Saxophone beginners How to deal with mistakes while practicing?

[Dabaqallo]

Thanks everyone! Playing slow approach have helped me a lot when I was doing the rhythm exercises before I started on the sax 🙂 The only problem I am facing with this technique is that my chops get tired before finishing a piece. It's like a 100 meters dash turning into a marathon 😀.

 

[BigMartin]

Don't play the whole piece every time. Concentrate on the parts that give you trouble. If that's the whole piece, then you probably need to work on something easier for now. Learning to play takes time. A really, really large amount of time.

 

[kevgermany]

The only problem I am facing with this technique is that my chops get tired before finishing a piece. It's like a 100 meters dash turning into a marathon

Chops is practice and learning to generate the necessary tension without straining. Your embouchure should be relaxed, but firm at the same time. Not tense.

But... You may also have a reed that's too hard for your mouthpiece.

 

[Eoe]

I do a vocal warm up before and when my lips get tired I do that vocal warmup again and I seem to get some more mileage. You can Google vocal warm-ups it's the one where you use your lips to make like airplane sounds. That one has helped me a lot.

 

[Eoe]

I am doing lessons in chick corea's workshop these are great and what he is teaching I just do not know how you can pass it up.

 

[jbtsax]

I would define musical literacy as the ability to hear music and produce music, rather than the ability to read written notes. I play at jam sessions with people who can read written notes, but can't produce real music as a result. The other day a group including one of these guys played All Of Me. They started three times, each time the note reader was playing in a different time to the rest of the band, but he just ploughed on, unaware of what was happening because he was reading and not listening.

I think that guy is musically illiterate. I think Erroll Garner (for example) was musically literate, even though he couldn't read or write musical notation.

Once musical experience is expanded beyond playing in jam sessions, such as playing in a concert band, big band, sax quartet, or small combo then the ability to read music---especially sightread music is essential to be able to participate. It is nice to be able to tell a good story, but that is a far cry from being able to read a book.

That said, it appears that the word "literacy" can have both meanings:

lit·er·a·cy
ˈlidərəsē,ˈlitrəsē/
noun
noun: literacy

1. the ability to read and write.
   synonyms: ability to read and write, reading/writing proficiency; More
   "literacy and numeracy are the first goals of education"
   • competence or knowledge in a specified area.
     "wine literacy can't be taught in three hours"

 

[Eoe]

Once musical experience is expanded beyond playing in jam sessions, such as playing in a concert band, big band, sax quartet, or small combo then the ability to read music---especially sightread music is essential to be able to participate. It is nice to be able to tell a good story, but that is a far cry from being able to read a book.

That said, it appears that the word "literacy" can have both meanings:

lit·er·a·cy
ˈlidərəsē,ˈlitrəsē/
noun
noun: literacy

1. the ability to read and write.
   synonyms: ability to read and write, reading/writing proficiency; More
   "literacy and numeracy are the first goals of education"
   • competence or knowledge in a specified area.
     "wine literacy can't be taught in three hours"

exactly I you have to read to be in my band . if I want to change something I am not going to go to the keyboard and play it I am going to write it down . and if you have a bright idea I want you to write it down. I am to old to be frustrated by people who can not read.

 

[Guenne]

Reminds me of Hal Galper saying: All music is played by ear....
Of course he is right.
You will not play music if you just connect notes to fingerings.
There's this story about Joe Allard and a new student playing the Glazunow Concerto and always failing at the same passage. Joe told him to sing the part, the student couldn't. Joe said the would return to the Glazunow only when the student was able to sing it.

Cheers, Guenne

 

[Dabaqallo]

I've played couple of easy songs by ear in the first few weeks after I got the instrument. It was more of trial and error, but it was hell of fun! But I can't play complex melodies without a music sheet, at least until I memorize the sequence of notes and phrases.

I do a vocal warm up before and when my lips get tired I do that vocal warmup again and I seem to get some more mileage. You can Google vocal warm-ups it's the one where you use your lips to make like airplane sounds. That one has helped me a lot.

I will try this at work tomorrow lol 😀. Thanks!

 

[Jazzaferri]

I would like to correct @Bernie on one point. Reading music does not stop one from being able to improvise well. I play guitar in a jazz band with Monik Nordine who is a phenomenal saxophonist and one of my fave improvisers. She has a MMus (jazz sax) from McGill and can sight read at a very high level. I do wish I had her sax chops LOL...maybe next life.

 

[MandyH]

I would also suggest that you work on rhythm as much as notes.
If you make note-mistakes, try to get the rhythm right. Play through the mistake and keep going.
The danger with stopping is that you never get to the end.

Or...for a change, start with the final bar, then add in the bar before that, and keep working backwards from the end by one bar at a time.

When you add that to the beginning of the piece, you might be better prepared for moving on past the mistake.

I always practice things very slowly until my fingers are happy, then speed up slowly. Use a metronome, if you wish, start at (say) 60bpm and move up by 10bpm at a time until you reach the correct speed.
If you "fall over" at one speed, go back to the slightly slower speed and move on from there again.

 

[kevgermany]

I've moved most of the play by ear posts to OT. They're not going to help with the problem described in the thread. If someone wants to discuss it yet again, please find and use one of the existing threads where it's already been done to death.

Edit Moved from How to deal with mistakes while practicing?

 

[ChillyMike]

I've not been around long, but what has helped me is...

Slow the song down, break songs into smaller chunks, learn each chunk.
Learn three or four different songs at the same time. This helps me from getting bored with the same one over and over.
Learn songs you enjoy to listen to.
Once I have learned the dots, I try to commit it to memory so as to not have to have the music in front of me all the time.
Recently moved onto legere signature reeds, they certainly work for me, as do the plasticover reeds, find a combo that works and sounds right.
I have also recently started to relax my embochure a little and that helped a lot keeping more consistently throughout the range,

Finally...listen to this lot on here, they give great advice 🙂