Alc.
Member
Just discovered that my 12 gauge shotgun cleaning brush fits an alto mouthpiece perfectly. (New brush of course)
Tooth paste sounds like a good idea. Hadn't thought of that.
Since I just recently picked up a sax again, after a very long interval, I ordered and received a beginners instruction book for alto. I hadn't paid attention to it being a British edition, so some translation was called for. I had never heard of semibreves, minims, crotchets, quavers, or semiquavers. Likewise a stave was unfamiliar. Once I translated these into whole-notes, half-notes, quarter-notes, eighth-notes and sixteenth-notes, it cleared up considerably. Also I began finding the notes on the staff, which I did remember. Wasn't it Churchill that commented on two nations being separated by a common language?
The more I study the more I wonder why I should want to stray from playing by ear. (to learn, fool) Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting, all part of my bucket list. I've always respected those who could play from a page with a jumble of what might have been found on the Dead Sea Scrolls. I am seeing a glimmer of light, even though as a rank beginner I am required to practice nursery rhymes. It's O.K., though. Baby steps don't bother me, as long as I'm playing from a printed page. When it is time to quit for the day I can recharge the batteries by going back to memory, maybe In a Sentimental Mood, or Mood Indigo. I've always been a sucker for Ellington. Sorry. Blabber-time is over.