Performances in Extreme Conditions

[Soupy]

I'm sure at some point, if I ever get good enough to have someone come up to me and request that I play my saxophone (or any other wind instrument for that matter) in a public setting, (may take a WHILE for this to occur.....lol), that I may be faced with some extreme conditions at times.

My mind goes back to when I was a wee lad, attending an Easter Sunrise Service on a bridge, in very cold temperatures.

There was a bloke there with his trumpet, playing the music for the songs that the congregants were asked to sing. The heated breath of the trumpet player and the singers, created a fog around the gathering.

Talk for a moment if you would, about your experiences performing in public situations, where the elements were extreme, and how that affected your playing, and the results that came out of your instrument.

-Soupy

 

[Jeanette]

Interesting thought, not had any extreme conditions to play in thankfully 🙂

Jx

 

[Nick Wyver]

Coldest was probably doing a 3 hour parade in Netherlands in the snow. Split lip again.

 

[Colin the Bear]

I've talked for a while.......I got some old fashioned looks from the dog......now what?

 

[dooce]

A band I used to be in, rehearsed in old barn, the walls of which were decidedly not weatherproof. In winter, we would just tough it out, wrapped in fleeces and mittens, but the Conn 10M I was playing then would let its feelings about the often near zero temperatures be known by playing resolutely a semitone flat, and I just could not ram the mouthpiece any further onto the cork, so would come out of a 2 hour rehearsal with a seized jaw from trying to "lip it up" to compensate. Funny, if the sax had been one of the Mexican variety of 10Ms, I might have sympathised but it was a genuine Elkhart job so should have been used to cold winters........

 

[O.C.V.]

I was doing an outside gig once and complained about the cold. The lass next to me (on flute) looked down her nose a bit and said, " I grew up in Alaska,shut up."
O.C.V.

 

[Jeanette]

I was doing an outside gig once and complained about the cold. The lass next to me (on flute) looked down her nose a bit and said, " I grew up in Alaska,shut up."
O.C.V.

She didn't offer to warm you up then? 😉

Jx

 

[O.C.V.]

She didn't offer to warm you up then? 😉

Jx

Sadly,no. She was quite tasty; as a flute player,that is. I wouldn't know about anything else.
O.C.V.

 

[BigMartin]

Just about the nicest concert I ever played in. Mozart C minor wind serenade (fantastic piece, if you don't know it). I had the 1st clarinet part for a change. In a gorgeous baroque monastery in Austria (longish story). Just one problem: had a really bad stomach upset that day and felt like death warmed up, as my mother used to say. Got through the gig OK as it turned out, and it's still a happy memory overall.

 

[jeremyjuicewah]

This is to the point of something I have been worrying about. I am now up to speed with Lily Was Here and due to perform it with the band in a couple of weeks. What I have noticed with my alto is that it is flat when I first pick it up. Contrary to what the guvnors think it does get very cold here in winter, and lots of places, mine inc, are slanted towards keeping cool in summer, and have no central heating. I am worried that when I have to do Lily Was Here, in the middle of a set, only time I will play alto that night, it will be cold and flat. It warms up quickly so I can probably live with it, but I notice it for the first three or four riffs and I don't really want to live with it. Is there a way of getting it warm? I remember an old thread, a few years ago, about this, someone playing in church, but I cant find it and I don't think there was an anwer. I do not notice this same thing with a tenor. I have no idea if the venue will be cold enough to be a problem, but have played there before and its quite possible.

 

[Jeanette]

This is to the point of something I have been worrying about. I am now up to speed with Lily Was Here and due to perform it with the band in a couple of weeks. What I have noticed with my alto is that it is flat when I first pick it up. Contrary to what the guvnors think it does get very cold here in winter, and lots of places, mine inc, are slanted towards keeping cool in summer, and have no central heating. I am worried that when I have to do Lily Was Here, in the middle of a set, only time I will play alto that night, it will be cold and flat. It warms up quickly so I can probably live with it, but I notice it for the first three or four riffs and I don't really want to live with it. Is there a way of getting it warm? I remember an old thread, a few years ago, about this, someone playing in church, but I cant find it and I don't think there was an anwer. I do not notice this same thing with a tenor. I have no idea if the venue will be cold enough to be a problem, but have played there before and its quite possible.

Found this suggestion

Hi
I remember reading or seeing on U tube cant quite remember which, but an easy way to warm your sax is to put a cloth in the bell and just breath through the mouth piece a few times.

Hope this helps

Regards

Bill

Jx

 

[Jeanette]

This might be the thread you referred to

Jx

 

[kevgermany]

If you're going to warm it with your breath, close all the keys and blow through ad much as you can. Keep the reed wet.

 

[Colin the Bear]

My Baritone suffers worst with the cold. When I'm sitting in and need to have it up to speed quickly, I put a soaked reed on and keep the mouthpiece in my pocket. I also blow through the neck and keep that in an inside pocket. It's a matter of seconds to fit the mouthpiece and neck and the rest warms up in no time. I started doing it when I read somewhere that the neck and mouthpiece have the most effect when cold.

 

[jeremyjuicewah]

This might be the thread you referred to

Jx

Thanks Jeanette. Yes it was, and its quite funny. Final recommendations are to chuck lighter flued down the bell and set fire to it.

Above are good warming tips. I will try these tomorrow in my ice cave. But I have also thought that I will get the number list out and see if there is a number in which I don't do much, could do it on alto, and insert in before Lily.
I will try these warming tips out tomorrow morning and afternoon and get back to you.

Thanks

 

[Jeanette]

Can you get those hand warmer things over there, could drop one in the bell?

Don't forget to take it out, mid you they do get hot, so not so sure about that 🙂

Jx

 

[MandyH]

About 4 years ago on Boxing Day, I played in 9 or so inches of snow, outside the British Camp tea rooms on the Malvern hills.
I wore more layers, thermals and skiwear than I could move in, with my band fleece over the top of everything, and fingerless gloves (definitely invest in a pair of fingerless gloves) and wooly hat.
There was no way in the world that the Bari sax was every going to come up to pitch, so I shoved the mouthpiece on as far as it would go, and hoped for the best.

Until that day, I had never realised that you could play a saxophone even though your finger are freezing cold, to the point of aching.

After about 45 minutes, I was in so much pain (I wasn't alone!) that we convinced the conductor that enough was enough and went home.

However, I will never play in precipitation - my sax is worth too much to get rained or snowed on.

 

[MandyH]

Can you get those hand warmer things over there, could drop one in the bell?

Don't forget to take it out, mid you they do get hot, so not so sure about that 🙂

Jx

I got one of those "microwave bean bags" - a long thin one, like you would wrap around your neck. I tied a long cord around one end of it.
I warmed it up before setting off the whatever winter venue, and put it down the bell of my Bari, then put that inside the case and drove to wherever I was playing. I set up the Bari and took the bean bag out at the last minute, but to be honest, it makes little difference - the enormous amount of brass cools down so fast that by the time you are ready to play, the sax is too flat again.

 

[Colin the Bear]

Metal shrinks in the cold. It should go sharp. Playing outside the air is cold too and so a little more dense. Is that why it goes flat?

 

[MandyH]

Metal shrinks in the cold. It should go sharp. Playing outside the air is cold too and so a little more dense. Is that why it goes flat?

I know nothing about the mechanics myself, other than the mouthpiece needs to go on as far as possible - in my case, so that no cork is visible ..... and the sax is still flat, even then.