The beginning...

matth · Jul 18, 2007

Afternoon all 8)

Sunday morning saw me zooming round the M25 for my 8.30am appointment. I was going to pick up my first ever Sax and get a 45 minute starter lesson to get me underway.

I was actually quite apprehensive, its been 20 years since I had touched a woodwind instrument, though I had spent quite a while during primary school on the clarinet.

Come 9.30 I was carrying a bundle of goodies back to the car, the starter lesson had gone well.. hardly any ear bleeding shrieks on a Sunday Morning.

So now I am the proud owner of a TJ Revolution 2 Alto sax (I have to say I am very impressed with the service I got at saxhire - and in general with the idea of renting/buyback schemes for the Sax - what great way to get people to try it without a huge financial risk)

So far on the back of my starter lesson I have been working on the first 6 notes ( BAG FED) and long tones.

I also sat down and started to watch the DVD which came with the Sax, (only realising who the instructor was afterwards :laugh: )

So now armed with the DVD I am going to go back and try and formalise my practice a bit and work on my tempo as thats one of my stumbling blocks to start with.

Hopefully this should keep me occupied until I find a local teacher and I can start lessons.

So far its a lot of fun.. and so a couple of questions.

1. Is it worth changing the mouthpiece or is the supplied TJ one good enough for now ?

2. For squeaky low notes ( D for example) is that a indication I am restricting the airflow and not opening my throat enough ?

Thanks

Matt

Pjonah · Jul 18, 2007

Welcome MattH and good luck with your new acquisition.

1. You don't say if the supplied mouthpiece is a generic no brander or a branded model. If you feel comfortable with it on the notes played thus far stick with it. A good all round starter mouthpiece is a Yamaha 4c or 5c, that'll just about handle every new technique you'll learn in the next 2 years! After which time you will be better positioned to decide what type of piece suites your style and type of music.

2. Have patience with the low notes they will come as you practice you semi-breve scales (long notes). The squeeks are probably due to overtones ocurring, where the instrument is trying to play the upper register. You do need to relax the embouchure slightly and feed the column of air a little more controlled than for say a b or c.

The more you play the more you realise the subtle changes required in the embouchure.

All these things will be covered by your teacher or any good exercise book, check out Simon at Jazzwise, he posts in here a lot.

Keep up the effort, its so worth it!

Simon

matth · Jul 18, 2007

Thanks, The mpc was the generic Trevor James which came with the Sax.. it did come with a BG lig though and the reeds were basics ricos (1.5)

Matt

philthd · Jul 18, 2007

im personally not a big fan of tj horns, but the pieces on them are playable enough - though not a patch on the yamaha which is a great versatile mouthpiece you could play on for ages

if 25 squid is an amount of cash you have readily available go buy yourself a yamaha piece and itll be years before you need another one (though wanting another one is a very different thing)

if not, the stock piece will do you for a while but you should be looking to upgrade once you can

Col9 · Jul 18, 2007

I was going to rent then buy a TJ RevII from saxhire, the only problem was he wanted me to post an identity theft toolkit ie... credit card details two forms of id not photo copies, and all my personal details in one convienient envelope. No way of handling them electronicaly, said his email didnt work one way or something. couldnt fax them either, 8|

Very nice very helpfull bloke though and great prices cheapest in the country at the time I think. I eneded up buying a Hanson, had hanson not been mentioned to me I would definatly have bought the RevII outright from the saxhire guy.

Looking forward to hearing how you get on.

See ya
col.

matth · Jul 19, 2007

He was very helpful when I went over there.. and I bought the sax outright, but it has the buyback option which works out a cheaper way than the rental scheme.

Its a shame its a 3 hr roundtrip to him as he would have been a good tutor I think.

I was practising my G major scale and long tones again last night..funny enough I seem quite comfortable with using the octave key.. (though lot of time when I go for E,D I do not need it :whistle: )

My big thing to work on is definitely my tempo.. I am rubbish at keeping my notes to time (though I am quite happy to work out tunes without music. which is probably why I am not so good when it comes to playing music from a songsheet)

I have been recommended a tutor though at the mo theres a waiting list.. but I have a couple of weeks away and will see how things are when I am back.

cheers

Matt