harlem nocturne

[Anonymous]

ah! that explains the difference between the midi/audio
tracks when being transposed.
But i’ve also got a track that has been recorded in
2 different scales, so i transposed the sax notes
correctly for both scales. When i play the sax
with each track, one scale sounds better.
In church we very raley move a scale up or down
to suit a singers voice. Which makes me wonder
if the ear has a preference to the scales?

[john]

if something doesn’t sound right after transposing it may be because of a mistake somewhere because people transpose all the time and as long as it’s done right 100% everything should sound the same. The ear may take a couple of bars to adjust from a different key but as long as everything is right you adjust. Key preference is more of a singer thing as to where it suits the specific singer, range-wise etc.
A little bit for instruments like the saxes and where the melody sits for a specific melody, again, range-wise…key too because I don’t want to play in C# major when I can slide it down a semi-tone to C.

[Anonymous]

On the subject of transposing keys.
I’m in the process of transposing 40
flute melodies to play on the Sax,
using “Finale Print music” software – got 20 done this week.
I type in the concert key notes & the software transposes it.
It plays it back to me, so i can hear
if it sounds ok.
One of the problems that keeps cropping
up, i often end up with some melodies having a low “A” – so i resort to moving
all the notes up an octave as the alto sax
only goes down to Bb.
I read somewhere in the forums another
option is just to move the “A” up an octave?

[Anonymous]

Started having a go at playing Harlem Nocturne in F major – finding the middle section very tricky!

[Anonymous]

My sax teacher showed me how to play harlem nocturne this week from sheet music!
Now i’ve discovered i need to use the Bb bis key for faster run downs from f to b.
For my level of playing sheet music its far too advanced a piece for me, and looks
like one of those pieces i’ll have to learn bar by bar.
Don’t get me wrong its a lovely piece!

[john]

Yes it is, I am working it out now and plan to have a version on video to accompany the music and backing tracks I will have ready very soon.

cheers
Johnny

[Anonymous]

Excellent – so far i’ve got all your backing tracks, apart from the latest one.
It’s a fantastic collection, and i’ve graded them into levels of difficulty!
based on my current sheet reading/playing level.
Greensleeves being the easyist in terms of i can pick the sheet up and play it through.
Yakety Yak being the hardest – my current level i would crash on the first few bars.
Which is great because as my level of reading/playing improves, i’ve got challenging and
interesting pieces to play!
Whats even better, is i’m now going back to a lot of the easier pieces, and working on the sound/dynamics
to put the feeling/expression into the sounds compared to playing dull/robotic/unchanging sounds.
Its surprising how a lot of tunes can sound so good by doing this and not including embellishments..

[Dazza]

Sxpoet – You are so right in your comment in another post…….Trying to play like someone else doesn’t give me any kicks – what gives me kicks is if i can play a piece of music…I just spent the last hour (10 pm in my part of the world) playing through all the songs I can play through of which there are now 10 and I focussed on doing it with control and feeling and what a blast. Couldnt do that four months ago so I am pretty chuffed! Time to post one now as soon as I can get the recording setup to work with video!! It’s pretty special to be able to make music and read it as well which back in December may as well have been Chinese. I just watched the latest episode of Sons of Anarchy (not sure if yr a fan) but they had a slow version of Greensleeves in the ending and I immediately went to my sax and played it in a similar form to try and copy the Sons version and it put a whole new perspective on what I thought was becoming a boring tune. So I think I will put the upgrade to tenor on hold and use the next twelve months to fine tune my technique, skills and sound before introducing another distraction. The 62 I have could certainly last a lifetime so I save for the next addition. I had the chance to play a Rampone & Cazzani silver tenor recently and that got my juices flowing. What a beautiful piece of machinery that is. Anyone ever handled one??

[john]

No don’t know that horn. I’m a big fan of SOA but don’t remember that song in any episode, unless you’re talking about the new season which I havent seen any of yet.
As for the tunes and their difficulty level I know many of the tunes I transcribe and make available for download are not so easy and so I am keeping that in mind now so more beginners can have an easier time with them. Also, just because a tune is easy doesn’t mean a more advanced player can’t step it up a bit with embelishments and a little bit of improv…that’s what I do.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely, couldn’t agree more – embellishments & improvisation are the icing on the cake!
I haven’t quite dipped my toe in the water with them yet, so to speak!
The other day i was playing “what should we do with the drunjen sailor” and tried playing it a completely different way and the change in the sound of the notes was staggering. i played it like as if i was blowing out the candles on a birthday cake with big short puffs of air instead of using the tongue to controll the stopping and starting of notes.
The tone of the sound completly changed and became more melodic.
Last time i saw my sax teacher i asked about some of his recorded sounds and if there was any special setup he used for each of them.
He told me what ever sound he wants, he images the singing sound in head to achieve this . Interesting concept!
Nice one Dazza! find what you like mate! and enjoy/share with us!

[Author]

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