now playing clarinet as well as sax

[sxpoet]

last November one evening i forgot to zip up my sax case, so when i picked up the case, the case opened and my sax rolled out sideways and fell out onto the floor and bent the lower keys, making everything below Low D unplayable.

To make matters worse, my local sax repair shop closed down that month as the owners decided to retire. However, the remaining staff that worked there, decided to relocate the shop somewhere else and carry on the business.

The only problem the new shop took several months to get the repair section up and running, by which time they accumulated a backload of repairs. So i didn’t get my repaired until last month.

Shortly after dropping my sax, i bought an EMEO digital sax which looks exactly like a sax, which allowed me to use my existing sax mouthpiece and reed, that way i could keep up the embouchure and play through headphones and keep up the finger movements.

The only problem with the EMEO is it’s not reed sensitive to differences in air pressure, so you have to use more of your tongue on the reed for starting and stopping. Which is ok, as it’s ONLY sold as a silent practice instrument and not as a performance instrument.

When i picked up my saxophone last month, normal playing resumed. The only difference i noticed was my lung power had slightly weakened, but that was my fault as i used the soft blow setting on the EMEO instead of the hard blow setting which would have required me to blow a lot harder on the EMEO to get a note out.

While the saxophone was out of use, my daughter sold me her Bb clarinet that she hadn’t played in 4 years. So now my practice session is half alto sax and half clarinet.

I honestly thought playing the clarinet was going to be boring compared to the sax, however i was amazed at it’s lovely sound. What also surprised me was i can play both instruments without getting confused with key positions. Interesting i found while playing clarinet sheet music, i was playing the notes without realising what note i was playing. Whereas playing saxophone sheets i was doing it the other way round, ex identifying the note on the sheet as say middle C and then playing middle C on the sax. Very strange.

The only problem i have now, is i now have to buy Eb and Bb music sheets and books, if i want to play the same tune on either instrument.

Sorry to bore everyone, but’s great to be back.

sxpoet

[Leo Salu]

Great story, sorry about your sax, that must have been a shock, would hate to lose my primary horn the Yamaha. Tried playing the clarinet many years ago in High School (1962) did not have much luck with it, and stayed with the sax, at least till graduation then let it go for about 55 yrs, back again and loving it. So welcome back to the forum. Leo

[saxomonica]

Am so glad to see you abiding with us in the Bb habitat mate! Ya great news on your clarinet mojo too, wow, spiffing hey what, jolly good show olde chappie. I guess you shudder in relating about dropping your alto sax, but the digital sax sounds rather interestin’ hmm we must remember this a kiss is just a kiss and a loss can be a gain .. 🙂 ‘it grows as it goes’

[sxpoet]

thanks Leo and saxomonica.

nowadays on the alto sax, all i do now, is just pick a new music sheet and then i just learn to play the whole sheet from memory. The last sheet ‘somewhere over the rainbow’ took me several months to memorise, currently working on ‘sweet georgia brown’.
It varies some sheets are easier to memorise, but the lack of faster progress is down to only spending under an hour each day on the sax.

on the clarinet, the notes are a lot easier to play in tune than on the sax, however with the clarinet you have to really seal the mouthpiece more with your lips than on the sax, otherwise it squeaks very loudly. On the clarinet, i’m working my way through 4 different beginner music books – so not ready to play proper music sheets just yet.

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