Keyboard!! v Saxophone

Have started to learn playing keyboard its so much easier than my Saxophone!!
The reason I am saying this is because for the first time I parked my saxophone on the stand and have walked away from it totally disappointed with both my sax playing and my saxophone and when I return this evening it will be straight to the keyboard - why?
Well I have spent a full hour trying to tune up my saxophone - no matter what way I adjust mouthpiece reed
etc etc I am just not getting any sort of decent tone - have used both synthetic reed and cane -- also tried 2 different mouth pieces -- I know you have to warm up etc but my goodness trying to tune up was going on for ever -- have noticed this problem just creeping in after Christmas -- so tonight straight on the keyboard and hopefully I will get over my disappointment of spending so much time and getting no where.
 
Sounds to me like something has gone amiss with the regulation of the sax. Possibly a visit to the tech will get you back up and running.
 
There could be many reasons as to why you can't tune the sax 'nikon'. If you say the problem has got worse since Xmas, it might be a leak somewhere on the sax. Do you have a tutor or experienced player local to you who can have a look?? Or if not perhaps take it to a tech for a check-up.
 
If it isn't a mechanical issue it could be down to mouthpiece position... I had a bad dose of it last autumn. The mouthpiece was too far out resulting in some notes being in tune but most others wildly out. It was a creeping phenonemon that I barely noticed until it became utterly untameable

I took the advice to tune the mouthpiece position to low B. Lo and behold I had reset my preferred position and tuning was back to being governable
 
The saxophone isn't for everyone. It can take years to get a good sound and then regular practice to maintain it. I do believe an instrument picks the player. It picked me. I have no choice. It demands to be played. it's calling now....must answer.... and play it .....or suffer it sulking later. Baaaad saxophone.
 
Thanks for all your kind advice -- yes have teacher who I see now and again don't think its the actual saxophone - rather its me -- I just keep on adjusting my reed and mouth-piece and the more I do it the worst it becomes - also used a tuner - was not able to get green light bang on -- also have changed to synthetic reed which was fab at first -- have 2 really good mouth pieces as well - think its because I want to progress maybe quicker than I am -- have been learning for 2 years - pretty limited but can play 5 major scales and various pieces such a summertime etc -- have been told my breathing and air control is pretty good - recently I have noticed using the synthetic reed my mouthpiece is nearly like a river which is not very nice - thanks again all out there -- maybe I will lift up the sax tonight!! lol
 
Strikes me its a bit early in your sax journey to give it up as a bad job so I agree that your best bet is to leave the beast on its stand and admire it from afar for a while. Enjoy the keyboard and hopefully very soon all will go well - it's a well-known fact that a return after a lay-off can work wonders. I am nearing the end of a six month enforced abstinence - it remains to be seen whether or not I can get things together again.

Try to emulate the set-up you had last time it all went really well - you never know .....

Good luck and enjoy whatever you do.

Dave
 
Just a thought. Have a look in the mirror at your embouchure.(perhaps your doing something different.)
See what Don Menza does in the video. He talks a lot of sense.
You could also play with just the neck and mouthpiece with different reeds.
And see what is happening with the air stream.

http://youtu.be/5Oc0VzGBPxY
 
As you can see, nikon, lots of folks here would rather you stuck with the sax. Your call of course, but I think a lot of us understand.

I have certainly had times when I just hated the sound I was making and nothing seemed to go right. At the risk of getting touchy-feely here, I think those times were more to do with my mental (and possibly physical) state than anything to do with the sax. And the harder I tried to fix it the worse it got.

Some times (not always) I have been able to get myself out of that place. What would make the difference on those occasions was to put aside the trying. I would find a piece to play, usually one in a comfortable range, that I was quite familiar with, and kind of just let my mind drift. I suppose you would say enjoying the sax, playing with it, not with any conscious goal. I might try half a dozen different pieces, then one of the pieces would just "click", and I would hear a tone I liked, the fingers would start behaving just a little better. I suppose it is a matter of relaxation.

While I'm being all touchy-feely, the emotional connection with sax playing is fascinating to me. Sometimes the sax is a barometer of my mood - hard or easy to play, favouring fast or slow pieces, edgy or mellow tone. And sometimes playing the sax can shape my mood - Doctor Jazz definitely does the trick sometimes: "when the world goes wrong / and I've got the blues / he's the man who makes me / get out both my dancin' shoes". Well, you'd look silly with only one dancin' shoe, wouldn't you?
 
My tutor often tells me the great thing about the sax is it expresses your mood and the worst thing the sax is it expresses your mood.......

For no reason I can have some days where nothing sounds right, fingers won't behave etc..... and I've learnt to put it down relax and wait another day. Sometimes a break is all you need.🙂

I'm always drawn back to it though, I am sure you will be too.


Jx
 
Thanks guys and girls for all your support - I just could not face playing saxophone again last night - returned a short while ago today lifted Sax from the stand expecting the same thing - but to my total surprise it was like music from heaven -- I just played more at ease no hard blowing and trying to get everything perfect - I just breathed a little and easily dropped to B minor and reached a high D & E with out any problems -- started playing some music pieces after a good warm up and it was just day and nite compared to yesterday.
thanks to jamesmac as the youtube video impressed me so much -- I also returned to the keyboard but hey the sax is a awesome beast compared to it and I am so delighted - guess I must have been in a stubborn mood (red hair!!)
 
Reading the posts made me think about players that need to play to a high standard each and every day. As Some members will be at the moment or have done in the past. It seems to me that most do it by taking care of a set of muscles that are much more fragile that say your fingers, if you were a pianist.
So thinking how you should do this and avoid bad days is worth thinking about. And thinking about how an athlete keeps his/her body in tip top condition gives the most clues.
 

Similar threads... or are they? Maybe not but they could be worth reading anyway 😀

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