Saxophone beginners 15 months later

Andante cantabile · Feb 5, 2010

As I reread this thread I began to wonder how many beginners usually are around after fifteen months to seek views on their progress. Judging by eBay and similar sites, the casualty rate is not negligible. The main function some of these beginners seem to perform is to provide the market with a steady supply of good used instruments.

In the end, persistence depends on motivation, and motivation comes in many forms. MandyH, for example, has decided to prepare for an exam. I suggest that this specific type of motivation is more effective than other forms. Many beginners set to play or sound like [insert name here]. They the realize that this is an elusive target requiring a hard slog over a long time. Some, like Lloyd and Kevgermany, understand that this part of an exciting journey. Others try their hand at something else.

My own motivation for buying the baritone was to learn, in the longer term, some of the Bach cello suites. I have even bought the music. They were clearly beyond me, but I had a go at the first one, a bit like Lloyd tackling a seventh-grade piece, to see whether it would work. Even at that stage something became rapidly clear to me: unless these suites are played by someone capable of putting the last bit of expression into every note, they sound rather like exercises in thirds, fourths, fifths, etc. There is of course a school of thought among Bach scholars that these suites were by and large fingering exercises, possibly written by someone else. Be that as it may, listen Maria Kliegel’s Naxos recording to discover how a professional can transform such material.

I no longer aim to learn these suites, but I have not lost my motivation for learning the baritone. On the contrary, by way of Domenico Nocentini (1848-1924) I have come to realize that music for wind instruments written in the last 100 years or so could be highly satisfying for the player.

As for your specific question, Lloyd, you are doing just fine. I have not heard you play, but it seems to me that you have about ten years’ worth of enthusiasm stored within you right now. And when that is used up, you’ll be worried about completely different aspects of your playing to keep you going for a few more decades.

Walter

kevgermany · Feb 5, 2010

Those of us taking lessons have an exam regularly - every time we have a lesson. I'm beginning to dread my fortnightly visits to Herr. R. at the Musikschule... 🙂))

Yes, it's a big journey, but seeing/hearing progress is a huge motivator. I'm lucky, I have a very supportive & encouraging wife & I even get a few words of praise fomr the kids every now and again. For me targets are things like play a specific piece well... Get to play in a band (the invite is there).... But overall it's moe selfish - I want to be able to express the music I hear in my head the way I hear it in my head... And that's driving me, too hard sometimes.

Beckmesser, we think similarly, even if our musical tastes are different. But thinking of Bach, I'm wondering what some of his organ music would sound like on a Bari... Particularly a certain Toccata & Fugue... Maybe witha Bass/contrabass to fill in at the bottom...

Andante cantabile · Feb 6, 2010

Kevin

I’ll respond to your question the long way round. Anyone learning the saxophone from scratch will in the first fifteen months play mainly transcriptions and simplified arrangements of various usually written for other instruments. Some original music is available already at this stage, such as Raymond Briard’s four little studies in Peter Wastall’s book. I have long thought that they are among the most attractive pieces in that book. Two others I like very much are Suburban Sunday by Keith Ramon Cole and Gerald Finzi’s Carol. The latter, I think, began as a clarinet piece. I don’t know the history of the former.

There is of course no shortage of music written for the saxophone, especially at the levels requiring greater proficiency. A search on Google will quickly verify this claim. Whether one plays a transcription or an original is a matter of choice: either usually requires a large investment of time and effort.

As far as your suggestion is concerned, I suppose the Bach Toccata and Fugue you mentioned could be transcribed for a saxophone ensemble. For all I know, it has already been done, but I fear it might have been turned into something quite different. I have only heard recordings of bass and contrabass saxophones. They seemed quite mellow and not necessarily well suited to loud organ passages. Maybe one should look to a bass trombone for that. There is a practical aspect also. More than one of each saxophone would be required to give the transcription body. Baritone to soprano would be readily available, but I am not sure about the bass and the contrabass.

Transcribing music is of course common, but at what stage does a transcription result in a different piece of music? Is Ravel’s orchestral transcription of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition really the same as the original piano version?

One final point on this: some transcriptions and arrangements are much more successful than others in terms of the sound fabric. Here I recall a point Paul Harvey makes in his book on the saxophone, and that is that literal transcriptions of string quartets to saxophone quartets produce a “cloying” sound. Avoiding this problem may force the transcriber to interpret the original. This clearly leads into a minefield and is only to be attempted by those familiar with the operation of reliable mine detectors.