Still saxing!

Well it’s been a long, long time since my last post but guess what?? I’m still saxing regularly and I think it is actually getting easier – oh perhaps I’m getting better…

Reeds

I’ve just started using Vandoren #3 reeds although I’m still running-in the first two out of the box. One of them is still a bit too stiff to play for any length of time beyond 5 minutes without serious gob ache while the second reed was pretty much perfect the first time I tried it out – strange but true…

Sax

My horn is still lovely although 9 months in and small areas on the lacquer are starting to show marks that I can’t clean – occasionally I get sticky pads but my tried and trusted method of damp paper strip sprinkled judiciously with talc always gets things going again.

I reckon it will be due for a service very soon although I’m considering taking it to England when I go visiting the family in September – might be better off getting it sorted out there me thinks (although it will be more expensive I guess!)

Relax and Breathe

I am still trying to find my rhythm for breathing and I am slowly finding a way to play relaxed – this is key. If you can be relaxed and loose when you’re playing you will sound bright, funky and great – well – that’s my opinion anyways…

Future?

Right now I’m working on getting crisp low-notes, strengthening my embouchure and hitting the keys nice and cleanly with as little finger movement as possible – oh and breathing and timing and relaxing and and and – I think you get the picture!

Basically I want to get all these things right but in such a way as I don’t need to think about it – thankfully the only way to do THAT is to practise – a lot!

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Standing Room Only

So I finally got around to buying a saxophone stand and I managed a double-coup finding one in Siam Paragon and priced at a mere 600THB. It is sturdy and well padded so my bad boy won’t get scratched…

So now all I need is a chunky music stand, a stool and a sax microphone and my sax studio will be complete… Actually I will be needing a MIDI card for my computer and a cable so I can link it up to my girlfriend’s keyboard – then I’ll be able to get expressive with Acid – I’ve not used it for ages now!

So what have I been practising? These days I am doing hard-core scale work – I am playing all 12 major scales and the major arpeggios everyday by memory instead of trying to read sheet music – now that is tricky. I am also trying to get my tonguing right for single beat, double beat etc. – even trickier.

I am still doing didactic scales (and trying to get through these in all 12 keys too) and chromatic scales (which frankly are pretty easy but now it’s a speed thing).

I’m trying to play three types of music – something Thai, something Bach and something else!

Finally I’m doing all of the above work with a metronome so I can get my timing consistent – oh and did I mention learning dynamics (that’s volume to you)…

The only problem is fitting all that into a daily session – I need at least two hours and preferably three… Sadly that thing called work keeps getting in the way – thankfully I can practise at work too so that helps

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Sounds terrible = good practice…

The floods are causing all kinds of havoc – thankfully I’m still high and dry but for many life has become somewhat difficult. At my school there are no saxophone teachers available – they are all up-country or dealing with flooded homes – unlucky.

So I went to school after work and simply practiced by myself in one of their classrooms – great plan as I normally get home too late to get an evening session in. Alas this session did not go so well – I sounded terrible! To be fair that is the point of practicing – trying something you can’t do so despite sounding rubbish – I am making progress!

I was trying to play some of the low notes – the scale of B Major is a tricky beggar – so tricky that I spend ages just trying to play B, C, C# and D in the low register consistently – then I started having trouble with the middle register – I guess my mouth was getting tired…

Anyway I’ll try again tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that – perseverance is the only option.

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2012 Sax

Intro

It’s been a while since I last posted so I guess a Happy Christmas and Happy New Year are called for!

I’m still sax practising although over the New Year break I didn’t get much done – time to go places instead…

Diadic Scales

Thankfully the New Year brought my old sax tutor back (hurrah) and since I was already working on the Rubank principle my tutor has now got me on diadic scales exclusively.

So what are diadic scales? Take a scale in a given key (for example C Major) the diadic scale starts with the root, goes to the third then back to the second then up to the forth then back down to the third (up two, down one). To come back down the scale you go down two and up one.

They are pretty fiddly but more fun than simply playing straight scales.

Last week I was given the scales C, D, A, G to learn – I added E and F to those because it is always good to have a challenge.

Rather than try to think which notes to play I wrote out the diadic scale in each key so it was easier to see what to do (my latest sax book helped a lot here as it has each of them listed – that book is called Technique of the Saxophone, Volume 1 by Berklee Press)

I’ll be adding the remaining 6 keys to the repertoire this week and after all that – well I guess I’ll just have to move onto triads (root, 3rd, 5th, 3rd, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 4th, 3rd etc.) which look like fun – although your opinion may differ…

Tonguing

On top of that I also have tonguing exercises to do too – playing each note in one, two, three, four, eight or sixteen tongued beats. Now that is hard work – especially with the metronome!

Metronome

Speaking of the metronome I have found a technique that seems to work for me – now I use headphones plugged into the metronome when I play the sax – this puts the timing straight into my head and as a bonus the metronome only plays through one ear piece so you can listen to both the metronome and your saxing – I know I should be able to handle them both without headphones but this makes it easier for now