Beginners' Diary - Chris

Chris98 · Jul 1, 2007

FrankB wrote:

As for the work thing, I'm finding the sax helps with that too.

I get in (last night being a case in point) and drag myself upstairs thinking, "I really haven't got the energy / motivation / patience for this right now!".

The long tones and scales settle me down and while I'm playing I haven't got time to think of anything other than the sax - my fingering, embouchure, air support, what note I'm supposed to be playing next, what's the tempo, is that a crotchet (no, dammit, there's a dot after the flippin' thing!), oh hell I'm in the wrong key...!

After a while and a few runs through the piece of the day starts to come together. I finish off with something easy played by ear and go back downstairs feeling hugely better.

Hi Frank,

You are right about getting in from work and really not feeling in the mood but by the time I have played my first note I have forgotten my tiredness, the only thing then that becomes frustrating is when my lip gives out before I am ready to pack it in for the night.

All the best,

Chris

Chris98 · Jul 1, 2007

Hi Roger

All the best,
Chris

Rogerb · Jul 1, 2007

Possibly because I had a brief and abortive attempt to start 20+yrs ago, I didn't have too many initial problems this time with embouchure and getting a sound...... it's been reading the dots and translating 'em into the correct finger positions which are my main difficulty!

That and being more disciplined with my practising 🙁

Are you working from a tuition book?
We have alternated between "A Tune a Day" by C Paul Herfurth(more 'basic', IMO) and "Learn as You Play Saxophone" by Peter Wastall.

Chris98 · Jul 2, 2007

Hi Roger,

Before my teacher, as a guide to get me started I was using:
A tuition DVD introduced by Jools Holland and presented by Pete Thomas! Two books: Absolute Beginners Alto Saxophone & John O'Neill's The Jazz Method for Saxophone (alto) Volume 1 and I recently got The art of Saxophone Playing by Larry Teal.

All the best,
Chris

Chris98 · Jul 8, 2007

Week of 2nd July

Carrying on with the learning to drive metaphor, I think playing along with your teacher or a CD whilst reading music, hitting the right notes and remembering to keep your embouchure and breathing right is a bit like learning to go round a roundabout, looking, turning the wheel, indicating and changing gear, all at the same time! I do it every day now but I can remember wondering how I was expected to do all those things at the same time.

It just goes to show the type of character I am, I was reading up about reed finishing, and I rather like the idea of personally tinkering with my reeds to get the best out of them, having said that it seems like a bit of a dark art and has the potential to wreck perfectly good reeds.

All the best,
Chris

Rogerb · Jul 8, 2007

If you can't play 'em as they are, they aren't much good to you, so have a scrape at them, Chris !
I can't get anything out a 2.5, I'm still using RJS 2S!

I use a very sharp pocket knife and try to maintain the 'bullet' shape of the heart of the reed, scrape towards the tip but not too near the tip.... seems to work...sometimes!

frankb · Jul 8, 2007

Hi Chris,

I think (from my limited understanding) that tweaking a reed may be (borrowing your analogy) like tweaking the suspension on a racing car - for a pro driver it may make all the difference, but if you're still having problems with your gear changes...!

Easy to get it wrong too. You might get more consistency by trying a few different brands rather than DIY customisation.

I did a check around through a few brands and ended up with a filed Rico Jazz Select 2M. I tried a Rico Royal 3 a while back and it was like playing a floorboard, so I'm staying on 2M's for the foreseeable!

Don't get disheartened. It sounds like you're making great progress. Even should you stall out for a week or two I still wouldn't worry. It isn't a linear process - you'll have good days and bad days, good weeks and bad weeks. If all it took was throwing money at it there'd be a lot more demon sax players!

Keep on honking - you're on the right road making good speed and you *will* get there in the end!

Rogerb · Jul 9, 2007

All I'm saying is that if you've bought some reeds which just seem too hard, you may as well practice the 'dark art' on them as leave 'em in the drawer!
I am still using RJS 2Ss, but managed to make some 2Ms 'playable' by scraping 'em a bit, and I think that they will help me progress a bit towards 'unscraped' 2Ms, a few of which I can just about get along with.

I'm sticking with Jazz Selects for now, as I like 'em, and anyway think trying too many makes just adds too many 'variables'!

sharon · Jul 12, 2007

:laugh: Frank - playing a floorboard is so accurate!

Hi Chris, I'm interested to see you say that you want to be able to sight read to play things rather than memorise things. For me it's the other way around. I've only been playing since February (god the time flies). My sight reading is really coming on. Thing is, I'm worried that I'll never be able to play anything unless I have the music 🙁

Great diary by the way.

Sharon

Chris98 · Jul 12, 2007

Hi Roger,

All the best,

Chris

Chris98 · Jul 12, 2007

Hi Frank,

Thou shalt not blame thy tools for thy own lack of ability.
Thou shalt not go in search of the ultimate alto saxophone...
Thou shalt not go in search of a tenor saxophone (ultimate or not)...
Thou shalt not go in search of the ultimate mouthpiece(s)...
Thou shalt not try different reeds unless given convincing argument as to why thy should...

...until my playing and skill has progressed to the level where getting any or all of these would help my development. Yeah I know, a little optimistic, I give myself 3 months.

There are of course various get-out clauses and loopholes built in just in case, one being that if my teacher advises that I get something then I would just have to capitulate.

I have fallen into the trap of looking for the right gear as an answer to my problems before and, deep down I know that the only way I am going to become the great sax player I hope to become is by knuckling down and playing it rather than looking for the next toy.

All the best,

Chris

Chris98 · Jul 12, 2007

Hi Sharon,

I am glad you like the diary.

All the best,

Chris.

Tenor Sax · Jul 13, 2007

Hi Chris,

My Teacher who played as a session artist for 35 years, has over 30 Mouth piece, tried more reed styles, makes, models and on and on.....He now settles with RJS 2.5 reeds and Selmer C* on his Tenor.

P.S Keep up the Diary.

sharon · Jul 13, 2007

Chris I know exactly what you mean. You start out wanting to do everything TODAY. It does take time and I think in some ways this is how it should be. When I look back to when I started which is only months ago I am amazed at how much I can do now. OK my ear/ memory playing isn't very good yet and I'm not even going to attempt any improvising but the old sight reading is good and getting better. I'm amazed as I'm someone who didn't even learn recorder at school. This sax is the first instrument I've ever had and I'm 42.

I initially thought that just learning the sax was going to be great which it is. But learning to read music has been equally as satisfying. Sometimes I find I can play bits of quite complicated (for me) stuff ( I'm currently working on "The Entertainer"). If you start off slowly you find that each time you go back to it you can play it a bit faster. Suddenly something happens and your fingers are anticipating the next notes - it's weird.

It's worth remembering that just because you're a beginner you can try to play anything. Don't just stick to "beginners" tunes. Even if you can only play a bit - I find if they're a bit harder they are more interesting to play.

Anyway off to play now as Friday is my tunes day and I don't do any of the hard work like scales, long notes and new notes

Sharon
🙂

Larn · Jul 13, 2007

Hi Chris I'm also having trouble sight reading mainly the notes above and below the stave and get flustered as you do if I miss one or two. I have found it easier if I take it slowly a couple of bars at a time and repeat it over and over again gradually speeding up then move onto the next two bars then when I have got those play the four together and so on it seems to work for me.

Regards Larn.

Chris98 · Jul 14, 2007

Week of 9th July

So, this morning I got up and tried to work out what would be best to do with the time before my lesson, I didn't want to play too much or I find that my lip gets tired but I needed to warm up the sax and my fingers so I decided on too very short sessions. First session I cracked two of the tunes she had asked me to practice and made two small mistakes in the third. During the second session I got all three pieces right note wise but was slightly off with the duration of some of the notes, I then had another go a got all three completely round my neck. :cry:

All the best,
Chris

justin_chune · Jul 15, 2007

Hi Chris. You can always refer to bum notes as "interpretation." That's what I do. 🙂

Rogerb · Jul 15, 2007

My teacher says when you play in a band you just look disgustedly at the player next to you and keep blowin' 😀

Chris98 · Jul 22, 2007

Week of 16th July

I have had my sax just short of two months now, it only seems like yesterday I gingerly opened the case for the first time, and that sense of wonder and appreciation of the beauty and complexity of it is still there.

On Friday, the day before my lesson all the tunes except the slightly harder one started to fall into place, not perfect but nearly all the right notes, mostly for the right duration and mostly at the right time. It was actually quite enjoyable putting the CD in and playing along to several tunes on the trot.

In preparation on the morning of my lesson, I ran though all the tunes a couple of times, a few mistakes here and there but I decided not to go over it too much as I might end up reinforcing the mistakes rather than learning to play the right notes correctly.

All the best,

Chris.

frankb · Jul 22, 2007

Hi Chris,

Sounds like you're doing well!

Bear in mind that you will progress at *your* pace. This will be quicker than some people and (inevitably) slower than others, but it is what *you* can manage. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Put in your practice hours and enjoy yourself - when the next lesson comes what's ready is ready and what isn't isn't.

Your teacher (if they're any cop!) will see how fast you're progressing and adjust their requirements to stretch you without being unreasonable.

Don't stress. Enjoying yourself is the main thing!

The pay off is in a little while when you look back at the pieces which are killing you softly(!) now and wonder what you thought was so difficult! 😉

All the best,

Frank