Over the years that Sax Station has been online, I have heard from a number of sax players who played when they were younger, took a twenty year (or so) hiatus and then returned to the saxophone and started playing a lot.

One of the first guys I talked to with a story like that was Jim over at The Bis Key Chronicles

A few days ago, Ron commented on the Sax Station facebook page.

Ron: Great site!! I know I am going to be checking in with you often.

I played saxophones when I was a high school student and interested in a career in music. I graduated and life got in the way. Fifty years later when I retired I asked myself what I wanted to do. So I bought a Yamaha alto and a Yanagisawa tenor and picked… up the thread again, as they say.

Amazed that I remembered everything I knew as a kid and found moving on easier than before. The thing that boggles my mind is the difference between the 1950s and 2000s in resources available to the amateur musician.

At my pc I can go to a concert every night and hear the masters play. Also, many altruistic saxophonists are freely offering tips and insights aimed at improving performance. And, of course, now there are mountains of method books with cd accompaniment and play-alongs to choose from.
Best wishes to all, Ron

A couple of tips:
1) rather than just playing scales around the Circle of Fifths, pick a favorite tune, focus on a particular phrase or two, play that segment around the circle; after you can do that up to speed in all keys, pick another tu…ne; you can always slide over into scales, if you want; repeat ad infinitum;

2) after you’ve got facility in fingering notes in all registers, focus on “playing” the mouthpiece (on the horn); this is important for shading notes and playing expressively and will take concentrated attention and some time to master; after you are mouthpiece adept, you might focus on the effects of changing the course of the air stream from the lungs through the mouth; when you accomplish that, you are probably virtuoso.

After you can play a phrase of a tune around the Circle of Fifths, make the exercise more elaborate by adding phrases until you can play the entire tune in all keys. It doesn’t have to be a tune you have to work hard at to play well.

I started on “When the Red, Red Robbin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin’ Along!” A lot more fun than running scales, anyway, to me.

Neal: Hey Ron, welcome to Sax Station. Thanks for the tips. Can tell you love music.

Ron: Love music? I guess I do, Neal, I guess I do. Sax Station is a great idea. And, you have just the right tone and demeanor that bespeaks a fine teacher.

Just finished reading “Bob Dylan in America.” A fine addition to the literature on American music. I recently heard him in concert here at the U of I. Unbalanced. Band too loud. Dylan unintelligible in his raspy vocals. Still, we knew the lyrics to most of his tunes, so it didn’t matter.