First sopranino clip

[BigMartin]

As some of you may have noticed, I bought ilovebech's sopranino through the Yard Sale a little while ago. Here's a recording I made today (it's an etude by Greg Fishman)

http://soundcloud.com/bigmartin/quincy-street-sopranino-29-1

 

[rudjarl]

That's great. You're going to have loads of fun with it

 

[Rogerb]

Well done....you play it much better than I!

I have that book of Greg's .... did you know that 'Quincy Street' is based on 'Perdido' ?
I figured that 'Narragansett Avenue' was 'Autumn Leaves', but had to ask Greg about the others!

I like that book a lot .... just wish I could play 'em all

 

[BigMartin]

Well done....you play it much better than I!

Thanks.

I have that book of Greg's .... did you know that 'Quincy Street' is based on 'Perdido' ?

I was thinking it looked more like a simplified "I Got Rhythm", but if Greg says so... (it's the same bridge section either way)

I figured that 'Narragansett Avenue' was 'Autumn Leaves', but had to ask Greg about the others!

I got that one, too, and a couple of others. Please don't tell me any more, I want to figure them out for myself .

I like that book a lot .... just wish I could play 'em all

I like his stuff, too. Got "Etudes" vol 3 but can't play most of it up to speed.

 

[Nick Wyver]

You're a braver man than me. Good luck with the intonation. :welldone

 

[kevgermany]

I've been trying to avoid listening to this.... High pitched saxes don't sit well with me.

Sounds good though. I like the way you've got this going.

 

[Taz]

I'm with Kev, I've never really liked the high pitched saxes, but you've done a bloomin good job of that piece. The way you played this tune really made it skip along nicely. It sounds like a reasonably complicated tune but, to my ears, you got it fairly spot on! Well done Martin. Maybe this will become your weapon of choice in the future?

 

[BigMartin]

You're a braver man than me. Good luck with the intonation. :welldone

Thanks. Still some work to be done in that area of course, but you should have heard it a couple of weeks ago (or perhaps not).

 

[BigMartin]

I'm with Kev, I've never really liked the high pitched saxes, but you've done a bloomin good job of that piece. The way you played this tune really made it skip along nicely. It sounds like a reasonably complicated tune but, to my ears, you got it fairly spot on! Well done Martin. Maybe this will become your weapon of choice in the future?

Thanks. Not so sure about that last bit, but it provides a bit of variety. Also, playing the soprano after the nino seems like a doddle.

 

[Chris]

You handled that ok Martin..well done..

 

[Wade Cornell]

Great effort at taming the little beastie. As all would be aware the difficulty is with intonation. After a while this really isn't a problem if you can hear the note you want to play. There is no way to play a sopranino mechanically, it's an ear instrument, so you've to hear the pitch first and be able to have your embouchure adjusted to make that pitch. The same is true of soprano and others, but to a lesser extent.

Most of your playing is sharp, which may be better than playing flat, but this shows a tendency to tighten when one should be playing more loosely. Try taking in more mouthpiece as this makes playing easier. Try to play octaves and chord/arpeggios in tune and you will find that there is less "adjustment" than your think to play in tune.

Not sure if I'm abnormal, but at this point I find playing the sopranino much easier than the soprano as it requires less breath and less backpressure. Good to get your intonation locked in first, but then you may wish to add some vibrato as this instrument's tone comes alive with some vibrato (in my opinion).

 

[BigMartin]

Thanks again, Wade, for the detailed comments. I think the main reason for the intonation issues is simply that my ear isn't used to those pitches, rather than any tightening of embouchure. In fact some of the previous take was a bit flat so i pushed on a bit and tried to correct by loosening up. Guess I overdid it a little! I definitely find the sop much easier than the 'nino. Vibrato is not a strong point of mine on any instrument, I really do need to work on that.

 

[BigMartin]

Most of your playing is sharp, which may be better than playing flat, but this shows a tendency to tighten when one should be playing more loosely. Try taking in more mouthpiece as this makes playing easier. Try to play octaves and chord/arpeggios in tune and you will find that there is less "adjustment" than your think to play in tune.

Hi Wade. I've been thinking more about this today, and I have been playing quite sharp generally (not just in this clip). Not through tightening up so much as through having the mouthpiece way too far on to the cork. I cheated a bit and used a tuning meter (I know, I need to work even more on my ears) to get the mouthpiece(s) in about the right place to play an in-tune Bb comfortably. Tenor one had to come off nearly 1cm, which shocked me a bit. After that the rest of my practice routine (arpeggios, couple of etudes, bit of improv and recording a Mozart duet) went much smoother than usual as I wasn't constantly fighting the tuning, which I hadn't realised I was doing until today. So thanks again for a really useful heads-up.

 

[Wade Cornell]

Glad to be of help, but it sounds like you solved this pretty much for yourself by being open to the idea of your playing sharp. Good that it's a mouthpiece on the horn issue as that's a heck of a lot easier to solve.

There's lots going on when one is playing. With time other issues will sort themselves out which will make it easier to be listening and hear where your pitch is.

Well done!

 

[BigMartin]

OK, here's a version that isn't about a quarter-tone sharp! At least, not most of the time...

http://soundcloud.com/bigmartin/quincy-street-sopranino-1-2-12

 

[gladsaxisme]

Hi Martin

Great stuff the second was much better than the first in my most humble opinion so your obviously sorting it very quickly,now I must get my nino out for a play,what's this Gregg's book thing your talking about....john

 

[BigMartin]

Hi Martin

Great stuff the second was much better than the first in my most humble opinion so your obviously sorting it very quickly,now I must get my nino out for a play,what's this Gregg's book thing your talking about....john

THanks John. This piece is from "Jazz Phrasing for Saxophone" Volume 1, by Greg Fishman. Cheaper to order it through his website esp if you buy more than one book to keep the postage down.

 

[trimmy]

2nd clip easier on my ears, sounded better imho

 

[Wade Cornell]

Wow, that's a lot better! Not sure if you want further info, but now that it's 95% in tune it will allow you to hear where it's still not in tune. It's those pesky high notes. They are sharp. This is probably where the first post response from me should have come in. Watch the tighening up for high notes which isn't always necessary and take in more mouthpiece. See if this make a difference for those high notes. You've got a pretty good ear to have played that much that well, so just use it to get that last little bit where it should be. I find the sopranino the most fun to play of all the saxes. Although it's not suited to every piece of music I tend to use it whenever possible.

Great progress, keep it up.

 

[BigMartin]

Wow, that's a lot better! Not sure if you want further info,

Always!

but now that it's 95% in tune it will allow you to hear where it's still not in tune. It's those pesky high notes. They are sharp. This is probably where the first post response from me should have come in. Watch the tighening up for high notes which isn't always necessary and take in more mouthpiece. See if this make a difference for those high notes.

Yes, I think I can hear that now. The tone starts to suffer, too, as I'm tightening up. Hard to get a feel for how much m/p to take in, it's so tiny. I'm currently playing a band part for clarinet and tenor, using the nino for the clarinet bits. Switching to tenor feels like putting a brick in my mouth.

You've got a pretty good ear to have played that much that well, so just use it to get that last little bit where it should be. I find the sopranino the most fun to play of all the saxes. Although it's not suited to every piece of music I tend to use it whenever possible.

Great progress, keep it up.

Thanks for taking the time to go through this.