progression to improvise over.

Context

‘Watermans’ was written by flautist Michael McGoldrick and released on his first solo album Fused – Vertical Records VERTCD051 (2000), an album that received critical acclaim.

“[Fused] is a masterpiece, mixing traditional with trance and fusion.”

Michael McGoldrick is a household name in Folk music and is associated with numerous most-excellent acts and artists within the genre a co-founder of the ensembles Flook and Lúnasa, and a core member of Capercaillie. If you haven’t heard of his music, check it out!

Introduction

Lucky’s Strike was a piece completed and debuted for my master’s degree recital at the RNCM in May 2017. The debut performance consisted of an 11-piece ensemble: drum kit, congas/percussion, cajon/percussion, 2x electric guitars, piano/rhodes, electric bass and string quartet (2x violins, viola, cello).

The concert, recorded live at the RNCM became my first album release ‘About Time’, available from this site or on all digital streaming platforms.

So much to practice, so little time...

It seems we are always running out of time. As budding musicians we can be so busy making ends meet and handling the challenges and necessities of daily life that it can be difficult to commit time in the shed to practice at all. We spend most of our time putting out fires so to speak, dealing with the things in life that are urgent and important and the things that are urgent but not necessarily important. When then do we find the time to work on what we know is important but not immediately urgent? I know for me, in the past my practice time has been the first casualty of the stressed and ‘busy’ life.

ABOUT TIME is available now! On all digital media platforms and direct on this site, head on over to nicholasjameswaldock.uk/media to get yours! Enjoy!

Nick's debut album "About Time" is set for release in Summer 2019!