Friends, this will be my last post here on the Blogger blog site. In the future, look for new posts and playing tips on my new Facebook page Sax Lessons San Diego.  Thanks for your support!

So This New Idea of Mine, It Comes in Fives

I'm working towards creating a new blog, which probably means the end of this blog format, and I want your input, okay?

The new deal: instead of weekly posts by me about what or how to practice and so on, instead I plan to post interviews with pro sax players.

Short interviews, highly curated, in which you get to read answers to five questions about how they approach practicing, landing gigs, their own professional development, sound, writing, equipment, and so on.

No more Dave rants, in other words.

Your thoughts: would this be something you would read and even look forward to?

The concept works in my head, at least, because it not incorporates my curiosity and love of the horn, but includes my 20-year background as a professional pop culture journalist as well. Over the years, I have interviewed thousands of musicians; my Rolodex file is overflowing with names and phone numbers.

I'm in the early development round of this concept, and I'm open to any and all suggestions. And visit me at SaxLessonsSanDiego.com for updates and more information.

If all goes according to plan, I expect to have this up and running by the beginning of summer.

Efficient Practice is Good Practice

So, what style of music do you find yourself playing most often? Rock? Blues? R&B? Jazz? School concert band? Where is your heart and soul, your first and best effort when it comes to playing saxophone?

That's where you want to be when practicing. Make your practice sound like you when you are playing with other musicians. 

In other words, if you play blues sax, don't play those daily arpeggios from the Klose workbook or even your daily scales (with metronome, of course) as if your were going to audition for a concert band slot.   Play them, yes, but instead, play every note the same way you'd play them if performing with a blues band. That means pay attention to rhythm, and work in the growls, bends, trills, triplets, and so on. 

Or, if you're a jazz player and you dig Joe Henderson for example, then try to play your exercises like he would have. How? Listen, and emulate.

If you play in rock bands, perhaps Clarence Clemmons is among your faves. If yes, then by all means practice your scales and exercises with that same lusty growl with big tone production.

Most all of my students at SaxLessonsSanDiego.com don't practice this way. They live in dual universes in which the practice studio and the stage are separate entities. The goal of practice is to bring the two closer together. And you do this by practicing everything, even long tones, in the same way that you'd perform them. 

You will never in this lifetime play a C major scale for anybody except your teacher, right? So when you practice playing it, tear it up. Invert it, play it in thirds, fourths, sixths. Growl. Or whatever it is that you do most often.

Make all of your exercises sound the way you play.  Questions? Drop me a line at davegoodmail@gmail.com 

Tags: SaxLessonsSanDiego.com, tenor sax, practice tips, private lessons, music

And now, some words of musician wisdom from tenor saxman Charles McNeal: 

How Do I Know if Sax or Clarinet or Flute is the Right Instrument for Me?

How do you know if saxophone or flute or clarinet (or any instrument) is right for you?

The short answer? You often don't at first.

I'll explain, but first, let me apologize for my utter laziness in posting to this blog -- yeah I know, it's been a while. But I'm back, and I have a new website now that explains more about who I am and about my background and style as a woodwinds instructor.

Have a look, and tell me what you think: saxlessonssandiego.com 

Now, the answer to today's question. The holidays generally see growth in my student population because of the numbers of beginners who get shiny new instruments for Christmas.

Or, lessons.

Or both.

Sometimes though, a particular instrument is just not a fit with the intended player. The best way to find that out is by sitting with a qualified instructor, learning a few of the basics, and then letting things take their natural course.

But give yourself a fair chance.

In the beginning, nobody knows from embouchure or fingerings. There are many things to perfect in sequence, but they are not impossible. If they were, none of us would be musicians. Still, some instruments present challenges that are more difficult than others. The flute embouchure, for example, or, the open-keys of the clarinet.

But sometimes, mastering those new skills can be insurmountable. How do you know when to throw in the towel? Again, sitting with a qualified instructor in private sessions is best. Many students only have the option of study in a public school classroom, where one instructor is in charge of 50 beginners with brand new instruments, and that can be a tough introduction to music.

My advice? Give the instrument of choice a decent try, but, be ready for other opportunities if it does not work for you.

For example:

I had a very young flute student recently who struggled to make even a single note on his instrument. Week after week after week went by, and he was never able to coordinate his fingers and master the tricky flute embouchure. He was beginning to hate music...that is, until we put a trumpet in his hands.

And that's the instrument he resonated with. He went on to play baritone, and he loved it.

The place to start is by renting, not owning. Check out the selection of instruments at a music store in your area with a good rental program, one that allows you to rent short-term and change instruments during the life of the contract. Start there, minus the heavy investment that a decent instrument can represent, and learn what fits you (or your child musician.)

Next, have the instrument checked out by a reputable woodwind tech. It's no use trying to play music on a leaky or damaged instrument. In San Diego, I go to Jim Weiss for all of my repairs. Message me for his contact info.

Happy New Year!


Key words: sax lessons san diego - Jim Weiss - saxophone repair - instrument rental programs

YouTube: Great Resource, Lousy Teacher

Would you hire a contractor who said he learned everything by watching This Old House reruns to teach you the building trade?

That's a rhetorical question. Meaning, I already know the answer. 

Which is no.  

Then why do you take sax "lessons' on YouTube, watching whatever new video this or that sax pro posts? 

YouTube tutorials are the road to getting nowhere fast. Here's why: 

First, the lessons as such are loss leaders that are designed to sell you something, usually more lessons, lessons access, a book, a CD, and so on.

In other words, You Tube tutorials are little sizzle reels that make the teacher and his/her lesson of the week seem like the solution to all of your playing problems.

Which they never are. 

In fact, the danger of learning via the free weekly lesson in your inbox is that your approach to music knowledge will be disjointed and not follow any sort of development or logic. It becomes a dazzling deli platter or newer-bigger-better, and in time, the actual work of sitting with a teacher and working out in a practice room seems oh so dull by comparison.

The YouTube scholar likewise has no idea where to put this all this new-found stuff into the matrix of a performance. Why? Because there is no actual teacher to guide the student through the process. 

Instead, there's next week's all new must-have solution to all things saxophone. 

If you are learning saxophone, then you are worth the cost of sitting with an actual teacher in an actual studio.  

Find the right teacher for you, meaning, a skilled educator who is actually helping you reach your playing goals. 

Then, pony up the bucks; it will be worth it in the long run. 

YouTube lessons? They're worth what you pay for them: nothing.

But wait, you say. Part of the header says YouTube - great resource. What gives?

I say this because YouTube is also the world's biggest basement full of every saxophone record or live performance available. And that's where the online resource does it's best -- by providing you, the student, with endless hours of great saxophone music to listen to, study, and transcribe as you and your teacher see fit. 


Key words: sax lessons, private lessons, online tutorials, apprenticeship, learning curve, teaching methods

  

PLAY WITH ENERGY

Think about it -- this is the one area that separates most amateurs from pros. Playing music with energy, no matter how many times you've practiced or performed any given material.

Your scale practice, for example. Try running them the same old way, and then, run them with expression and articulation. Energy, in other words. 

Play them as if you'd never heard the notes before, and let the notes jump out of your horn. 

Feels a whole lot better, doesn't it?

If you guessed that playing with energy is a mind game, you are partly correct. It begins inside, with a true enthusiasm for the music, no matter how mundane.

And I know just how mundane some of your practice material can be. 

You can also fake it until you make it. Use dynamics and articulation and emphasis and shading and make your exercises into little masterpieces of energetic playing. 

You will be amazed at the difference.

Key words: la mesa saxophone, energy, performance tips, private lessons, articulation