found the fingers - but want to sound the sound!
practising proceeding chez moi - except not yesterday because I was doing a gig-thing.
Friday night I was sounding AWFUL on the alto - less so on the tenor! - although the alto did sound better after I'd swopped reeds around. Today I did 3 slots (all on the alto) of about an hour each - scales, exercises etc in the first (including a cute little scales-as-tunes-with-funky-cd-backing book! - virtually all the way through) then more sight-reading of tunes with long notes & long phrases in order to work on the tone (will I ever make that sax-sound that melts you from your belly-button outwards & makes your scalp & toes tingle?) - also mostly backing cd stuff (postcards from abroad book & Razzamajazz book, easy notes so could work on sound, sound, sound & sound) and the third slot I played my Grade 1 programme with the cd backing-tracks for the first time - played it to Liz later on too.
I think I'll do
"Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" from the blues&roots section
"Mack the Knife" from the standards section
&
"Oye Como Va" from the contemporary jazz section.
busking's not a problem, as per usual - but I sooooooo want the sound to happen NOW.
I've now got all the notes from low Bflat to high C (2 leger lines) under my fingers - but it's not the fingers that make the tone, unfortunately.
I look forward to practising sax - and even if I intend just to pik it up & tootle for a minute I just don't want to put it down until I actually can't play it any more. I just wish the tone-turnaround would happen immediately so I can enjoy it even MORE!!! how col will that beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
posted by luv&daisies @ 11:40 pm
2 Comments:
Kirsten,
Respect to you for your enthusiasm and efforts in playing the best instrument in the world!
Sound!!
Have you got a sound in you head that your tring to make or are you just blowing down the thing hoping it's going to get better? Who are your sound hero's? Try to immitate them!
What are you doing with your mouth? Do you know where your jaw, lips and teeth should be (apart from attatched to the rest of your face?!!).
Try pushing your jaw forward so that your top and bottom teeth are at least lined up. Then roll your bottom lip out slightly (don't tuck it in anyway) so that you can see some of the red of you lip under the reed.
Have you got your top teeth resting on the mp. Try putting slightly more or less in your mouth to change the sound (but keep it in the same place when your actually playing). Try to think/say 'Ooo' when you form your embrochure. All the best - keep practising!!
it's fun - really enjoying it.
whose sound do I like... hmmm, well, the all-time "I want to sound like THAT" man is Cannonball Adderley
In other news, I also like Ben Castle's tone when it's mellow and fat. I'm aiming for a fat sort of sound - more jazz than rock - but to be able to cut through with the shiny rock tone when it's needed. Noone cuts quite like Coltrane - especially on "Love Supreme" when he's on calling out to Heaven mode, and on the more rock side, I like Raphael Ravenscroft's tone - powerful, but never thin. Garbareck for his sheer variety of sounds is amazing too - I love "Officium", the way he sometimes blends into the texture and the sax becomes one of the voices, while at other times it's like a primal scream, and at others a jazz-esque juxtaposition.
Sophie's very good at being fussy with me about the sound I'm making. My lessons with her consist mainly of l-o-n-g notes - last time featuring C (octave above middle-C) and the # version of it too.
We've spent lots of time moving the mouthpiece in and out - listening to what happens when virtually the entire thing's stuffed down my throat and when hardly any of it's in at all so I get used to which way I need to adjust if it's sounding pants.
Lots of fun trying to persuade the message of not tensing up to get to my throat and my mouth muscles. They're really alien things to control - getting less so though, gradually.
Also trying to make the right shape with the right muscles & to breathe properly in every phrase, rather than just some of the time!
Tonguing's getting better - less lazy on staccato, and getting used to playing accents with my diaphragm, rather than the recorder-player's method of kicking hard with your tongue!
Sophie's a good player actually - more classical that jazz though. She's in the final round (last 3, concerto with orchestra) of Trinity's Concerto Competition - college's biggest competition. She's the first sax player ever to get that far - so that's rather good! I'm not sure what she's playing - but I'm planning on going to the concert on May 26th to find out!
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