Vacationing With Your Sax

[Grumps]

Well, I'm off to the Lake for a week and dreading all the stuff I have to pack up for the family and wondering if this year will be the year it all won't fit. Then a thought occurred to me. Would I have room to take along a sax.... maybe only a soprano..... Funny, I used to always bring a horn along with me when I went away. I've sat in with other groups on some of these travels, and even a couple times at the very Lake we're going to..... but that was years ago. Now with the family, and all that comes with it, I don't even know if I'd be able to even find the time to play. Oh well.... so here's my question:
When you take a vacation, do you bring a horn or do you take a break? As for me..... I'm going fishing.

[Tharruff]

Grumps,

I go on a week long fishing trip every year with my cousin and for awhile we used to camp on some land owned by a Canadian couple who we were friends with. The Canadian couple always wanted me to bring a horn and play for them so I always did. Some years an Alto...some years a Soparano. But they moved away and we do not see them anymore so no more playing in the woods late at night. It was enjoyable. Though Saxing and drinking did cause me to fall off a cliff into the river one night. Fortunately I had put my horn down before I fell in...though I cracked 2 ribs and my wedding ring fell off in the cold water. Oh...did I mention that I damn near drowned ? That was quite a night...

[TenorReinier]

Hmmm... Most of the time I don't bring a sax along, self-protection etcetera, need to go on a break. But then I miss them enormously. :(
This year however, my parents, who partly live in France, asked my to buy them a horn for decorational purposes. I found a nice Amati Toneking for them which actually was still quite playable but with some leaks. Needless to say I played the damn leaky thing untill I was gasping for air... :roll:

[Frank D]

Vacation horn is the excuse I'm saving for buying a nice curved Conn soprano. You know, portability, etc........ :wink:

I"ve never taken a horn on vacation, but often wished I had. When we were in Italy, there was a nice jazz trio playing around the corner from Piazza San Marco in Venice, they were quite friendly and I was dying to sit in with them, but no horn!

[gary]

When I was a kid/young man, I would take my trumpet to the beach when we had holiday. Didn't do much of that in the passing years but last Christmay I visited my mother for a couple of weeks and rented a sax while I was there. (Didn't want to lug mine along on a 22-hour intercontinental journey). It was nice playing every day. Gotta fess up, though, that I had a CD recording project waiting when I got back with five tunes I played solos on.

[timobrien]

My last few vacations I always tried to take a horn with me.

Just make sure your car insurance will cover it in case someone breaks a window and takes off with it!!!

[sjabariiii]

Highly recommended! I just returned from a 10 day canoeing/camping trip in the north maine woods-allagash region. One boat was loaded down with my tenor and my bro's trumpet. That's about as far away from civilization as you can get with a horn (unless you have a camel or dogsled) and there's really nothing like it. On a big lake with distant mountains your sound seems to fill up the whole universe. Just make sure you have an excellent case. We had rain on and off the whole week. Once I was blowing out on this tiny island about half a mile offshore and a HUGE thunderstorm blew up out of nowhere. I could see the wall of rain approaching. Could barely see the shore except when the lightning flashed. I paddled back to camp in a torrential downpour/whitecaps and by the time I found the site there were 3 inches of water in the bottom of the boat. And my sax down there bumping up and down with the waves. I figured my horn was done for, but the case was only slightly damp inside when I opened it up the next morning. Glad I sprang for the Walt Johnson.

-ANDYJ

[martinc]

When my partner and i go road tripping, the instruments always come along for the ride, she plays concertina, i take the alto. The only times it gets really interesting is when we hit a bumpy bit of road. Call it naturally induced vibrato :)

[Lowell]

I usually take mine for those lazy days when its too hot/cold to golf or hike.

The elk don't seem to mind and it is a good conversation starter. (With people, not elk)

[geo@loyola.edu]

Just got back from a week at Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland. Took along a bari and logged 2--4 hours a day, usually while my wife was out for a walk. Had to do it. I have to face Tim Price at the end of the month!

[Sigmund451]

Im going on a cruise so I wont be able to bring my sax :x

I think Im going to need to go in to detox...decompression, or something first. I may cry when I leave it in its case in my room.

What kind of postcards do vintage instruments appreciate?

[Grumps]

Geo,
Deep Creek Lake! That's exactly where I was for the last week. No horn though..... the neighbors were complaining enough about our CD player.... well.... boom box. My truck was loaded too.... never could have fit an alto let alone a bari in it. Your kids must be grown... or they've taken their own vehicle. Anyhow, I got two words for you..... Honi-Honi!

Tharruff,
Glad you didn't lose your horn that night, but I almost met a similar demise. We were swimming in Swallow Falls State Park located in Garret Co., Maryland, where the county motto is, "Garrett County..... You're on your own!" My wife had insisted that there was a spot where you could 'ride' a rapid slide between the falls which she had done years ago. Well maybe you could during drought season, but not this summer. To spare the lives of the many children with us, I took the slide myself which was great fun till I found myself hurtling towards the next waterfall. I did manage to roll to the side and warn all others not to be as foolish as I. Mrs. Grumps keeps trying....

[Tharruff]

Grumps,

It was my 1963 Mark VI Alto that I had put down before 'falling' into the river. I was pretty happy that it didn't go down with me.

To be honest with you...I didn't really know what had happened until the next morning when I woke up and tried to sit up...and asked my cousin why I was naked and what had happened to me...he told me the story in GRAPHIC detail...though he didn't realize that he had pulled my wedding ring off whilst pulling me out of the river. (I was naked because he warmed me up in front of the fire before he put me to bed)

Oh what a night.....

[Bloo Dog]

Gee, maybe i have an excuse to bring my tenor with me to the coast for the annual Cape Fear bluefish runs. It'd make a GREAT rod holder on the pier or on the beach when I'm surf fishing.

I'm not sure how much the other fishermen would enjoy it if i played it though.

The bluefish runs are pretty solemn occasions on the Carolina coast. There's not much talking. I fear that if i were to play it at high tide, my tenor would be quickly converted to a boat anchor with little say about it on my part.

[Mike Cesati]

My sax is like my American Express. I don't leave home without it.

[Perfect Pitch]

You can contemplate leaving baby :( behind?

[bluesaxgirl]

Heck, I take mine to restaurants and polish it in between the appetizer/entree transistion. Don't neglect your saxophone.

[Ol Danl]

I always take a flute -- I have several that are sorta disposable. This spring I had to work at another plant for a month and stayed in motel, so I took my alto (most nearly disposable sax I have). It turned out to be a bit too loud for the motel at night. I did entertain a couple of people in the laundry area once, though.

[saxman06]

I've never taken my horn on vacation before, partly because this is the first time I've owned a decent horn. Always played on a school-owned Yamaha YAS-62. Once my R&C gets here, you can bet it will never leave my side. I was asked last summer to sit in with Gunner Mossblad, Mike Lorenz, Brad Sharp, Shannon Ford, Mike Grace, and a multitude of other not-so-well-known yet phenominal professional musicians, and all I could say was that I left my Sax at home. Should have remembered it, considering I was driving out-of-state on my own at 17 years old to go see my jazz director's pro big band, but alas, I forgot. I haven't gone anywhere without a sax since. Even take it to work with me, and I work at an auto parts store! (It stays in the car, of course. . . lol)

[Grumps]

Since starting this thread almost three years ago, I've since been making room to take a horn along when I go on vacation. I missed a chance to sit in with a great group on one trip to the ocean and vowed I wouldn't be without a horn again when going there. Don't always get to use it, but it's there if I need it.

[Zoot Horn]

I always take something. A straight soprano is convenient to go through airport security. Sometimes I play in the back seat of the rental car with the front seat moved forward and the air on. Or, like my sax teacher told me, just play in the hotel room. By the time they tell you to stop, you'll probably be done. It works for me.

[potiphar]

Wonderful taking my soprano to a forest cottage in South Wales (but not sure if polecats approved). Not planning to take the tenor to a genteel hotel in Swanage with my aged mother.

[Blackwolf42]

sorry, double post.

[Blackwolf42]

I always take something. A straight soprano is convenient to go through airport security. Sometimes I play in the back seat of the rental car with the front seat moved forward and the air on. Or, like my sax teacher told me, just play in the hotel room. By the time they tell you to stop, you'll probably be done. It works for me.

Before I got a soprano, I would just take an alto instead of tenor because we couldn't fit 5 people with their luggage in a Dodge Grand Caravan. I would take the alto (technically, it belongs to my sister) out at about 8:30 or 9:00 every night and play in the van for around a half hour to an hour just to keep my chops up. Now I have a soprano, which is even smaller. Unfortunately, my parents aren't sure they will let me take it to Hungary later this summer (my father was born there) because they are really afraid it will get stolen. This sucks because we will be there for a little over two weeks, and I don't want to have to "rebuild" once I get back.

[Manek]

I just got back from a week with my Gran in Wales... I took my Clarinet - she had asked to hear me play it! And she plays piano (very well) and so was able to accompany me... I would have taken the Sax as well, but I would have struggled crossing London with a suitcase, hand luggage, a bag of food, the Clarinet [i]and[i] the Sax! So I left it behind...

But, I'm seeing her again at the family-type holiday in Cornwall (my dad, my sister and my dog will be there as well, this time) and we're going in the car, so I will definitely take the Sax if there is room!