BETTER PLAYING THROUGH BETTER POSTURE

I've been teaching woodwind students of all ages for so long now that I can tell how a student will perform -- by their posture.

I've seen it time and again, beginning from the time that the student walks into the practice studio.

How you sit at the drum kit, the piano, the clarinet, flute, sax, guitar, and on and on can determine how you will approach the instrument and the music.

With woodwinds of course, posture affects air flow, which in turn affects intonation and a host of other sonic qualities.

The good news? That you can, as Tony Robbins puts it, change your state. In this case, by sitting up, or by standing straight and holding the woodwind instrument at the correct angle so as not to choke the reed.

Case in point: a beginning nine-year-old clarinet student came with a heavy slouch. Repeated requests from me to sit up got ignored. The student could only hit a few notes, and they were badly out of tune. This went on for weeks until mom stepped in and physically lifted the kid up in his seat.

That's when things changed. From that moment on, the kid could make good notes, which reinforced the very notion of playing clarinet. To this day, the student still sits up straight at lessons.

And that's only one example.

A word about appearance: for my advanced readers who are out in public, have you noticed that when you dress like a rock star, you sound like a rock star?  At least, more than when you show up in your baggies and slaps and a Hawaiian shirt, right?

Not to mention smiling on stage.

To wrap it up, here are three things that will improve your playing: stand or sit up, dress for success, and, now and then smile.

performance, hints, better woodwind playing, private sax lessons, energy, self-image, mental state

THE SECRET TO PLAYING FAST...

...is to practice slow.

I have never been able to figure this one out, but, virtually all of my clarinet and saxophone students, especially the intermediate and the more advance students play through their practice exercises as fast as they can.

It's almost as if they hate the sound of the individual notes coming out of their instruments! 

But, those individual notes are the only tools that we have to work with, and our gig is to make them ring. 

For example, listen to any major sax players you like - say, John Coltrane, Hank Crawford, or Tom Scott.  Notice that when they blast through a run of 16th notes, each one is clear and tone-centered.

The way it's supposed to be. 

And you get that by practicing slowly.  You must sound each and every note.

Speed appeals. But when you practice a piece faster than you can handle it,  you've robbed your future. 

Why?

Perfect practice makes perfect. Sloppy practice makes, well, you get it. 

Practice everything slower than you humanly think is possible. Go for clarity and beauty of tone on each and every note, and do not increase the tempo until you can play each measure perfectly.  A good rule to follow is to never play a piece faster than the most difficult measure, the one that slows you down each and every time.

Yeah it takes discipline, and yeah, it's way more fun (and ego-satisfying) to scramble along at break-neck speed, but slow it way down in the beginning. 

It's the best way I know of to get fast. 

speed up your sax playing, tricks, practice tips, private lessons, saxophone

What To Do When  Having A Bad Sax Day

First, let me apologize for lagging on the posting of new stuff. It's been a busy teaching and performing schedule lately, and some things had to go on the back burner. 

It occurred to me that playing any musical instrument has its good days and its not-so-good days, especially for those of you who are performing out in public on a regular basis. 

I have them. And sometimes, I find myself obsessing over having played wrong notes or a flat line or repeating my own musical cliches. Whatever. I can find myself going dark for days on end after giving what I consider a poor performance.

You feel me? 

But this is part of the experience of being a musician. We all have off days.  Next time you have one, run down the following check list and see if any of this helps you :

1. I try not to have any expectations when I go to a gig. If I do show up with expectations, I am almost always disappointed. I've learned to take things as they come, control what aspects I can control, and live with the rest.

2. I try not to dwell on complements. I learned this from a sax teacher of mine long ago. He said that if anyone complemented him, that meant he had to practice an extra hour. I don't think he actually did that, but I got the point: getting hooked on praise will hurt your playing just as badly as does the next item.

3. Criticism. Especially un-constructive criticism.  When that happens, I try to take it in stride, consider the source, and if there is anything behind it, correct as best I can.

4. Negative self-talk. Oh man, this one's the worst of all, because we are our own worst critics. Again, what I've learned to do is objectify and apply: is there something I can do or practice to improve my perceived shortcoming on the bandstand, whatever it may be?  If need be, take it to your sax teacher for some deeper ideas.

Finally, you've got to put it behind you and move on to the next gig. When you catch yourself going back and re-thinking it all, remind yourself that the gig in question is over. What's done is done. Pick up, and move on. 

You'll do better next time.

performance psychology, saxophone playing, private lessons, how to practice, best practices

YOU NEED TO PLAY MORE

I've been spending a lot of time lately, studying and listening to Lester Young. Considered by many to have been one of the main architects of what we now know as jazz tenor saxophone, Mr. Young had a detached style and an approach that was all his own and in the day, considered highly original. 

He was a working sax player and all accounts say he was always up for a jam session, even if it meant losing sleep.  He, like every other musician in his era, played long hard hours. It was an expectation first, but also a deeply ingrained part of their culture. For example, listen to Young's solo in this Count Basie recording from 1928. It was made around 10 in the morning -- after the band had played a 9 pm to 5 am gig and then jammed before the recording session. 

And still, they played the session with energy and verve.

Most of us don't play nearly as much as our saxophone forebears. And that is precisely what we need to be doing -- playing as much as is possible.  We don't play nearly enough.

And by that, I mean playing, not practicing. Jamming with others, playing gigs, one-nighters, whatever. 

Play more -- and everything about your own musicianship will improve.

sax lessons, count basie, lester young, jam session, practice, improvisation

The Two Worst Words a Music Student Can Say 

Last week, I counted how many times a student said the two words during a lesson: seven. 

It took a lot of energy, but each time, we figured out a way to work around her words and find a means for her to achieve. 

But she's not the only one. In fact, most all of my students (and prospective students) chant these two words as if they were a mantra. 

Okay, perhaps I exaggerate, but consider the alto sax student who brought Chick Corea's "Got a Match?" to her lesson, along with a time limit to learn it all and at 220 bpm. 

She said those two words, but by the end of the 30 minutes, she had the head memorized and was well on her way to perfecting the rest of it.

If only we hadn't had to spend so much energy dealing with those two words.  You already know what the two words are, because I'm guessing you've used them yourselves. 

Here they are 

I can't. 

Some of you are laughing right now, but, those two words are deadly. The negative response kills creativity. Those little words have the power to keep us stuck in place. And if we say them enough, we begin to believe them.

I spend a lot of time dealing with student/performance psychology with my private and group students, and I have come to learn that our mindsets determine our outcomes in so many cases. 

So don't burden yourself with 'I can't.' Instead, make it a habit to say yes, to frame your various concerns about your musicianship in a more positive way, and you will  hear the results in your playing.

Yes, there's a Part Two to this, and I'll get to that in next week's blog entry.

private lessons, saxophone instruction, positive, attitude, learning skills

Breaking it Down for Better Soloing

If you really want to hear where you’re at as a soloist, try jamming with either a bassist or a drummer – but only one, or the other, and never both together for this exercise.

That’s right, just you on sax, with bass or drums for accompaniment.

Don’t just free-form it. Work on an actual melody from beginning to end. Play the head, the bridge, and then the solo. Go back to the head and finish the song, as if playing with an entire band.

If possible, record the session.

On playback, listen and ask yourself: was the melody recognizable? When you soloed, did the playing reflect the changes and the melodic/harmonic structure of the song? Or, did your playing veer off into left field somewhere? Did you work the changes, and hit the tone centers and the 3’s and 7’s on downbeats?

This exercise is a skill-builder because there are no other instruments to hide behind. Working without a net shows how structured your solos are in terms of melodic technique, instead of just blasting away using scale-based runs or your own stock riffs.  

It puts the entire burden on your shoulders.

You are the soloist, and as such, you alone have to give the entire song its melodic shape. There won’t be a guitar or a keyboard to do that for you. You will be carrying the heavy weight here.

How to get started: take it slow and easy at first. Pick something with a strong melody and few changes, a blues for example like Tenor Madness or Blue Monk. It may be frustrating in the beginning for newcomers to improvising, so allow for that (without allowing yourself to feel like a failure.)

Keep coming back to the melody in your soloing and in your explorations. Play just the chord tones on some passes, and just the 3’s and 7’s on other passes. You should be able to 'feel' the melody of the song in whatever you play, even with just those two notes, okay?

And as always, have fun.

sax lessons, improvisation, soloing hints, improvisation exercises, jamming