Fly Me…but I can't fly yet?

[Dazza]

Hey guys and JF. I am performing Fly Me tomorrow night at a work function and in the presence of 3 accomplished muso’s including an 87 year old alto playing who is too cool for school. Shi@#ing razor blades actually. My quandary is that watching JF’s video (over and over and over….) I love the way he jumps up an octave in the second verse as it leads into the break and the big band section really nicely. He then stays there as he leads out of that break and into the final section where he goes up to F# and builds with the backing track. My problem is that I can’t land the F# with confidence just yet and don’t want to fluff it on the night. Is it ok to stay in the lower octave through the whole song as I can play it this way with clarity and confidence the downside with that is my playing is overshadowed by the fantastic backing track which gets loud and punches to a big finish. I am concerned this will detract from my playing. Should I reduce the volume of the track so that I am more prominent towards the end of the track? Anyone playing this one yet having similar issues. I am recording the night so you will get to see the results soon.

[Anonymous]

Dazza – the best advice i could find on youtube from a PRO to a bunch of students – was something along the lines ‘When it comes to the PERFORMANCE, play within your means, play within your technical range, don’t play outside your range of what you have mastered, don’t try and sound like someone else, just be you, have fun’
People see you having fun playing, relax and have fun, if they see you getting stessed over some notes, its like they can smell fear…

like JF says, if you can’t play well some of the very high notes, drop an octave on those specific notes! Might not sound as good, buts its better than squeaking the note (that stands like a sore thumb, to the average Joe Listener)

What some pro’s do, is they practice & deliberately play wrong notes, gets them in the frame of mind, that when performing, and mistakes/distractions occur, they don’t make a big deal about it and carry on.

I’ve watched golf players fluff a shot, and they’ve thrown a game away, just because of one mistake they’ve made and couldn’t get there mind off it and carried on downhill afterwards.

Hope this helps – what counts is everyone on here is rooting for you – AND MAKE SURE YOU HAVE F U N

[Dazza]

Thanks JB. I definitely intend to have fun. I think I will just stick to the lower range and do that well and then practice, practice to land the higher range soon. I guess I have to remember that I am doing something that most people can’t do or maybe might have tried and failed so be proud of how far my skill has developed and enjoy the performance so they can as well. KEEP YOU POSTED!

[paddy jordan]

hey Dazza yeah do the best you can, the rest dose not matter as you say your already doing something most people cant do.its all part of the sax club! and your a member.

[Michael]

hey Dazza–Paddy above made some good points and, in the way of encouragement, don’t worry about other experienced players watching you…just do what you do. When I did my audition for this upcoming talent show, I was totally convinced that I was going to make a fool of myself because there were some other/much more experienced players there who could play really fast jazz. It’s easy for any of us to get intimidated in a situation like that. Focus on what you know how to do…especially if others see that you really love what you’re doing, others will pick up on it. I think you’re going to do just fine 🙂

[john]

Dazza, you have some good alternate ideas there but you can also play a C# or E instead of that high F#. those 2 will still sound good, the E probably a bit better than C#. Do this but keep trying for the F#. you’ll be surprised that by hitting the other 2 notes strongly the F# will start to come.
also another idea, try gliding up to it from the C# (chromatically) it would be a nice move and an easier way to get to that F#.

[Dazza]

WELL I DID IT! I didn’t fly to the F# but didn’t need to. I did three songs and Fly Me was the best with the best applause. WOW what a feeling this performing is. Who needs illicit drugs or alcohol!! You can’t get a high like that artificially. I couldn’t stop smiling and the congrats by the 180 in the crowd after the performance was almost embarrassing. I fluffed a few notes but they really didn’t know. I did the last song with the band and had a veteran alto sax player playing some cool licks around my lead on I’m In The Mood For Love. He was so good I almost wanted to stop playing and just listen to him. What a buzz. It is so gratifying to spend the last twelve months, no less than an hour a day in a small room practicing, to be so well regarded for my effort and skill. Thankyou again JF for your great backing tracks. They are like having a band on the stage with you. They loved Rainbow and sang along to it. I didn’t realise it is such a beautiful tune until you play it and 100+ people start singing along with you. I can’t wait to build a bigger set of songs and start playing somewhere. I see why people busk in the streets now. it can’t be all about the cash. The joy of playing and amazing people with have me even longer in the practice room. And guess what JF. After the bands alto player said I had a great tone and was well in tune he gave me some words of advice which I listened intently to. Practice your LONG TONES more each day than you are and really bed those SCALES down and you will progress even faster. Sound familiar anyone!? Advice I won’t be ignoring. Sadly I just watched the video and it is too poor to post as there was way too much crowd noise due to the position of the camera but I will take a vid and up load the songs I did for sure. Cheers all and keep the dream alive!

[Anonymous]

Bravo – stick an upload for everyone to here…its a bit dead in the upload section at the moment!

[Author]

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