Beginner poirot theme for soprano sax

Now is your chance to learn a very useful skill. Transposition. You read the notes but transpose them to another key. ie you look at the note C and you play A or whatever.
So you can see that to play A you need to think a Minor Third down or Three semitones.
You can think key wise ie. if the original key is C the new one will be A in three sharps, or just count the semitones down. This will take a lot of concentration, but if you can achieve it, you will thank me for this advice , ( because it will greatly increase your understanding of how music works) or better still make a donation to the cafe.
 
Hi Simon, with all due respect, this tune is way beyond the 'beginner'. I've just had a look at the score and it's in 2 keys, which are BbMaj and BMaj. Plus a whole lot of accidentals. If you got it in an easier key you wouldn't be able to play along with the original TV music as you would be in the 'wrong' key. Just seems hard seeing how you didn't understand accidentals etc in a recent post.

Chris..
 
Wasn't this originally recorded by the great Stan Sulzman ?

I may have the music somewhere in my pile of many, many books. Don't hold your breath.

Rhys
 
simon price said:
i want to play the poroit theme but cant find it written for a soprano , its all too high key in the books
Click to expand...


If you down load this:

https://mega.co.nz/#!BdsFHAKT!DhPOxGyICe7PlhqHIZjGM3C5FKh8ACFc4S3RpwRGZzs

and then this

http://musescore.org/

and read through this thread:

http://cafesaxophone.com/community/threads/if-you-miss-wiki.12038/#post-150432

you will eventually find it - and you can then transpose it to whatever key you want.

Be warned - 'The Pink Panther' theme is a deceptively simple tune to listen to.

The score doesn't look too hard, either... but...the score on wikifonia is not how Plas Johnson plays it...

Apart from anything else, the score doesn't indicate the falls (there is an Italian word for these things - glissando?). End of bar four, for instance, is a fall starting on F#.... and the same at the end of the theme.

Try playing the dots, then listen to Plas Johnson and Henry Mancini on youtube (there are several youtube versions). Plas Johnson is the one you hear on the film soundtrack... the 'original', if you like... and Plas is of course playing tenor...

Then try playing the dots, and listen to Plas again.... and so on.... again.... and again.

Getting the rhythm, phrasing and dynamics right - and sounding anything like as good as Plas Johnson - ain't something which will happen this year or next.. or the year after. That guy was a pro player for years before he recorded that....

But... have a go! HAVE A GO! It's only fifteen bars....

It is an easy tune (however it looks on the page) if you play it as written on Wikifonia ... but it won't sound like the film score 'cos that is NOT what PLas Johnson actually played (I don't know how Mancini wrote it...) The little extras - which aren't written, but which P. Johnson plays so bloody, marvelously, deliciously well... are the things to work on.... every now and again... learning a little each time... using your ears... and trying to imitate what you hear...

Be happy for the present to learn a basic version of the tune (as written, if you like... but far better substituting as much as you can manage of what you hear Plas Johnson playing (bar seven and eight, for instance, he doesn't actually play the E... he slides towards it from F, not quite reaching E (teasing the ears of the listeners)... and bars 13 to 15 are not as written... listen! But the falls/glisses take some work to sound right.)

Getting a basic version of a tune worked out, and then improving on it bit by bit over months and years, listening to how top players play it, is a good thing to do. You will learn a lot.

Bugger the theory - in some ways, at least - playing a tune well is a good goal to aim at.

And even though it won't sound like the film soundtrack - it is still a good tune to play around with and learn from (I used to play 'Walkin' Shoes' - a Gerry Mulligan baritone piece - on clarinet!)... and if you go on to tenor one day, you will have it made!
 
Last edited:
If, as I think, you are relatively new to the sax (like me) it might be easier to look for an arrangement of the piece where it will be moved to a friendlier key and probably simplified too. There are plenty of play-along books with CDs of well-known TV/film tunes etc.
 
I have a version of the Poirot theme tune in the GuestSpot TV hits book.
Mine is for Alto sax (to go with the backing track) but you may be able to get the book for sop / tenor sax.
the alto version is written in G (one sharp - F#) so the sop version would be in C (no sharps or flats) I think.

It's maybe a bit above beginner, but certainly not too challenging.
 
kernewegor said:
Indeed.

'Twas either Parker or Monk - possibly both.

Never fear, I will be expiating my sins with a visit to Pete's store in the near future :thumb:
Click to expand...

I also love this quote from Parker, "Master your instrument, master the music. And then forget all that bull**** and just play"
kernewegor said:
Indeed.

'Twas either Parker or Monk - possibly both.

Never fear, I will be expiating my sins with a visit to Pete's store in the near future :thumb:
Click to expand...
kernewegor said:
If you down load this:

https://mega.co.nz/#!BdsFHAKT!DhPOxGyICe7PlhqHIZjGM3C5FKh8ACFc4S3RpwRGZzs

and then this

http://musescore.org/

and read through this thread:

http://cafesaxophone.com/community/threads/if-you-miss-wiki.12038/#post-150432

you will eventually find it - and you can then transpose it to whatever key you want.

Be warned - 'The Pink Panther' theme is a deceptively simple tune to listen to.

The score doesn't look too hard, either... but...the score on wikifonia is not how Plas Johnson plays it...

Apart from anything else, the score doesn't indicate the falls (there is an Italian word for these things - glissando?). End of bar four, for instance, is a fall starting on F#.... and the same at the end of the theme.

Try playing the dots, then listen to Plas Johnson and Henry Mancini on youtube (there are several youtube versions). Plas Johnson is the one you hear on the film soundtrack... the 'original', if you like... and Plas is of course playing tenor...

Then try playing the dots, and listen to Plas again.... and so on.... again.... and again.

Getting the rhythm, phrasing and dynamics right - and sounding anything like as good as Plas Johnson - ain't something which will happen this year or next.. or the year after. That guy was a pro player for years before he recorded that....

But... have a go! HAVE A GO! It's only fifteen bars....

It is an easy tune (however it looks on the page) if you play it as written on Wikifonia ... but it won't sound like the film score 'cos that is NOT what PLas Johnson actually played (I don't know how Mancini wrote it...) The little extras - which aren't written, but which P. Johnson plays so bloody, marvelously, deliciously well... are the things to work on.... every now and again... learning a little each time... using your ears... and trying to imitate what you hear...

Be happy for the present to learn a basic version of the tune (as written, if you like... but far better substituting as much as you can manage of what you hear Plas Johnson playing (bar seven and eight, for instance, he doesn't actually play the E... he slides towards it from F, not quite reaching E (teasing the ears of the listeners)... and bars 13 to 15 are not as written... listen! But the falls/glisses take some work to sound right.)

Getting a basic version of a tune worked out, and then improving on it bit by bit over months and years, listening to how top players play it, is a good thing to do. You will learn a lot.

Bugger the theory - in some ways, at least - playing a tune well is a good goal to aim at.

And even though it won't sound like the film soundtrack - it is still a good tune to play around with and learn from (I used to play 'Walkin' Shoes' - a Gerry Mulligan baritone piece - on clarinet!)... and if you go on to tenor one day, you will have it made!
Click to expand...
 
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