We practiced the saxophone again last night, and I love that time with my son. And I think I figured out something important! I think I get a better sound when I use a little more of the mouthpiece than I had been. It also helps with that issue I was having when transitioning from high notes to low notes. It is not an issue going from G to high D, but going back I would always have issues on the return to G. I would either be an octave too high (without using the register key) or I would squeak.

With more of the mouthpiece, that seems like it's working a lot better.

I had a really long day yesterday. I didn't even leave work until after 7 (my usual time is 4:30). I thought I was too tired to practice, and he was reluctant too, but we did it anyway. I am really glad we did, because we both had a good time. My son started out lethargic and a little put out about having his very important Hyrule Warriors game interrupted, but by the end of our session he was enthusiastic. And later in the evening he was downright bubbly.

I am really glad I made what I thought was an irresponsible purchase at the time. I am really enjoying playing an instrument again.

#LearningTheSaxophone

The kiddo and I practiced our saxophones on Thursday. We missed Tuesday because I was on a work trip, but Thursday was fun. He's already better than I remember being about reading all the parts of musical notation. I mean, I know what a crescendo and a decrescendo are, and I know what "ff" and "pp" indicate. I know staccato and legato. But he is much better at reading all of that correctly on his first playthrough. Meanwhile, I'm trying to make sure I have the rhythm right before I mess around with the rest of it.

I'm so proud of him. He's really done a good job learning how to read and play music.

We'll get back on our regular practice schedule this week. Even though I was 1st or 2nd chair during my junior high and high school years, I don't remember practicing during the summers. He's going to be in much better shape going back this fall than I ever was.

#LearningTheSaxophone

I did it! Tonight I practiced my alto saxophone for about 30 minutes.

My son is so amusing when he gets to be an instructor. I can tell that his teacher made an impression on him. We started out with reviewing the first few notes in the beginner book, and he checked my fingering on every note. Then he had me play the each note, then he counted the beats while I played some practice exercises.

He absolutely knew what he wanted to cover and he was very confident in his instructions.

He's not shy about pointing out when I miss something. For example, I did not play a quarter note long enough. It was the last note of the tune and I didn't play the "and" (the last eighth of the measure).

He told me that I did well, but to remember to play the notes as written and don't end early. I just KNOW he was told that at some point during the semester. I'm glad it sank in.

It probably sounds like it wasn't fun, but I had a blast. I did better than I expected, and it was cool to play music with my son.

#LearningTheSaxophone

I played my saxophone today for the first time in a while. I definitely need to get back to playing it every day, or at least every other day. I really like it. Today I played Auld Lang Syne, which I realized too late I could have played last night. Next year!

I tried out some of the new books I got, I used my new padded neck strap, and I used a brand spankin' new reed.

I am pleased with my sight-reading. Less pleased that I've lost ground on the cutover transitions I don't know if that's really what they are called, but going from a high note to a low note is causing squeaks again because I'm not adjusting my mouth correctly. I used to be better, so I just need to practice more regularly.

I played that song from 3 Men and a Baby (Goodnight Sweetheart) and I liked how it sounded. I played a little of The Pink Panther - that one is probably better on tenor sax.

One of my books has a really weird error in it, which makes me look at the rest of that book with suspicion. It attributes "Last Christmas" to Lennon and McCartney. Buh?

It's probably a copy-and-paste error. There were other songs in that book that were legitimately by John and Paul.

Anyway, it was good to play and I look forward to doing more of it.

#LearningTheSaxophone

I got two new books of saxophone music, a new padded neck strap, a metronome, and some reeds (the nice smooth ones) for Christmas.

And I have not played my sax yet!

I was on a "don't lift anything more than 5 pounds" restriction for a few days, and since I was not sure how heavy the sax (in the case) was, I just played it safe and left it alone.

I'm released from restrictions now and am excited about getting everything set up so I can play.

It means a lot to me that The Husband bought me these things for Christmas. I know it can't be fun to have a spouse learning the saxophone in our smallish house, but he does not complain.

#LearningTheSaxophone

I am absolutely obsessed with Hozier's song "Too Sweet." That's going on the list of "Songs I want to play on the saxophone." I think I have listened to it more than 100 times this weekend.

I have not been practicing my sax as much as I should have this week, but I did get it out yesterday and that went very well. I went back to my old mouthpiece and was happy with how I sounded.

I played so much that I got tired. I was standing, so I think that makes a difference. I can't help dancing a little when I play something I enjoy.

I was playing in the bedroom with the door shut, but it's a saxophone and our house is not big. What I'm saying is my family could hear me. My son told me later that it had sounded really good, and I think he meant it! I love how encouraging he is (and since he's honest to a fault, I know it's genuine).

I'm going to try to make time each evening this week to play a little. I will never get to the point I want to be until I get my embouchure in shape.

#LearningTheSaxophone

I got my new saxophone mouthpiece tonight and my first impression is that I do not love it. I'm going to keep giving it a chance - I might need to adjust where I have the ligature, maybe I didn't wet the reed enough, maybe there is something else I can adjust.

Here's what I didn't like: It buzzed. My notes were not clear, they were buzzy. Almost like having spit in the mouthpiece that was garbling the tone.

I mean, it might be "operator error." I'll try it a few more times. But I'm disappointed that it wasn't awesome right out of the box.

It could be that most of the (very good!) reviews I read were based on school kids and not adult-sized players. Maybe mouth size makes a difference here.

I have a few other styles on my list to try. I don't know that I'll spring for any of them soon - I may just hand that list off to folks who are looking for Christmas gift ideas for me.

The experiments will continue.

#LearningTheSaxophone

Saxophone practice is going well. I'm enjoying the books of Christmas songs I got. My son still asks me to practice with him when he brings his instrument home on the weekends, so that's fun.

I ordered myself a new mouthpiece. I don't know that I'll ever need one that sells for several hundred dollars, but there are some that are affordable and are (supposedly) a noticeable improvement over the mouthpiece that comes with a new "student" instrument (which is what I have). That should arrive tomorrow and I'm excited to see if I can get a benefit from it.

I'm also reading online that the best way to clean your pads is to put lighter fluid on a thin cotton cloth and wipe the pads with that. Not sure I'm brave enough for that yet.

I found a green collapsible music stand so I'm planning to get that for my son for Christmas since he loves the color green right now.

I think I need to dig through our old school supplies and find a folder that I can use for loose sheet music. I've been sticking it in my main "learning the saxophone" book, but it keeps falling out and getting in the way.

My kiddo is doing so well. He's been getting 100% on his playing tests and I can tell he's really paying attention in that class. How can I tell? Because he loves to act like he's the teacher when we're practicing together. He has tips and tricks and he's also Very Honest about giving me feedback on my playing. I can practically hear his teacher's voice when he does that. It's not mean, just firm.

I am really glad he chose this instrument and that he's successful with it.

#LearningTheSaxophone

I just played a bunch of songs out of my new Christmas music book! It went pretty well for being my first run-through. I played some that were religious and some that are secular. Things like "What Child is This," "Holly Jolly Christmas," "Silent Night," "Santa Baby," "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." I think there were others that I tried but I lost track.

There were a whole bunch of songs I didn't even get to, so there is a lot of material to work with and that makes me happy.

Oh. There is also "Baby It's Cold Outside" which I played because of The Controversy and I knew when my husband recognized it he would laugh. It totally worked.

He also laughed after I played "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and I said, "Huh. I wasn't expecting them to include 'The Restroom Door Said Gentlemen.'"

(If you have not heard that one, it's a Bob Rivers Twisted Christmas take on the original and it makes me laugh hysterically every time I hear it.)

I'm feeling pretty happy about it. It's so much more satisfying than playing drills. I know those practice exercises are good and necessary, but this is FUN and really lifted my spirits.

I usually don't play long enough for my mouth to get really tired, but tonight I played past that point because I was having such a good time.

Now that I know how much I enjoy this, I think I will look for more sheet music for songs already know I like.

#LearningTheSaxophone

An interesting side-effect of learning the saxophone is that now when I am listening to music, I am imagining how it would sound if I played the main vocal on my sax instead.

I'm making a list of songs I would like to learn how to play and collecting karaoke versions so I can eventually play along with them.

I'm very excited to get to the point where I can play things they way they sound in my head. Practice is going well, but I've only been playing for a month (September 6th - I looked it up).

I'm impatient to get better, but I actually am a LOT better than when I started. My slurs are so much better. I thought I might never master going from D to G without squeaking or going into the wrong register, but that works pretty well now. And I'm getting better at the sharps and flats - I started out with mainly naturals, so I'm not as familiar with the other notes. As I'm branching out to more tunes, I need more of those, though. Teaching my little fingers how to find the right levers for the right notes is better now than it was. It's so interesting to make your hands do something when you cannot actually see it happening.

I realized the other day that I can buy myself music books or sheet music. I added a bunch of stuff to my wish list and I also have a book of Christmas songs on the way. I would like to be able to play something seasonal in December. Maybe I will do a short Zoom concert for my sister and my aunt.

OH! And I found my son's extra reeds! We had a whole box of them (I KNEW I had gotten more!). So he's all set.

He's pretty careful with his reeds, unlike another sax player in his class who has gone through about 10 already. Though he's not THAT careful, because somehow the neck screw on his sax got bent, so I have to get him a new one. I could straighten it, but I worry it would just snap off if it got hit again, and then it might be stuck. So we're just getting a new one. And we're definitely going to be more careful.

But he's doing well! He had a playing test the other day, so we practiced it at home together and when he took his test, he got 100%! I'm really glad he's doing well.

#LearningTheSaxophone

Before we met, The Husband did not really pay attention to soundtracks in movies.

I, on the other hand, REALLY pay attention to movie soundtracks. I knew that Princess Leia, Luke, and Vader all had musical themes before I really understood what that was.

Now that he understands more how I experience movies, he listens for the music too. He understands how really great music can enhance a mediocre film, and how a pretty good film can be held back by an inferior score.

Because he's who he is, he jokes about movie music being manipulative. I mean, it is, from a certain point of view.

Anyway, I was reminded of how differently we experience movies today. I was practicing my sax and I figured out how to play a bit from the Remo Williams score. It's not a well-known film; I think it is under-appreciated. Anyway, I played it and I expected him to recognize it but he couldn't place it. If you've seen the movie, and if you "hear" soundtracks, you'll remember it mainly as the cue that was played when Remo was running on the beach. It winds through a lot of other parts of the movie, but that's what I think you can hear it best.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpvn3TS4xVA

#RemoWilliams #LearningTheSaxophone

I am not doing as well making time to play my saxophone every night, but I did practice this weekend. I am doing much better with some of the transitions that were rough for me originally.

It's still fun. I did not realize how much I had missed playing music.

I need to remember to go get more reeds. My kiddo needs a back-up (he had three and he's down to his last one already).

I am so really glad I got this instrument. I had been afraid I would regret it, but it still sparks joy.

#LearningTheSaxophone

I played the sax again tonight. My sister called and since she also played clarinet and sax, I played a little bit for her. She is so supportive.

Like me, she also started on clarinet. Unlike me, she moved exclusively to tenor sax after a year or so. She had to wear a retainer, and the orthodontist said that a sax would be better because of the way you play on the mouthpiece.

I mainly played clarinet; I only played tenor when I was in pop band or jazz band. I did go to band camp one year (yes really) and I took both my clarinet and a tenor sax, because I played in both the main band and the jazz band there.

My parents never bought us a sax. We always had to borrow one from the school. Looking back, that kind of bugs me. My sister played sax exclusively, she wasn't moonlighting like me. She should have had one. Maybe she wouldn't have stopped playing after high school if she had her own instrument.

I think the reason it gets me is because my parents owned MULTIPLE instruments for themselves. We had more than one guitar, a stand up bass, about 5 autoharps, 4 or 5 hammered dulcimers, a mountain dulcimer, a psaltry, an omnichord, an accordion, a concertina, a couple of penny whistles, a couple of wooden recorders, several harmonicas, a flute, and a couple of mandolins.

Those all belonged to my parents. They were not for my sister or for me. We weren't supposed to touch those things.

So it's frustrating to me now that we got my clarinet as a hand-me-down from someone else and we could not get my sister a saxophone. They really prioritized their own hobbies over our development, when I look back on that.

ANYWAY, I have a saxophone now and I'm loving it. Tonight I worked out how to play (kind of) the solo from Maneater. It's not great yet, but it's recognizable. For someone who has been playing since Friday, not too shabby.

The main thing I'm working on right now is those slides from D down to G. That was a lot better tonight. This was the first night I felt my mouth getting tired. I may have played longer than I intended, but it was fun.

I am getting a lot of satisfaction out of this. I'm glad I gave it a try.

#LearningTheSaxophone

I practiced my saxophone again tonight. I'm getting better but not as quickly as I would like. I still have trouble going from D down to G without my G being an octave too high most of the time. Gotta work on my embouchure.

But I can hear and feel my progress, and that's good. Rome was not built in a day, and I just have to keep my perspective reasonable.

I am really happy I'm doing this. I'd been daydreaming about it for a long time, and I thought that daydream was out of reach. But now, thanks to my son going through the learning of his instrument, along with my husband agreeing that we could purchase an additional sax for me (it's not a "permission" thing, it's just that we always talk about purchases that are over a certain amount, and this one was), I'm getting to live out that daydream.

I can play a scale now, and that's cool. I'm following the exercises in the book they are using for Band at my kid's school, but I'm also doing the things I remember from when I originally learned the clarinet. Scales, both major and chromatic. And I'm trying to learn and practice alternate fingerings for notes where that is possible.

My husband asked me tonight if I thought I would eventually learn to play by ear, and I excitedly told him yes (because I have done that a lot in the past).

He expressed surprise and said he thought I would just use my hands...

I walked right into that one. Turkey.

#LearningTheSaxophone