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Xalacai
Member
- Messages
- 29
- Location
- Styria, Austria
Hey guys!
Have been reading these forums for months now and I just love the community.
I have very much enjoyed almost every thread I stumbled upon. So I thought to myself „why not join?“
And here I am 🙂
My Name is Chris (32) and I live in the southeast of Austria where calm and very green hills with the occasional vineyard and lots of creeks and small rivers paint the landscape.
My interest in the Saxophone was more a tickling curiosity before I played it for the first time.
My past with music:
As a kid I learned to play the recorder for about a year, then I tried my hand at the Trumpet for a bit and parted ways within a few months (had a teacher for both instruments).
For quite some time music did not play a big role in my life. Then in my teens I got an Ocarina as a present and played the heck out of it (with a bad approach to musical progression but still with lots of joy) I experimented with a Guitar, Drums and Piano and eventually enrolled in music school for Piano. My teacher however gave me way too much freedom and I started playing way too complex songs without building a solid base with the fundamental skills. I eventually could play some quite difficult songs but what I could not do was speak the language of music. It was like I could not speak proper english in real conversations but sing an english pop-song with clean pronunciation and perfect grammar.
Eventually after about 2 years I stopped playing (at the time not yet knowing where I misstepped).
Eventually music drew me back in and I bought myself some Recorders to experiment with and a Book for the Alto-Recorder with really nice playbacks.
I learned quite a bit and enjoyed the process but I could not rid myself of the feeling that the recorder lacks something very important (namely proper dynamics and flexible expression) to me personally.
The journey begins:
Eventually my girlfriend, who never played an instrument but loves the saxophone very much, all but forced me to order an Alto Saxophone (in June 2023) and since then I have not skipped a single day playing.
Learning from my mistakes on the Piano I fully focussed on fundamental skills and worked on them with patience: slurred major scales over the full range, arpeggios, playing as slow as necessary, good posture, fingers on pearls, mouthpiece exercises, longtones, dynamics, always using a metronome, making simple stuff sound good, listening to good players etc.
In September after almost 3 months I started taking weekly lessons in a local music school. My newfound teacher started working with me on one major scale at a time and the corresponding chords in many rhythmic variations and over the full range of the horn (now have C,G,D,A,E,F,Bb,Eb,Ab), then I got the Lennie Niehaus Jazz Conception 1 book and we started working though these Exercises with a focus on accuracy and articulation.
I practice about 60-80 minutes every day and try to work 80% of that time on stuff I still struggle with, also longtones and scales. The rest of the time I play songs I already know for enjoyment or venture out and learn something I like by ear.
Eventually my teacher started accompanying me on piano, which was a whole new experience altogether and felt amazing. Still does!
The Tenor:
In December, after trying one in Music school, I ordered a Jupiter 700Q Tenor Sax and a SelectJazz MP and stuck with those since then.
Today (February 2024), after 7 1/2 months I am part of a Sax Quartet which includes my teacher on Bari. We currently work on „Take 5“ with a nice alto solo and a part where I get to play the melody on Tenor which is the most incredible experience I’ve ever had.
Being able to play along with others with good rhythm and intonation is not something I have expected myself doing at this point.
My teacher claims that my diligence on pushing myself and focussing on the fundamentals put me where his average student would be in 3-5 years.
I take that with a grain of salt but it still makes me happy to hear it 🙂
Some thoughts:
Watching many many videos from YT Channels like: Saxophone Academy, Dave Pollack, early BetterSax, Scott Paddock and so on did a great deal I think.
They do repeat what is important over and over - just don’t get trapped in the following topic. —> I think the biggest mistake I have avoided is buying more and more material (books, courses etc.). I work with very little material but put lots of effort into getting it right. I also do not intend to get another Mouthpiece for the same reasons. Also, mine feels amazing 🙂
—
I have like 25 books on chess and honestly… just 2 would have done more for me for sure.
You make mistakes and you learn from them I guess
Long story short: I am so happy I have started to walk this path. The journey has just started and it gets more and more interesting with every step!
For everyone who made it through this messy wall of text, thanks for reading my story!
Kind regards - Chris
Have been reading these forums for months now and I just love the community.
I have very much enjoyed almost every thread I stumbled upon. So I thought to myself „why not join?“
And here I am 🙂
My Name is Chris (32) and I live in the southeast of Austria where calm and very green hills with the occasional vineyard and lots of creeks and small rivers paint the landscape.
My interest in the Saxophone was more a tickling curiosity before I played it for the first time.
My past with music:
As a kid I learned to play the recorder for about a year, then I tried my hand at the Trumpet for a bit and parted ways within a few months (had a teacher for both instruments).
For quite some time music did not play a big role in my life. Then in my teens I got an Ocarina as a present and played the heck out of it (with a bad approach to musical progression but still with lots of joy) I experimented with a Guitar, Drums and Piano and eventually enrolled in music school for Piano. My teacher however gave me way too much freedom and I started playing way too complex songs without building a solid base with the fundamental skills. I eventually could play some quite difficult songs but what I could not do was speak the language of music. It was like I could not speak proper english in real conversations but sing an english pop-song with clean pronunciation and perfect grammar.
Eventually after about 2 years I stopped playing (at the time not yet knowing where I misstepped).
Eventually music drew me back in and I bought myself some Recorders to experiment with and a Book for the Alto-Recorder with really nice playbacks.
I learned quite a bit and enjoyed the process but I could not rid myself of the feeling that the recorder lacks something very important (namely proper dynamics and flexible expression) to me personally.
The journey begins:
Eventually my girlfriend, who never played an instrument but loves the saxophone very much, all but forced me to order an Alto Saxophone (in June 2023) and since then I have not skipped a single day playing.
Learning from my mistakes on the Piano I fully focussed on fundamental skills and worked on them with patience: slurred major scales over the full range, arpeggios, playing as slow as necessary, good posture, fingers on pearls, mouthpiece exercises, longtones, dynamics, always using a metronome, making simple stuff sound good, listening to good players etc.
In September after almost 3 months I started taking weekly lessons in a local music school. My newfound teacher started working with me on one major scale at a time and the corresponding chords in many rhythmic variations and over the full range of the horn (now have C,G,D,A,E,F,Bb,Eb,Ab), then I got the Lennie Niehaus Jazz Conception 1 book and we started working though these Exercises with a focus on accuracy and articulation.
I practice about 60-80 minutes every day and try to work 80% of that time on stuff I still struggle with, also longtones and scales. The rest of the time I play songs I already know for enjoyment or venture out and learn something I like by ear.
Eventually my teacher started accompanying me on piano, which was a whole new experience altogether and felt amazing. Still does!
The Tenor:
In December, after trying one in Music school, I ordered a Jupiter 700Q Tenor Sax and a SelectJazz MP and stuck with those since then.
Today (February 2024), after 7 1/2 months I am part of a Sax Quartet which includes my teacher on Bari. We currently work on „Take 5“ with a nice alto solo and a part where I get to play the melody on Tenor which is the most incredible experience I’ve ever had.
Being able to play along with others with good rhythm and intonation is not something I have expected myself doing at this point.
My teacher claims that my diligence on pushing myself and focussing on the fundamentals put me where his average student would be in 3-5 years.
I take that with a grain of salt but it still makes me happy to hear it 🙂
Some thoughts:
Watching many many videos from YT Channels like: Saxophone Academy, Dave Pollack, early BetterSax, Scott Paddock and so on did a great deal I think.
They do repeat what is important over and over - just don’t get trapped in the following topic. —> I think the biggest mistake I have avoided is buying more and more material (books, courses etc.). I work with very little material but put lots of effort into getting it right. I also do not intend to get another Mouthpiece for the same reasons. Also, mine feels amazing 🙂
—
I have like 25 books on chess and honestly… just 2 would have done more for me for sure.
You make mistakes and you learn from them I guess
Long story short: I am so happy I have started to walk this path. The journey has just started and it gets more and more interesting with every step!
For everyone who made it through this messy wall of text, thanks for reading my story!
Kind regards - Chris
