Saxendd

saxendd

saxendd

Member
528
United Kingdom
Hello to all on the site.

I confess that the exhortation for us to "Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway " is one that I find myself agreeing wholeheartedly with when it comes to my lifelong relationship with the saxophone.

In a nutshell, I would say that the affinity I have with the sound of the saxophone is an eternal bond that pre-dates my physical birth.

It was in January 2013 that I (arrogantly?) walked out of a lesson (first lesson, second term) at a music school having assessed that I wasn't thriving as I would have hoped (especially when taken against the sentiments shared in the first paragraph). Some 9 months later I started to take personal responsibility for my learning.

Fast forward to now, here I am amongst you experts, to continue this growth. I trust that you will tolerate my ignorance and inexperience for I am genuine.
 
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As for the handle that I have chosen for myself on here, saxendd, the intention is that it will serve to convey that having finally started to find my voice on the saxophone, I now regard every breath I take as being dedicated to the joy of discovering why it is that the instrument has held me in its thrall for as long as even before I can remember.

Though I will use this 'topic' like a sort of Blog, please consider yourself welcome to contribute positively if inspired to do so. Thanks.

To bring things up to date, I am in the market to purchase an alto saxophone that will forever more be saxendd's very first saxophone. Up till Sunday I have been playing on an old alto that my son was given by his music teacher over 10 years ago ... and the 'handover' represented an exquisite moment in my lifetime. I am based in London. Sadly the shop i used to go to - about 15 minutes from me - is closing and so am about to lose that very, very local port of call for advice, maintenance etc 🙁

Sentimentally, I am inclined to regard whichever instrument I get as a lifetime purchase. Thus far I have been playing on a Evette Buffet (details to follow). I am ready to spend up to £1000 and feel inclined to choose an instrument that will easily support my development for a while to come. At that upper price range I think I should be able to get a fairly good instrument.

I have been investigating the Yamaha YAS-280 - Alto Sax, however as I said this inclination is not based on science but the knowledge that Yamaha is a renowned brand...and I want a horn that will serve me well over many, many years to come.

The player whose sound I most passionately drool over is that of the late Grover Washington Jr; so you would guess that I am aiming to develop an articulation that is as close to the human voice as is possible on a horn.

Thanks for reading and am looking forward to sharing experiences.

Regards

saxendd


 
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aldevis said:
Welcome to the Caffe'.

I never thought of the saxophone as a predator, though...
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Thank you for welcome and the interaction aldevis. Hopefully the insertion of a hyphen (missed due to hasty tying) ought to fix that so that it accurately conveys what am trying to share 🙂

However, would it be far-fetched to imagine that an 'obsessively intense but unfulfilled passion could well take to stalking one the longer it remains unexplored'? I remember listening back to a recording I made last November, and as the piece played I could not believe what I was hearing because i could detect the existence of musical ideas that way exceeded my conscious and practical ability.

More about this later .... maybe when i pluck up enough courage to post a piece somewhere online. In the meantime thinks again for the interactions; they serve to make the place feel a welcoming one.

regards

saxendd
 
You'll get great advice on this forum. A lot of Yam fans and a lot of non Yam fans but that is a great horn to start your collection with!

Welcome.
 
saxendd said:
More about this later .... maybe when i pluck up enough courage to post a piece somewhere online. In the meantime thinks again for the interactions; they serve to make the place feel a welcoming one.
Click to expand...

Have a browse around the Caffé: we have ballad of the month, blues of the month, improvisation of the month...
With lovely (free) backing tracks provided by our kind @Chris
What is the shop near you that is closing down? Are you referring to Michael White?
 
Some folk are far too clever by half 🙂 ... sssshhhhhh affirmative. Thanks for the heads-up re: backing tracks etc but truly I am not at that level yet. Will check it out and when I get to a level where i feel i can play along I might share the experience.

I haven't yet learnt to read music notation so you all can understand just how bewildering it looks to the uneducated eye! To say that the the sight of musical notation makes me feel illiterate is an understatement of epic proportions.

I play by instinct and by slowly working out what key presses sound ok-ish in sequence (get my drift?); and because I am a raw beginner and progressing by myself i haven't an informed opinion as to whether I am playing 'flat' or 'high'. However, I press on guided by ... the saxendd instinct.

And yet here I am
 
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ProfJames said:
What is the closest shop to you now? Putney or Central London?
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Hi again ProfJames, Putney would be close, but too fiddly to get to. So Central London would be a more straightforward journey. But has anyone had the experience of feeling sort of cowed in the presence of all those knowledgeable shop assistants?! ****, talk about embarking on a journey into humility! Anyway, thus far I can say for certain that it is too late to turn back now so I will soldier on.

Hello kevgermany and thanks to you too for the interaction. Today is my first day on the site so you can imagine that I won't be venturing out if this little corner of the www for a while yet but you all sure do know how to quickly soothe those newbie nerves. Thanks again.

Coincidentally, even as I write there is a virtual shopping basket I have on dawkes.co.uk containing the following: 1 x Yamaha YAS-280 - Alto Sax & 1 x Winter 2000 Alto Sax Case - Hard Shaped ... so the question is has ProfJames been spying on my online activities????? (just kidding of course. Hopefully in time readers will come to recognise my zany sense of humour).

But I am wondering if it is foolish to buy an instrument online, unseen and untried. Though it is a big financial outlay I am not at all put off as the £££ would be in service of a lifelong ambition; and after all I regard the realisation of this dream as a priceless experience. Almost akin to finding my reason for being. And though am not very good yet I spend most of my train journey listening to myself ....ego disguised as ear training? Seriously though, I am finding music making highly addictive.
 
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I have been expecting you here for some time Saxendd....!!! You will find Dawkes a very friendly place to visit. I have only been playing for two years (minus the last ten months due to injury) and went into Dawkes "blind"!

They are a great bunch of people and very helpful. Let me know if you are planning to visit and I will offer to come and meet you and introduce you to the staff. Great chance to have a blow of a Cannonball or something as well..!
 
Thanks for the offer ProfJames; will bear it in mind. Before i close off here for today there is something else I could do with some feedback on.

I would consider that I have been playing the alto since last october. My first love however is the soprano (again the late Grover Washington Jr being a class apart to my ears in this lifetime). But since I started learning whenever I hear the tenor it sounds like it it has a greater versatility than the alto; or dareisay it as if if my voice and ear finds a wee bit more affinity with the promise of the tenor.

But from a professional viewpoint does this impression stand up to scrutiny? Or is it a pointless debate that will rage on with a lot of subjectivity but no real way of a conclusion being reached?

I baulk at the thought that my inner guide is directing me to become accomplished in the full range of saxes but who would I be to allow my intellect to intervene in a passion that is more gut instinct than informed through endless research and know-how.

Any thoughts? At one time I thought that a half-way house would be to upgrade my Alto and try out one of the bamboo Tenor saxes made by Eric the Flutemaker.

Am I too 'all over the place'?
 
Thanks for the greeting Zelda.

Maybe I have too much time in my mind because I caught myself counting on my fingers thus: Sunday afternoon, Monday all day, and 9 hours into Tuesday, by way of reckoning the time that has passed without a saxophone being present in my living space. Awful feeling of of moroseness at not having one within arms reach.

So I come here amidst you learned lot to read some 'sax talk' in the hope that it might serve as a temporary 'fix'.

Yesterday's confession re: the Tenor's attractiveness to my ears, seemed to create a bit of space for self-reflection. I know for sure that one day I would like to attain some proficiency on the Soprano; in the meantime I have been "playing around" on an Alto. Helpful ProfJames opined that I might as well "Bow to my passion! and Acquire all three and then think about baritone..." (if the headscratch emoticon was amenable to being downsized I would have included it here).

Given that I would describe myself as a "hobby saxophone blower" (it is with honest deliberation that i avoid the pretension of describing myself as being able to play) where do i go from here?

1. I must have a saxophone of my own (new if possible but not a show-stopper)
2. Have been looking at a new YAS280 (comfortably within my budget) in the hope that I will 'grow into it'

However today on the site today I stumbled across a review of the Jericho J6 Alto Saxophone. Has anyway had any practical experience of this make?
 
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