How to put together a saxophone – video
Leave a comment if you have a question
Learning ‘My Way’, Mistakes Made
There’s a group on Facebook called ‘Beginning Saxophone Players‘ that you can join if you answer three questions. I’m giving feedback to people. There is a song to work on each week. This week is ‘My Way’.
I left this as a comment on Christopher’s video.
He spent some time learning this song. And he has a good start on learning the tune.
However, I wasn’t sure why he was doing several things wrong when he played.
It turns out he was basically learning from sheet music and a playalong on youtube.
Here is what I said:
So the good news is that you can probably fix a lot of how you played it fairly easily.
The bad news is that you learned from sheet music that is pretty wrong in multiple places.
You probably want relearn it not using that sheet music.
I made a point about the notes, not so much because of the notes themselves, but because of what they allow you to do.
If you play it in the same key as me, you can play along with me. And in this case, you can play along with Frank Sinatra which is probably the definitive version of this song.
You could listen to the song a lot and then play it starting on C.
Probably avoid that video though. You basically practiced and learned a flawed version of the song both in terms of the notes and the rhythm.
How to put a reed on a saxophone (mouthpiece)
Controlling the Beast that is Soprano Saxophone
Anyone ever played a straight soprano sax and if so are they hard.?
-Robert
I played a straight soprano a few times early on including trying out the new Yamaha models in the photo above. (bad photo, I know!)
The soprano lets you play ideas in the upper register without busting a blood vessel on altissimo. Although, altissimo does become easier once you put in some initial work. It does take some initial work though.
However, it is a bit more challenging to get the intonation and sound on it. Especially for a vintage horn.
For me, I prefer the sound of the tenor and alto in most cases.
If you like the sound of soprano, you’ll need to work on getting it under control.
I have been playing soprano more this year after I got one. It’s a vintage horn and took some time to get used to.
The first song I worked on playing was the Cantina Theme by John Williams. For some reason, I thought of that. And also tried some Kenny G tunes on it.
It’s getting more comfortable at this point. Still tends to take a bit more out of my embouchure than alto or tenor. Though, I remember alto did something similar when I first began playing it more.
What’s your opinion on it?
Beginning Sax – How long will it take me to get good on saxophone?
One question that comes up often from saxophone students is how long it will take to get good at playing saxophone.
Neal:
Some people sound good on saxophone quickly, within months even.
Others still don’t sound great after years of practice.
If the question is, “how long a person can take to be able to play in a band and improvise?” That could be done within a year with consistent practice (every day is best). But how good would you sound?
The answer to the question very much depends on what your goals are as well as how much time and effort you are willing to put into learning music and the saxophone.
To become a great saxophone player will take a lifetime and the process of getting better never stops. If you enjoy the process of learning and improving, then you’re on the right path. If you dislike practicing, you may want to think about how you practice and change something.
Practicing daily is the best way to improve and you could be playing songs within several months and definitely within a year. It can be hard to notice improvement day to day, though you can with certain things, but if you practice consistently you will get better.
Taking lessons and getting feedback can significantly help your progress. You will get better simply by practicing, but you can get better much faster with feedback. Efficient practice will take you in the right direction more quickly.
Becoming a professional sax player will mean many years of practice.
My System for Organizing Reeds
Reeds by the same brand and with the same number can vary dramatically. But often they look pretty similar.
Not too long ago, I made up a system for organizing my reeds. It changed a bit as I started using it and seems to work decently at this point for me.
Basically, I put a small mark in pencil on the end of the reed.
So it starts off blank. Then if I put a mark in the middle, it means that reed is about right.
If it’s a too hard, I put a mark on the right. Those reeds may get worn in and become better or I may use a tool on them, like a Reed Geek, to get them more to where I want.
If that reed does become better, I then put a second mark in the middle.
Likewise, if a reed was good and then becomes too soft or worn out, I put a second mark on the left.
This reed started with a mark in the middle and then has a second mark on the left.
Potentially a reed could start with a mark on the right, get a mark in the center, and then get a third mark on the left. But I have not done that yet. The most likely scenario for that happening would be if I had done some work on a reed that was too hard to change it.
Regardless of how much I like a reed, it will eventually wear out. This system helps me keep track of what I have and not mix them up. And if a reed breaks on stage or during practice, I’ll know a reed I can replace it with quickly.
Go ahead and try out the system if you would like, let me know how it goes.
If you’re using synthetic reeds, you probably won’t need a system like this, but I almost always like a good cane reed over a synthetic, although they’re harder to find and do not last as long.
What happens when a five year old wants to play your saxophone?
I was a bit surprised when the five year old kid managed to honk out a note using my tenor mouthpiece with a medium reed….
His parents had asked me to come help him with math that day. And we worked on counting and some basic addition and subtraction for a bit. He’s also interested in drawing a music, so we also spent a little time on that.
I tutor students in math as part of my work since I studied physics in school and have been tutoring for some time. Before, I worked in a laboratory and one year as a professor at a junior college, so my work used to actually be physics with music on the side. These days I do music, with math/physics on the side as well as a few other projects.
Had brought my tenor with me, planning to play it, but not especially prepared to have someone else play it. However, pretty much right after he saw the saxophone, he wanted to try playing.
I was skeptical. Thought it might be too heavy, which he promptly said was not the case. And I knew that the two mouthpieces I had in my case were picked for how I want to play, not for someone on day 1. But between the Metal Otto Link #8 and the Vandoren V16 T9, it seemed like the Vandoren mouthpiece might be easier to play.
Not by much though. The higher number indicates a wider tip opening and you need more air to get enough pressure through the mouthpiece.
For the Vandoren mouthpiece, I had not played that mouthpiece in a while myself, but I washed it off as well as a medium plastic Bari* (the company) reed which I keep as backup and put it together.
At first, just on the neck of the saxophone.
As I predicted, all that you could hear at first was air. But….. he was determined to get a note! Could be partially because I had expressed doubt.
Then he blew as hard as he could and honked out a note and then a few more times.
After doing that, he wanted to play the sax itself, I figured I could hold it and that might work. But he wanted to put on the strap and hold it himself.
At first, he reversed the positions of his left and right hands, so I corrected that and showed him where to put his thumbs and fingers. At that point though, since the tenor sax is approximately the same height as him, the mouthpiece went significantly above his head. I could have guessed that, but it’s pretty much impossible for a five year old to play a tenor sax.
So we went back to my original plan, I held the sax and fingered a G and he did manage to play that note. I was impressed!
I’m thinking an alto sax could be something he could play. Having a mouthpiece designed for a beginner, specifically a more closed tip opening, and a softer reed will help.
Potentially, a curved soprano could work as well. But I’m going to see what happens with an alto.
Basically, it takes a bit of air to even get a note on a more advanced set up. He could play a note, which took some effort. But it definitely was not controlled.
For me, I found that it took a while for me to develop the control necessary for a metal mouthpiece.
Let me know if you have some experience starting to play saxophone when you were very young. I started at age 11 and did start with tenor.
Problems Playing Scales on Saxophone and Playing Scales Smoothly
If you’re interested in learning more about playing scales, check out the Saxophone Scales Class
What are your questions about bluesing out on saxophone? (grooving/playing in the pocket)
One time I was talking to a friend who also plays saxophone. We had both gotten the Charlie Parker Omnibook a few years into playing.
But even though we were reading and playing ‘correctly’ (for the most part), it didn’t sound quite right for either of us……..
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