I’m in Sri Lanka right now.
Before leaving, I had studied a little bit of the language.
But now I find that certain parts helped and other parts were completely useless.
Similar to ‘Spanglish’, Sinhala has a few elements of English.
In the material I studied, ‘Good Morning’ is ‘subha udasanak’
They just say ‘Good Morning’ though.
In music, you’ll practice things- scales, exercises, patterns, etc.
You’ll have to apply them in a real musical situation on your saxophone.
Sometimes they work well, other times they’ll seem outdated.
For example, your Rubank Method book might teach you all the trill fingerings.
In a contemporary jazz situation, however, you won’t be using these too often. It wouldn’t quite fit in the same way it does in classical music.
A lick from a reggae song could be modified and used in a completely different style of music.
So things you learn from studying music will help you musically, but to be a great saxophone player you need to figure out which pieces to apply and where.
By the way, Sri Lanka’s a sweet place to travel. Went in the Indian Ocean and then saw wild elephants today.
Passive Listening, Language and the Saxophone
