Classical Amstel Quartet with Klaarte van Veldhoven
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kevgermany
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Just goes to show that the sax is completely useless for classical music.
Reassure me this is heavy irony, Kev? I have mainly given up playing jazz on sax, and I am concentrating on classical, on soprano. I have never thought that the soprano sax was particularly suited for jazz anyway, certainly not the way Coltrane plays it, or yer Steve Lacey types. In fact the only two jazz players who use it well are, in my opinion (duck and take cover...) Wayne Shorter and Branford Marsalis - who developed his tone and technique by playing classical.
And this is the classical forum...
And this is the classical forum...
kevgermany
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Very heavy irony.
You saw my like I hope. Some people don't think the sax is suitable for classical music. I'm of the opposite opinion. And these Amstel clips show it works very well.
You saw my like I hope. Some people don't think the sax is suitable for classical music. I'm of the opposite opinion. And these Amstel clips show it works very well.
kevgermany
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Try Asatryan in the tube!
Ah's a-tryin' to find anything sax related by that name on the tube and failing, Kev. Any more detail?
Learning to play classical on the sax has been a real wake up call to my technique. With jazz I think, tone-wise, you can sound quite reasonable, quite quickly because it's mainly 8th notes. Wobble on a note, don't quite hit it right? Doesn't matter, another 32 notes have been played by the time anyone has realised. Playing a classical piece requiring sustained long notes, played with attention to dynamics, is a completely different technique. Long note practice and exercises with harmonics becomes essential. It will be interesting to see what difference it has made, if and when I go back to jazz.
At the minute I am practicing Nimrod, the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, and Barber's Adagio - any one of them leaves my embouchure exhausted. It has to be good!
Learning to play classical on the sax has been a real wake up call to my technique. With jazz I think, tone-wise, you can sound quite reasonable, quite quickly because it's mainly 8th notes. Wobble on a note, don't quite hit it right? Doesn't matter, another 32 notes have been played by the time anyone has realised. Playing a classical piece requiring sustained long notes, played with attention to dynamics, is a completely different technique. Long note practice and exercises with harmonics becomes essential. It will be interesting to see what difference it has made, if and when I go back to jazz.
At the minute I am practicing Nimrod, the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, and Barber's Adagio - any one of them leaves my embouchure exhausted. It has to be good!
kevgermany
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Koryun Asatryan.
Alliage quartet/quintet.
Should get you there.
Alliage quartet/quintet.
Should get you there.
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What do you mean CLASSICAL MUSIC. ? Do you mean THE CLASSICAL PERIOD as opposed to THE ROMANTIC PERIOD. ?
There is as many opinions as there are people.
kevgermany
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Don't shout.What do you mean CLASSICAL MUSIC. ? Do you mean THE CLASSICAL PERIOD as opposed to THE ROMANTIC PERIOD. ?
I'm, like most commoners, using it in its broadest, non-academic sense. So pretty much anything from the baroque era onwards, but excluding popular, jazz from 20th century.
Loose, sloppy layman's thought : Classical = Thomas Tallis up to Present Day. Oh dear - in the space of 1 minute I have developed a headache wondering what the definition of classical music is. Isn't it a way of saying what the music isn't? Not pop, blues, jazz, rock, disco, "world" (an insulting catch-all) latin, funk and let's not forget , boogaloo. If it ain't one of them, it's classical. What a heathen I have just sounded. But you know what I mean.
The Acid Test - if it's on Radio 3 it's classical. Even Radio 4 occasionally has the wonderful Ken Clark jazz in' it up. Nice...
The Acid Test - if it's on Radio 3 it's classical. Even Radio 4 occasionally has the wonderful Ken Clark jazz in' it up. Nice...
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Just been playing Intermezzo on alto for the first time, last tune of the night so embouchure definitely suffering
Jx
I think your tag "never give up on a dream..." is very profound. As I get older my sense of time telescopes outwards - when I was 20 or so the thought of spending 3 years doing something seemed an age - now it seems like a pleasant diversion. I have just gone part time at work and I am looking forward to spending time becoming really good at soprano in 3 or 4 years time. If I didn't put the effort in, I would still find myself having arrived at that point 3 or 4 years away NOT having done anything. What a waste.
kevgermany
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Mack, Google music era for proper definitions. Mozart is considered classical. Beethoven not - he's early romantic.
Roughly speaking music eras match architecture and social styles. So dates are not exact, and outside of academia pretty irrelevant a lot of the time. It's a bit like trying to distinguish between heavy metal and hard rock. The differences are there, but the boundaries aren't clear. Much easier to use broader definitions - same goes for jazz.
Roughly speaking music eras match architecture and social styles. So dates are not exact, and outside of academia pretty irrelevant a lot of the time. It's a bit like trying to distinguish between heavy metal and hard rock. The differences are there, but the boundaries aren't clear. Much easier to use broader definitions - same goes for jazz.
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Thanks can't remember where I first saw it but it seemed relevant when I picked up the sax, it's a very slow process for me and I may never be as good as I would like but if I keep plodding one day I might, if I give up I definitely won't.
Enjoy your journey
Jx
Ok I actually do know something about it - I know my baroque from my rococo, but most of the time I use the term classical in a way that makes it plain to non-musicians what I am talking about. If I tell people I play music from the romantic era they might think I mean Haircut 100. And that would never do..
ProfJames
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But you'd certainly have a fantastic day....
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If you say "Classical Music" pretty much everybody has a good idea what you're talking about. The one I really don't like hearing is "Serious Music" as though all the rest is utterly frivolous. Mr Coltrane would certainly have had something to say about that.
The reason I asked your meaning of Classical Music, is your ref. to some people don't like the Sax in Classical Music ( and we both know who you were referring to) well I like the Sop playing the Marcello Concerto, ( in fact I play it myself) , but I dislike a Tenor Sax playing Mozart. So if you are going to refer to some people not liking the Sax in Classical Music, please be more precise with the periods of Classical Music. What I find revealing is how a simple question like this brings out the vindictive nature in some people.
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Presumably that would include a whole pile of sax quartet arrangements then? I guess you just don't like the sound, yes?
I agree that some sorts of music sound wrong when rendered on saxophones (country music?) but I think Mozart on saxes is fine.
Bach on saxes anyone?
