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 

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