I'm Back

[Abe Sloan]

Hi, My sax got stolen in 1963 and I am just getting back. Got a cheap c-melody (Buescher Elkhart, unlacqured, circa 1925) about a month ago to see if I could still hack it. Found out that I can’t but the desire is still there. So, here I am, annoying my wife and alienating the dogs. Need to get better quick before they all move out. I am seeing some improvement but still at a beginner level in most aspects. A new horn is ordered. Will see how it goes. -Abe-

[john]

Hi Abe, so what horn have you ordered?

[Abe Sloan]

Hi Johnny, I ordered a Yani WO2. Should be here by 6/6. Also the c-melody has a great sound except for the high E and F which are iffy and weak sounding, but I think that is due to my lack of embouchure conditioning. Got your beginning course. Looks like I can start on page 50 or so. Lots to re-learn. -Abe-

[Abe Sloan]

It has taken a while (about 4 months) but I have finally finished Johnny’s beginning course and can play -memorized- all 12 major scales and their arpeggios through the range of the horn. Have started learning 7 and 9 chords. What I need to know is what course should I be looking at next? -Abe-

[Anonymous]

Good Question – obviously you want to play songs, which goes down 3 paths – play from memory, play from sheets or both.

Which ever path you choose – you will need to be able to read sheet music, which involves sight reading/music theory knowledge.
Thats the mental skills to develop.

The physical skills to devolop go hand in hand with the mental skills, these are developing tone, developing your inner ear to play notes in tune, developing finger technique – and the hardest of all developing rhythm.

For the physical skills i would recomend JF’s daily practice routine – this will strengthen your tone, and make your sound really good. sax teachers won’t spend anytime with this exercise as its something the player has to put in the hours, all they will say is practice long tones.

Rhythm (keeping in time) – everyone will spend the rest of their life working on this. This is often held back by sight reading skills/music theory/finger technique. If you go for lessons, the norm is to start with book 1, and then work through book 2 etc..

In my case i started having sax lessons 2 weeks before i bought my Sax (pro lent me a spare one on my 1st lesson). I opted to take lessons from day one, from seeing my daughters learn clarinet & flute, i realised wind instruments need some basic handling. Which you should have picked up from JF’s book you’ve just done.

However i would put money on it that if you went back to a pro, they would correct everything from how you are holding the instrument/posture/embouchure/fingering/breathing – i spent the 1st 2 months having all these corrected.

I then went down the book 1,2 route using the books my pro picked. Now i decided to go down the sax grades route, 2 reasons – develope overall skills & get into jazz/orchestra’s (normally require passing certain grades) A local swing band i want to get in requires grade 3, which i’m taking next spring.

Improvisation courses, you can do anytime – but these will be aimed at playing from memory. Some music book 1’s will have a few basic improvisation exercises – usually in the form of try to play ‘london bridges falling down’ by ear, Jazz books will get more heavily into that stuff.

JF has an excellent altissimo course, which you should be able to start now. The aim is to get you to play altissimo notes, but in doing so, the course will improve your embouchure even more, agsin sax teachers wont want to spend time on this area. Altissimo is more of a personal choice, in my oppionion is something more geared towards improvisers, you wont find lots of sheet music with altissimo notes in, you might find sheets with solo sections in where you can imorovise your own stuff etc..

Its hard choice what to do next, what ever you do do – have fun, if its not fun, you wont enjoy doing it

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