Sax lesson dedicated to Paul Contos who taught us how to sound like bagpipes on sax.
The song is ‘Scotland the Brave’.
Starts on concert Bb – C for tenor/soprano, G for alto/bari. Let me know if you like the song and/or would like to see a lesson teaching it for the Eb saxophones!
CharlieRutan on youtube was telling me about how people who play bagpipes often play this tune with ‘The Black Bear’. Also told me a story about how Rufus Harley would play some music that is typically played on saxophone on his bagpipes.
Neal, you make me laugh. Saxophone does not sound like bagpipes! Still, you did catch my attention. How are things going with you at Sax Station?
Hey Alison,
Thanks for checking it out. It can sound just a little like bagpipes. And 50 kids playing this song on saxophone ends up sounding more like bagpipes. Things are going pretty well, shifting my attention more to videos. How’s gardening?
-Neal
Hey Neal,
My teacher was saying that the ‘bagpipe effect’ (undesirable one) is taking place when a musician is playing saxophone with “closed” throat (larynx to be specific). Such technique (often mistake made by begginers) results in sound waves originating only in saxophone tube and not in chest volume. I was reminded several times on lessons to “open” my larynx. I hope you get what I mean.
Maybe you can use this effect while playing this certain song?
Hey Krysiek,
Yes, that’s probably true most of the time. You often want to open your throat. So unless you’re trying to sound like a bagpipe…… Being aware of your throat and whether it might be closed is good though. Could be a habit you want to break away from. I had some issues with that actually for the attack on notes sometimes.
Hi Neal, I have a question. When using arpeggios while improvising a song, can you add notes within the arpeggios, or do you have to play them as they are?
Thanks……
Hey Erskine,
You can definitely add notes to arpeggios. Playing them as they are is just one way of doing it. Depending on how the notes line up, you may way to land on certain notes for strong beats. Play around with it though!
It would be appreciated if the bagpipes weren’t mentioned with the implication that they sound awful. I personally find it just a little bit hurtful
I never said they sound terrible, they can sound good.