Thanks y’all. I appreciate you all taking the time to check it out.

And Michael, my mix may very well be off. I did deliberetly back off the volume a bit on my track due to feeling like maybe should blend it in more due to me feeling like my intonation and playing was a bit off.

It shouldnt be as bad as i think it may he coming across on your system though. If it is, I didnt intend to bury it in the mix THAT much.

I had a few technial issues with the post production on the music and video though. My video is slightly off sync with the audio track, and there is one part where my audio has some weird happen to brighten it briefly.

It’s filled with stuff that id prefer been better.

Thanks for taking the time to check it out and give the feedback. I really appreciate it.

Thanks so much for the kind words y’all. I do appreciate them, and realize I’m pretty hard of myself regarding a lot of things music included. I am enjoying playing – and the process of getting better though. Regarding comparing my playing to guys like Johnny. To me, I feel I’d be doing myself a disservice not to. I get what you all mean, but it’s the players that have a great sound and style that gives clarity to where I’m trying to go from a sound and style perspective. They give an idea of what to reach for. I’m going to keep at it. I’ve been having the itch to transcribe stuff from some of my favorite players here recently, so, I plan to dig into that pretty soon.

Johnny:

Thanks so much for taking the time to check it out and to give me some feedback on my playing. It was a thought to try and get a Skype lesson with you prior to recording it, but I just ran out of time. I’m sure it would have helped though. I will pay attention to keeping my head up a bit. I’ve noticed recently that I haven’t found really a sweet spot for the hight of my mouthpiece or if I have it rotated more clockwise or counter-clockwise on the mouthpiece. I think I like it more at the one to two o’clock position. The thought has occurred to me that I should try and be more consistent and deliberate with it. Your advice for me to stand up while playing after I posted Skylark last year did help me a lot. I hadn’t realized how sitting down was really hindering my ability to hit altissimo G. Standing up helped with that a lot. And yes, the trill lessons would be great.

Thanks for the compliment on my tenor too. It’s a Cannonball Global Series that I bought used back in 2016 when I got this whole idea in my head to Dream a Little Dream of Me for Julia (my wife) for our first anniversary. Paid $1600 for it and it was money well spent. I say that because I have since played brand new top of the line Selmar’s and Yamaha’s – as well as a Mark VI, Super Balanced Action, and 1939 Conn 10M – all of which were in great shape – and I felt my horn held its own against them all, and I actually kind of preferred it over them all. And that’s saying something considering a pre WWII Conn 10M is my dream horn. I assume I prefer mine over all of them because it’s what I’m familiar with, but it plays better than it looks to me. I didn’t really care for the finish on it when I bought it, but it has since grown on me.

Gary D:

It is tricky getting the balance right for sure. My ears will start playing tricks on me and I then start second guessing myself. Really by the time I finalized the rendered the track for this, I was feeling so stressed and pressed for time that I had to just let it go and move on. You can get totally lost in programs like Reaper tweaking various things. It’s much like Photoshop to me in that regard. I’m pretty new to the whole mixing thing, and I’m learning it’s just as much of a process as learning to play to begin with is.

And if your dog is sleeping while you’re playing – you’re definitely doing something right. Mine (the one you see in the video) will often give me a look of total dread when he sees me pick up my sax, clarinet, or guitar. He’s a tough crowd. Probably is why I’m so worried about my intonation being off – and not sounding as good as I’d like to yet.

Thanks so much y’all. I’m now about to have to bury my head in a book for the next week to prepare for am exam I have next Thursday. Wish me luck with that.