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How to stay in practice with no horn?

2K views 14 replies 11 participants last post by  Dana in Philly 
#1 ·
So I had been playing my alto sax for about a month. Then I saw a guy on craigslist who wanted an alto sax for his kid to play in band. He had a tenor sax he was willing to trade. I looked it over and made the trade. I traded my Mexi-Conn shooting star which everyone seemed to agree was of questionable quality at best for a Selmer Bundy II tenor sax that everyone seems to agree is a decent quality low end sax. In any case, I got to looking over the Bundy and it had some minor issues. Took it to a tech and they said they could fix it and set it up properly for just $85. At that price I had them go ahead and do it, but they said it would take 3-4 weeks to get to it. So now I am without a sax at all. It's been one week so far I'm jonesing to play anything at this point. Is there anything at all I can do to stay in practice? I have no reeds, mouthpiece, nothing right now. All of it was with the sax when I took it to the shop? Or am I just doomed to start at square once once I get my horn back in a few weeks?
 
#4 ·
Try some very intense listening. I'm not meaning to be funny or flippant. Listen to a horn player that you really like and listen very closely and try and think about what s/he is doing and how the sound is being made. When you get the tenor back then you'll have something to try out. If you have a keyboard, learn something about chords.
 
#5 ·
Play air sax, of course. Get some solos off the web, sax solos.com or someplace, of players you like and preferably solos that you know, and phantom finger along as you read, hum, and possibly memorize them. Or just lead sheets of vocals that you could practice transposing on the fly. You could have a whole book chomping at the bit by the time you get your axe back.
 
#6 ·
I started a thread some time ago about "mental practicing". Use the search function and check it out. Some good ideas there.
 
#9 ·
I traded my Mexi-Conn shooting star which everyone seemed to agree was of questionable quality at best for a Selmer Bundy II tenor sax that everyone seems to agree is a decent quality low end sax.
Sounds like you knew this going into the deal, maybe you skanked the guy a bit?
 
#10 ·
Maybe. I suspect the guy didn't know much about saxes to begin with though he claimed he had been playing for years. When he grabbed mine out of the case he just grabbed it right in the middle like it was a lead pipe or something. He apparently had experience with the shooting stars though as he claimed he learned on one. His kid played the thing before he agreed to the trade so he had all the information I did. The tenor I got had good pads, but had been pretty neglected and mistreated. At some point someone gripped the neck with a pair of vice grips and yanked it out of the body. I ran a swap through it a couple of times and picked up cobwebs and dust and some of the pads weren't aligned properly. I could tell this just from a visual inspection without even needing a light. The sax I gave him was in perfect playing shape and had no issues with it at all.
 
#11 ·
Seems to me that your hoping to trade what you believed to be an inferior sax (yours) for a 'better' sax (his) came back and bit you in the gluteus maximus... lesson is it doesn't matter if it's the so called 'poshest' make going, if it's out of adjustment etc., it's worse than a so called 'poorer' make in playing condition.
 
#12 ·
I find that the biggest issue from being away from the horn is usually the "chops" muscles tend to fade pretty quickly in the embouchure rather quickly and your stamina as well as your ability to manipulate your sound suffers first. You can practice fingerings or study theory or whatever without something to assist. But the chops seem to go quickest. I have come to highly value and appreciate my P.E.T.E. from Warburton. I do not shill for them. They could care less about me (in fact I have sent them a few messages with no reply or even a hint of response). But the P.E.T.E. works like no other embouchure exerciser I have come across.
 
#13 ·
With a young family and work, I find it's hard to fit in practise at all and my embouchure does collapse quickly - trying to build it back up asap for my festive gigs this year after a quiet couple years of only doing one or two. I have often used the analogy to students, that it's like a weight lifter, if you have a break and go back to it, you won't be able to lift the weight you could before.
 
#14 ·
Saxophonie _ Get to a quiet place. Get you cell phone out and fire up the keyboard app or what ever 'sound-point' app you got. Turn off the network. Play a note (most are in concert pitch) and start to a "serious listen" on the note. You may have to bang on that phone for 15 mins. or more. Close your eyes and visualize the pitch as you would play it on your horn. This takes mega-mental-MoJo. Don't 'flake' out on it, produce the best sound you can (or the sound you Want ) and then initiate the proper note finger placement. Make the sound in the head ONE with the physical placement of the hands; just like you would when performing a perfect set of 'real' playing. When you get your horn do all the set-up stuff: soak reeds, reed placement, warm up neck/body of horn, get yourself warmed up then.... produce that 'best' sound for a certain note in your head then hands on the horn, perfect finger placement of the note, then.... Bammm you have just found a never seen before Paul Klee painting.
But .... there are great posts given above on this and they all point to productivity even though your horn is in the shop. Get on it and Good Luck.
 
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