sxpoet

hi @Jeff,
That’s funny about the clarinet ligature, weeks ago, i bought a new ligature for my Clarinet, and i when i got home, i compared it to one of my Alto Ligatures – turns out it is the same brand, same make and both are exactly the same. both are designed for classical mouthpieces.

Last year after 9 years of working through various practice…[Read more]

I agree with you Leo, i can’t see how the average person can possibly read and play fast tempo passages involving 32nd and 64th notes in various combinations. The eyes can’t keep up, and it’s impossible to read ahead while fingering the keys, and controlling air flow all at the same time.

Yakety Sax – doesn’t have 32nd or 64th notes on the sheet,…[Read more]

The interesting part, is to compare the sound quality of both recordings.
1. both recordings were done in the same room
2. both recordings were recorded with the same JVC camcorder
3. the audio files were extracted from the camcorder movies using Quicktime software
4. both recordings the camcorder was the same distance from the guitar and the…[Read more]

one of the first alto recordings round about 9 years ago

hi @jeff

xlr cables would be better, so yes, you would need an xlr mic

https://www.cablematters.com/Blog/USB-C/usb-cable-max-length

@jeff
my sister-in-law is back home now, she had nice time in SA

@jeff
my sister-in-law is near to you, she’s on a safari tour. I should have given her some music books to pass on to you. never mind, a lot quicker than posting them.

I changed the sheet to C Major all the way through, and in the 2nd to last bar i changed the F to an F#. If you’re playing the melody, i don’t see the point of the G Major scales on page 2. I can understand keeping the G Major scales if you play chords over page 2.

Hi Leo,
thanks for the heads up, i’ll check out Jamie Anderson.

A great tune to practice timing is Johnny’s “Rock Around The Clock”.

It’s easy to hear the timing of note patterns and get used to them to play back on the sax, but in sheet reading you also need practice in seeing and recognising the note patterns long term which is a separate…[Read more]

Well done Leo, those 8 common rhythms in the first video are the basic building blocks of timing and they occur in every music sheet. Just knowing them will tighten up the 32nd notes and the 64th notes as they all align up on the quarter note groves.

i find it impossible to count out the 32nd notes and the 64th notes as its too fast to say them…[Read more]

You’re a lot better sax player than me Leo, i can tell that by how frequently you post your uploads, for me it would take several weeks to a month just to record one tune. Probably because i don’t practice for longer than an hour each day.

I’ve just started learning to play the clarinet, and it’s a lot more fiddly finger wise than playing the…[Read more]

i do exactly the same Leo only if i have a backing track that has a sax player in it.

Unfortunately when i play lots of music sheets that don’t have sax player in it to hear the timing on the sax – that’s where i come unstuck with the timing and would never play the sheet in time in a million years, the only way to improve is to practice…[Read more]

However when i play music sheets in the clarinet register i struggle. The only way to get round that is for me to practice playing scales – so yes, you have to practice scales whether you like it or not.

The best music sheet players on any wind instrument are the ones who spend a lot of time playing scales. Any music teacher will tell you that,…[Read more]

If you are a music sheet player – you definitely have to practice various stuff to make sheet playing easier, they both go hand in hand.

Like i said before ‘Practice makes perfect’ can be true and can be false – get a music teacher, you’d be surprised and unaware that you could be practicing something wrong and developing bad habits.

By…[Read more]

I can understand if you are a teenager then it makes sense to start out on a student sax, most parents don’t know if their children will loose interest a few years down the line.
But for an adult, buy a student sax if you’re not sure if you will loose interest, or buy a second hand pro sax that has been serviced.

The 1st sax i bought 10 years was…[Read more]