Little My
Practice makes better.
- 393
As @kernewegor said, I've had a bit of a penny dropping week. There has been progress over the last few years but I was lacking consistent and focused practice. About six months ago I decided that if I was going to play my sax I might as well do it well. It's all starting to change.
So this week:
It's so encouraging to have such a positive week. I've had great support and assistance, both from my teacher and from everyone here, including and especially all the helpful comments on my scales and tone threads. Thank you.
So this week:
- I finally "got" half diminished chords and why they can be so different to what I was expecting. This knowledge is making it through to my fingers in time to make a good stab at choosing notes whilst I'm still on the same chord. I thought I knew about them before but I could never translate the knowledge into choosing and playing the notes I wanted fast enough. Now I'm far more confident with them.
- My ears are getting better and I can pick out changes more reliably. Not every time - I still get lost in the Dolphin Dance changes, but I'm doing much better on ballads and some of the modal tunes.
- Voice leading - this just makes sense! We'd been looking at Guide Tones in lessons, but again the penny just dropped this week.
- II V Is - somehow these seem a lot more accessible too, both in major and minor. The Aebersold book on them now looks accessible rather than intimidating.
- Practice - only little changes, but on school days I practise straight after doing the school run and the most pressing housework/errand, rather than trying to do All The Other Things first. Then the sax goes on its stand and I do a bit more at some point in the afternoon. I have a much clearer idea on practice structure too. I do long tones, overtones, scale work and a playalong piece or two in the morning, then in the afternoon I take a riff around the circle then have a look at a transcription. School holidays will inevitably end up with a bit less practice but I'm still aiming for daily. After all, I can't expect my daughter to practise her piano and martial arts if she doesn't see me practising my sax.
- Finally, my metal mouthpiece has been benched for the last few months whilst I concentrated on using the Sapphire so I wasn't chopping and changing. I took it out and tried it with an Alexander NY this week (I love the NY on the Sapphire) and it is so much better than I remember. I think I've got the chops for it now, and it's definitely happier with the NY reed than with the Superials. So I'm going to stick with that one for six months or so and enjoy exploring a slightly different sound.
It's so encouraging to have such a positive week. I've had great support and assistance, both from my teacher and from everyone here, including and especially all the helpful comments on my scales and tone threads. Thank you.