Beginners' Diary - Chris

[Rogerb]

Another brilliant contribution...thanks, Chris.

 

[tryinghard]

In the words of James Taylor:

"Secret of life is enjoying the passing of time"

Must have been learning the sax as well...

 

[Chris98]

Nick Cook wrote:
[color:green]I told my teacher about a 6 weeks ago that I was starting to learn Christmas carols so I'd be reasonably proficient by Christmas. She said "I'm not going anywhere near Christmas carols until December!!!!" 😀

She's going to organise a Christmas ensemble with her adult students in a couple of weeks though. I'm really looking forward to it!!![/color]

Hi Nick,


Let us know how the Christmas ensemble goes.

All the best,

Chris.

 

[Chris98]

Rogerb wrote:
Another brilliant contribution...thanks, Chris.

Hi Roger,


Thanks for your comment,

All the best,

Chris

 

[Chris98]

TryingHard wrote:
In the words of James Taylor:

"Secret of life is enjoying the passing of time"

Must have been learning the sax as well...

Hi TryingHard,


All the best,

Chris.

 

[sharon]

Hi Chris thanks for another interesting read. I think all us beginners see something of ourselves in you musings - I know I do.

I know what you mean about the sound of reed instruments. My daughter has just started learning the clarinet. I've secretly been learning to play it when she's in school :whistle: . I just love the sound of it and everything about it. It's not an instrument I've ever thought of wanting to try to play so it's rather an unexpected pleasure. 🙂 It's getting a bit tricky to fit the practice in on both instruments though. My housework as gone by the board yet again

Sharon 😉

 

[Rogerb]

Chris98 wrote:

Rogerb wrote:
Another brilliant contribution...thanks, Chris.

Hi Roger,


Thanks for your comment,

All the best,

Chris

Yes, Chris, as I said elsewhere, I couldn't detect a significant difference, but felt the DV was just a smidgin better-suited to me.
I certainly wasn't dissatisfied with the RPC, but it now has a new home, where I hope it will be loved!

I am struggling to make much progress at the moment.... problems with my top front teeth haven't helped, nor has insufficient practice!!

 

[Chris98]

6th January.

Happy New Year.







All the best,

Chris

 

[Linky Lee]

Sounds like a great start to a very promising year Chris!
I'm sure I speak for the others when I say - Get them recordings up!

 

[frankb]

Happy New Year, Chris!

Many thanks for keeping up with this diary. It's really encouraging to know that I'm not the only bloke banging his head on these issues! Sounds like you're making cracking progress though!

On the books front, I picked up a couple of titles a while back and I heartily recommend them - "Classic Jazz For Saxophone" and "Blues For Saxophone", both arranged by Jack Long with chord symbols for both tenor and alto keys. Each has around sixty classic tunes of varying difficulty, and there's no overlap between them so they should keep you going for a bit!

Some of the tunes I've been working on from these include - Harlem Nocturne, In The Heat Of The Night, Take The 'A' Train, Cry Me A River, Lazybones, Blues In The Night, Blue Monk, Mood Indigo and Basin Street Blues.

Hope this helps.

Like Lee, I'm keen to hear your recordings!

All the best,

Frank

 

[Pete Thomas]

This thread has had over 3000 views now - a big round of applause to and many thanks to Chris.

 

[frankb]

Outstanding! Well done, Chris!

 

[Bobby G]

Yes, well done Chris! I must admit to dipping in and out a bit, skimming bits etc but I'm going to go back to the top and read the whole darn thing.

Long may you enjoy your sax 🙂

 

[Chris98]

Thanks Pete, Frank & Bob,



Anyway, I hope, even if in some small way, it helps and on occasions entertains.

All the best,

Chris.

 

[old_git]

Come on Chris, admit it, you are really Harold Pinter without the swear words. 😉
Nice one and keep it up. If your playing brings as much pleasure as you have created for us readers, then you will be well rewarded.

 

[Chris98]

old git wrote:
Come on Chris, admit it, you are really Harold Pinter without the swear words. 😉
Nice one and keep it up. If your playing brings as much pleasure as you have created for us readers, then you will be well rewarded.

Hi Bill,

Thanks!

Chris

 

[Chris98]

19/01/2008





All the best,

Chris

 

[Linky Lee]

I love giving it some welly.
I think that you should always practise as loud as you can manage and then a bit more. It gets you breathing more, sounding better and enjoying it more (still play dynamics and as quiet as you did before).
Obviously this could be a problem with neighbours some times but if you're sensible with it and don't do it at unreasonable times it should be fine. I've never had a neighbour complain, god knows I've been trying!

 

[mick_wilson]

hi Chris,Boy this brought back memories of only last week. 🙂 I had to collect my Sax even tho i bought it on a Sunday online, and spoke with the seller and arranged that it would be delivered to me on my only day off work, which was Friday.On the thursday i receive a email that read Sax dispatched ? Now delivery time was 2 days? yes you got it, how was i gonna receive my long awaited for alto??? So I called him up and low and behold he hadnt dispatched but was waiting for the currier to turn up, i advised that I would go up friday to collect he was ok with this. He lived in Lincoln i lived In leicester so a good hours drive with a heavy foot lol. My Sat nav took me to the street but has he lived on a new estate i couldnt find him. So I called this was 9 am in the morning and we agreed am collection. when I arrived at his location he advised that i was lucky he was just going out for the day??? :erm: anyway I got my alto put it in the car and headed home.On the way home my Dad called so i pulled over 🙁 all i wanted to do was spend some time with my sax and play it or make a sound. But No all i got was interuptions after interuptions. any way after speaking with my dad I tried to start back on my journey.???nope the car broke down :cry: :cry: . After getting my car started by this kind man that helped at the layby I finally took it home.

I made a cuppa and then opened the case. There she was i picked her up and had a good look at her all the keys were still locked down at this point.I remembered what i had read about soaking the reed and attaching the mouthpeice to the crook neck which is what i did . At first i only pushed the mouth peice on a short way and practised blowing it without having the horn attached .This was probably a wise thing as my first tone was loud and made me jump out my skin. I didnt pluck up courage to play through the horn for 8 hours and when i did it was an awfull din.I did this just to reassure myself that i could make a noise,and i then put the Sax away. I practiced my embouchre without the sax attached with 20 mins practice for 3 days before i fully upacked the sax and played. Wow G A B D were my first notes I got this from a dvd i bought . but again after a while i started to get tired and either my breathing technique went out the window or my embouchure fell apart. 😉
now I have a sore throat so am forced to rest :cry: and i have a day off tomorrow so all i can do is practice fingering techniques. Ive had my alto a week and i am missing my time with her my throats been sore 4 days. lol i cant wait til im fit again 🙂

 

[DaveW]

Keep writing Chris, there's a big round of applause here, and I agree with Bill

If your playing brings as much pleasure as you have created for us readers, then you will be well rewarded.

Be careful though, Mick may take over from you