First Lesson... Lordy, Lordy, Lordy...

[Patrick]

Fret ye not people of the forum, I won't be documenting every lesson but I just had to share my first...

Been practicing summertime in the hope that when I find myself a teacher I can fire out half decent sound and away we go...

First lesson last night and what do I get, SQUEEK, BIZZZZZZZZ, MEOWWWWWWW ( for those young enough to remember the original batman series it sounded like one of the fight scenes (SMASH!, EEAAKKK!!, KERBANG!!!).

Next ensues a brief but very positive chat on stance ( read: the mouth piece should naturally land at your mouth), breathing and tounging...

All of a sudden I see a few notes in front of me and asks to play them... well... I was so bad that it took me a few minutes to realise that I was attempting to play the old favorite 'Oh When The Saints'. And guess what was written at the top of the page... well yes, you guessed it ( I'm sure at this stage I saw blood trickling out of my teachers's ears).

Next, the notes for Amaizing Grace were jotted down, I look and think "If I didn't recognize 'Oh when...' then I will never be able to do this", however, when I played I found that I recognized the tune that I was playing ( badly)... YES, I'M PLAYING A SAXOPHONE!!!

I now realize important it is to have a good teacher.

I now realize how important it is to understand that the sax is an extention of yourself.

I now realize that people with an addictive nature should not take up the sax.

Anyway, nothing more to report other that I had a laugh, I learned something and I have had a very enjoyable evening... very much looking forward to my next lesson.

 

[nick_cook]

[color:green]It seems that however much I practise a piece, I can't play it nearly as well at my lesson!!! I even recorded one piece on my phone and played it back just to prove I could do it (Although it sounded pretty crap on the phone)!!! [/color]

 

[Col9]

Well done, glad you had a laugh at least. Playing in front of anyone is hard work even after a year lessons are harder than at home. Everything is tense and nerves always seem to play a gladly ever decreasing small part.

you wait till you play in front of an audience for the first time, that's really scarey but what a rush.

If you want a proper laugh record yourself, I tried it and really shows up bad breathing, bad timing and all the other mistakes that weren't there when you played it. 8|

good luck with it and keep practising.

Col.

 

[Taz]

To all you (and me) budding sax players 😉 Keep up the good work.
With regard to falling apart at lesson time :cry: just think of it this way, How hard is it to play infront of a sax god!!!
I thought I'd got over being intimidated cos I'd been playing at gigs, so there I am, playing to a hugh audience, (well, five drunks and a bar maid 8) ) all's going well untill...there I am...mid solo.. when in walks my sax teacher 😱 :x solo goes eeeaaaarrrrk squeeeeeek and then it all goes mute :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: He did that to me at several other gigs, untill I finaly got over it and just shut my eyes, relax and enjoy!
Try it some time, but most of all eeeennnnnjjjjooooyyyyyy! 😉

 

[Linky Lee]

I used to rather like my sax teacher, imagine the nerves when performing in front of her!... possibly one of the reasons I was turned on to the sax (she was also my flute teacher for 3 years prior).

I'm not normally too bad when it comes to the nerves though. I started performing at a young age. I won the under 11s solo recorder category at the maidenhead music and dance festival 3 years running at 8, 9 and 10 and played bass recorder for my school band (it was almost as big as me at the time!) in a rather large theater (the hexagon, Reading) by 10 as well. But for some reason I had to start all over again with saxophone. The first 10 gigs I ever played were nightmarish for nerves! and therefore performance. Luckily I don't normally do too bad nowadays.

 

[Patrick]

heh... glad to know I'm not alone. I was a strange feeling, nervous but very enjoyable. Roll on next Monday is all I can say. 🙂

 

[suethesax]

Keep having fun Patrick - my teacher used to say to me - just relax and enjoy it 🙂

 

[Patrick]

Hi Sue

'just relax and enjoy it'

That is my sole intention 🙂

 

[jools]

Everyone has been there. EVERYONE. Each single sax player in all of time has stood in a room and bleated like a strangled goose. Your teacher, John Coltrane, me, him - all of us. When you play in front of someone you admire, remember that. Nobody is 'better' than you - they are just at a different stage of development.

As for audiences... I have found that most 'regular' audiences are just AMAZED that you OWN a sax - let alone know how to play it. They don't know jack. Wrong notes? - no. I meant it to sound that way. Get over it. 😉

 

[Bobby G]

Lee's right, playing sax is totally different - I'd been playing on stages for many years as a bassist or guitarist in bands, or as a solo acoustic guitarist/singer, and had totally left the nerves behind; I was usually pretty well up for anything that was happening, even if it felt under-rehearsed (wrong notes? - no. I meant it to sound that way. Get over it. 😉 ).

Playing saxophone in public the first couple of times was really quite scary, and this was only at informal jams, you are suddenly aware of how much further along all the other players are, and inevitably you think what you've done is not really very good, and like Jools said everyone's been there.

Part of the problem with playing a sax in public, unless you are part of a horn-section, is that you are inevitably going to be in the spotlight at solo-time, everyone else is just part of the supporting cast for those few bars or couple of choruses, so you can feel very exposed. Again, everyone's been there.

What is perhaps surprising is that after you've blown your meagre bit and to your own ears perhaps not very well, a lot of people will have a lot of very encouraging things to say, or at worst will be critical but in a very constructive way, as most players, no matter how far along they are, will remember their own first faltering steps in the public eye.

I know it's probably a bit of a generalisation, but I suspect most sax-players are more supportive than a lot of guitarists when it comes to encouraging people who have only just set out on the journey.

 

[Patrick]

Encouraging words folks... Thanks.

"I have found that most 'regular' audiences are just AMAZED that you OWN a sax - let alone know how to play it. They don't know jack. Wrong notes? - no. I meant it to sound that way. Get over it."


That made me chuckle.

 

[jools]

oh my, sax players are very supportive. Probably because of that recognition of having "been there". There isn't any aggressive competitive edge that I've ever been aware of (just look at this forum!) I think secretly we find strength in numbers. Pack animals

 

[Bobby G]

Pack animals is right - a lot of us like to get out there and blow out-front, but a lot of us, myself included, like nothing better than the sound of a section, even if it's only made-up-on-the-spot background stuff. There's something about the sound of a few saxophones, especially with a trumpet at the top end, or even a trombone in there somewhere, that sounds endlessly wonderful.

Is it just that I am an alto-player, or is it always that the alto seems to be the sax that cuts through in a horn section? I never have any trouble hearing myself, and I am usually the only altoist playing with sometimes three tenors and a soprano, depending on who turns up to jam.

 

[Patrick]

Jools said: '(just look at this forum!)'

I must admit that before I said hello I had a good look at many of the previous posts and was pleasantly supprised at the lack of flaming.

I visit a couple of other forums ( general avaition) and it is almost like alot of forumulites are just waiting to pounce on you. Grammer police, apostrophe police... you name it they winge about it, then they wonder why so many people flounce.

Although I have only been a member of this forum for a couple of days I feel very comfortable here. [feet up, pipe, slippers... (well not quite but you get the idea)]🙂

 

[nick_cook]

Patrick wrote:
Jools said: '(just look at this forum!)'

I must admit that before I said hello I had a good look at many of the previous posts and was pleasantly supprised at the lack of flaming.

I visit a couple of other forums ( general avaition) and it is almost like alot of forumulites are just waiting to pounce on you. Grammer police, apostrophe police... you name it they winge about it, then they wonder why so many people flounce.

Although I have only been a member of this forum for a couple of days I feel very comfortable here. [feet up, pipe, slippers... (well not quite but you get the idea)]🙂

[color:green]supprised - avaition!!!![/color] 😉