Playing the saxophone Learn to play by ear or by reading music

[richardr]

"Lame"

I recall my brother-in-law using that word but I thought he was referring to the condition of my elderly laptop, or "lappie" as Lesley would say - South Africans seem almost as linguistically inventive as Americans.

 

[richardr]

Audacity has the option to export audio in many formats including Mp3. So software to convert would be.........superfluous.

Mary's husband, who knows a thing or two, having made his living from IT since the early 1970s, thought the new software was necessary and I'm happy to rely on him. He's the chap who introduced me to Audacity and put it on my computer in the first place.

 

[rhysonsax]

As Colin says, Audacity will export iin various formats, but to export in mp3 it needs the LAME encoder, which comes separately from Audacity itself. Here is what I found using Google:

LAME is a library that allows some programs to encode MP3 files. LAME is free, but in some countries you may need to pay a license fee in order to legally encode MP3 files.

To use LAME (or FFmpeg) with Audacity, you can put it anywhere you want, but the first time you want to export an MP3 file, Audacity will ask you for the location of this file, so you will want to remember where you put it.
​

Hope that helps.

Rhys

 

[richardr]

As Colin says, Audacity will export iin various formats, but to export in mp3 it needs the LAME encoder, which comes separately from Audacity itself. Here is what I found using Google:

LAME is a library that allows some programs to encode MP3 files. LAME is free, but in some countries you may need to pay a license fee in order to legally encode MP3 files.

To use LAME (or FFmpeg) with Audacity, you can put it anywhere you want, but the first time you want to export an MP3 file, Audacity will ask you for the location of this file, so you will want to remember where you put it.
​

Hope that helps.

Rhys

Thanks. All this is beyond me but I've checked it out with my brother-in-law and he confirms that it's right, except that when he installed LAME in my computer last night, Audacity found it automatically without being told where it was. Perhaps I ought to learn to do things like this for myself but I'm forever receiving messages advising me to install this or that piece of software to make my computer work better and I've no idea what is worth having and what is useless or worse. Besides, broadband at my home is so slow that my computer gives up in disgust waiting for data to arrive by drip feed. Instead I leave all my problems for my brother-in-law to sort when I come to Hampshire.

 

[Jeanette]

@richardr while you are there ask him to show you how to download the sheet music 🙂

Jx

 

[richardr]

@richardr while you are there ask him to show you how to download the sheet music

Excellent idea. I've been intending to ask but have forgotten. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[richardr]

@Jeanette @tenorviol I've just had a go at saving Ron's Dropbox score and it's worked just as it should so it's now saved as a pdf. I think the reason for my previous difficulty lies in the very slow broadband at home. What was happening was that when I clicked the "download" button, all I got was a display inviting me to download the Dropbox software which prevented me from doing anything else. That's why I tried to save and to print without clicking the "download" button. Here, after a brief delay while I was another line appeared giving me the option of continuing to download. I clicked on that and all worked as it should. I think that if I'd waited long enough I would have got to the same point at home but of course I didn't know to wait

 

[Colin the Bear]

Don't wait. Go and do something else. Come back tomorrow if need be.

 

[richardr]

Come back tomorrow if need be

I've tried that, only to find that my computer's got fed up of waiting and given up.

 

[Tenor Viol]

I've tried that, only to find that my computer's got fed up of waiting and given up.

That will be down to your power settings shutting down after a set period - that can be chaged.

 

[richardr]

That will be down to your power settings shutting down after a set period - that can be chaged.

I can't be bothered. I know now that the thingie that comes up when I try to download your dots inviting me to join Dropbox and stopping me from doing the download without any apparent way of getting rid of it except, start again, when the same thing happens, soon gets an extra line giving me the option to continue the download. At home I might have to wait a bit longer but now I know to wait. The idea of something that stops you proceeding but provides its own cure in a few moments is new in my experience.
The short story is that, unless I'm greatly mistaken, I shall be able to download and save your Dropbox material at home.

 

[Taz]

Coming back on topic (I know it won't last )
I find that recording the piece that I want to learn and then recording myself over the top of it also helps me to hear where I'm going wrong, or where I can change the melody to suit my needs. I'm not worried about the quality of the recording as it's for my ears only (usually)
Here's one that I've just done as I'm learning two tracks to play on Sunday at a club in Rugby. The interesting thing is that the DJ has also asked me to set the pause between the tracks to fit with the delay that I want to use. I'll then give him the recording of just his two tracks with the correct gap in between. Here's my first or second attempt, remember that it's full of awful sounds as I'm just playing around with it as I learn it. WARNING CONTAINS MODERN MUSIC!!!!

Dropbox - Edge first setup.wav

 

[richardr]

@Jeanette @tenorviol I'm back home now and I've tried out my new-found ability to save and open Dropbox files on Taz's latest post. I now have a thingie at the bottom left of my screen that says "2 hours left". I should imagine there's much more data in Taz's file than Ron's sheet music so I haven't lost hope,

 

[richardr]

I've had a wonderful few days staying with my sister in Hampshire. I went down specifically to attend the Petersfield workshop. I've posted about that elsewhere so it's sufficient to say that I was unsurprised to find that I wasn't good enough to join in properly but I had a good time tootling quietly away to myself at the back. I played with my eyes open and no-one shoved a mic down my bell.
At the workshop I met (inter alia) @Blue Sax who invited me to his pad for a jam. I hope Blue Sax won't mind me saying that we both have much to learn before we can jam effectively but we had a good time and his comments on my playing are very useful.
Perhaps it's worth mentioning that these pleasant opportunities would have come my way without Cafe Saxophone.
The best thing of all is that my sister, a long-term read-the-dots pianist, has been infected by my enthusiasm for playing by ear and she's doing really well, making noticeable progress during my stay; furthermore she's showing signs of enjoying jazz so there's great potential for fun there. I can't wait for my next visit in about two months time.
One reason why my sister is learning to play by ear is that she fears that deterioration of her eyesight with age may leave her unable to read music.

 

[trimmy]

Richard it took all of 5 seconds for me to open Taz's Dropbox link !
That's one slow puter/connection you have there 😱

 

[Alice]

Yes are you sure it's not running on steam, Richard?

 

[Colin the Bear]

Steam? I think it's carrier pigeon broadband. Often gets the display No service. Peregrine falcon ate your mail.

 

[Alice]

Here's Richard whilst he's waiting.

 

[richardr]

Well, my computer has downloaded and saved Taz's music and I've been able to listen to it but it really did take two hours. My teacher sends me MP3 files to download and those take a few seconds so I wonder whether it's Dropbox that my computer dislikes?

 

[Alice]

Well, my computer has downloaded and saved Taz's music and I've been able to listen to it but it really did take two hours. My teacher sends me MP3 files to download and those take a few seconds so I wonder whether it's Dropbox that my computer dislikes?

I'm sorry about my teasing, Richard 🙂 I don't know what computer or operating system you have... But i'm sure it shouldn't take as long as that. I don't know anything much, but if something is very slow on mine I check the connections, the router and the wifi as well as doing the usual clearing of cache, cookies.