Almost there

I’ve practised and practised on the song Are you sleeping. Yesterday I found the song after I got fed up with the only song I could play: Au clair de la lune. The idea was to go to the next level, but maybe it was too early (or I lack some patience...).

The process started yesterday afternoon. I found the sheet music and a finger chart for the alto saxophone. A finger chart is a series of pictures in which you can see how you have to place your fingers to play a certain note. Now I was ready to start practising.

Before I started to play, I divided the song into small parts, two measures per part. Then I practised each note separately to make sure that I understood the fingerwork and amount of air needed. After that, I could start playing the real song.

The first part was really easy. These measures only consisted out of the three notes I already knew: the G, the A and the B. This was quite simple. I needed to repeat it a couple of times and then I got it. The other parts, on the other hand, were much more difficult. These involved difficult notes and a fast beat (well, relatively fast). To get the hang of these part, I needed way more time. This process was accompanied by quite some frustration, however, it did get me far.

The mission is almost accomplished. Level one: Au clair de la lune is played and I’m halfway level two: Are you sleeping. I’m sure that my skills will improve by the time but for this moment, the experiment was quite successful. My enthusiasm for the saxophone has grown and my skills have improved. This was my main goal for the experiment and that goal is perfectly reached J

Busy, busy, busy

       It has been a long time since I have posted something on this blog. I didn't have much time the past weeks due to the holiday season. Even the break was planned full with Christmas dinners, family visits and winter parties. Besides that, I also went to Belgium for a week and I didn't dare to ask my father if I could take the saxophone with me. Seriously, every single squared millimetre was used to store clothes, shoes, food, books, games etc.

       Two weeks without practise resulted into a horrible sound when I grabbed the saxophone yesterday. (Some people say that once you've learned how to play it, you'll never forget. Well, that wasn't the case...). I was all back at the beginning of the ladder and the only sound coming out of the instrument was the eerie siren and the loud steamboat.

       I didn’t give up though. One moment of failure shhouldn’t let me down, so I practised. I played au clair de la lune so many times that I was asked ( commanded actually ) to go upstairs to rehearse. After quite some time, the feeling came back. The notes were often perfectly pitched and I could speed up which turned the bunch of notes into a real song.


       The next day, the song drove me mad as well. The melody was stuck in my head the whole day, even when I wanted to sleep. This made me realise that I had to go to the next level. Frère Jacques ( Are you sleeping in English ) was my new goal. This song might seem easier but it contains a lot of different notes and it has to be performed way faster that Au clair de la lune.







       The upcoming days I will be busy playing Are you sleeping till my lips are bleeding (or till my parents send me away)

And off we go!

      I knew I could do it!! I've played my first song, Au clair de la lune. It isn't much, but you've got to start somewhere. My lower lip is all thick but it was worth it. My skills are improving and the sounds I produce aren’t just squeaky noises anymore. Lets start at the beginning.

      This evening, I really felt like taking my saxophone playing to the next level. My father was nearby and he taught me how to play the g, the a, the b and the c (watch the picture below to find their places on the staff). It took me some time to get into it, but with some help, I managed to get quite some notes at the right pitch. Getting the right tone is quite difficult, actually. The tone doesn’t only depend on the keys you use; the shape of your mouth also influences the pith. I didn’t notice that immediately, so I drove my brother crazy with weird sound changing every second.

      When I figured out, what I did wrong, I could put the notes into order. It goes as follows: G-G-G-A   B-A  G-B-A-A  B. This is just the refrain, but it was enough for today to practice. Maybe I’ll continue on this song next time, however, I would also love to learn something new. If you've got any ideas, don't hesitate to comment below.

      There’s one more thing I came across today and that’s the high volume of the sound. I was playing the sax when it suddenly hit me. It was so quiet around me and when I blew some air into the instrument, the whole room, actually the whole house was filled with its sound. I might just find another time to play it because I don’t really think that my neighbours and their little kids aged 1 and 3 appreciate my musical interest...

The steamboat and the siren

      Well, I've started with my experiment and I did succeed in generating any sound, however, I didn't reach anything more. The sounds coming out of the saxophone sounded like a steamboat passing by and an ambulance rushing through the street.

       People always told me that the piano was easy and that brass instruments such as the sax were oh so difficult to play and that at the start, people first need a week or two to learn how to produce any sound. For me, this wasn't completely false, but I did expect it to be a little easier. The way of shaping your mouth and blowing the air through the mouthpiece and the reed (look at the picture below for the names of each part of the instrument) is really weird at first and the instrument is actually quite heavy. Besides, the saxophone isn't just an instrument you can grab and play. Before knowing how to play it, you should understand how it works. You need to figure out which key affects what and how you can change the tone simply by trying.

      Even though the process doesn't goes as fast as I expected it to go, I fell head over heels for the saxophone. It's such a gorgeous instrument and the sound it produces is incredible (I didn’t just make the siren sound. There were some nice notes amongst the squeaks). I find it unbelievable that a piece of metal can make beautiful sound by the use of air. Actually my goal is already reached. I wanted this project to motivate me to learn how to play the saxophone and it really did. My eagerness to improve and learn more grows by the time which is exactly what I wanted to accomplish. I say mission completed! This is not the end though. Part one is finished but this doesn’t get me where I want to be. My goal is to be able to play the saxophone and I didn’t accomplish that yet ;) 

First things first!

      The one
thing I need for this experiment is of course a saxophone. There are lots of
other things I will use to reach my goal, however, without the instrument
itself, you cannot play it. I got this saxophone from my dad (no I'm not my
daddy's little princess who gets everything she wants. We just happen to have
two saxophones at home) who actually got it from my mother. It all sounds
really complicated but it isn't. I'll give you a brief summary of the love
story of my parents to maybe explain a bit of my affection to the sax. I'll try
to make it as clear as possible.














      

      My father
started a band when he was about sixteen. He played the saxophone, his brother
the trombone and a friend of his played the drums and later on he switched to
the sousaphone. The band grew by the time and UBK (ut biks kaboal = the noise
from Prinsenbeek) became quite well known in the region. Meanwhile, the sister
of Guus (the guy playing the drums) also wanted to start a band with some
friend. UBK (all boys) helped the other band (all girls) to start up. The
sister of Guus later became my mother :). This whole story doesn't seem to have
anything to do with the saxophone I have next to me till the UBK members helped
the girls to buy good instruments. My father and my mother went to Amsterdam to
a store full of instruments. They all came from American high schools. They
were used during music and art classes but now replaced by newer, perhaps
better ones. They bought a shiny saxophone for my mother to use it and my
father taught my mother how to play it. By the way, the love wasn't in the air yet. That
came much later, when they both lived somewhere else.













      

      My mother’s
band doesn't exist anymore. UBK has celebrated its 33th anniversary last year.
My father just quit but has played my mother's sax for years because she
didn't play it anymore and it is way better than his. His saxophone is stored
at the back of our attic while the other one has its own special place on a
shelf in my parents’ bedroom.



















      



      Right now,
my father will teach me how to play it exactly the same as he did when my mother started to play this instrument decades ago. However, this
time there wil l be at least two differences. It will not only be written down,
I also suppose that I won't use my father as the only source since YouTube has
some great tutorials as well. 
















      

      With this
post, I will start this experiment, which will make me try to teach myself the
basics of playing the saxophone. When I’ve made any progress or have
experienced something special I will post it immediately! :)