I’m a nerdy male of Jewish, Eastern European Descent. I was born in 1971. My parents listened to John Denver, Simon and Garfunkle, Billy Joel, Mac Davis, Anne Murray and Carly Simon. My Uncle Ben started me on Saxophone in second grade.
Continue readingSay you want to play fast 8th note runs on a double harmonic minor song. What note should you add by default?
Continue readingSince I posted my article on 8 tone scales, I’ve gotten an embedded player. Here’s what the first of these 8 tone scales sounds like.
Continue readingWhen you play Saxophone, your whole body plays music.
Continue readingJazz improvisation performance. You’ve been preparing. You have mastered your instrument with long tones, scales, and exercises. You have worked on general knowledge of music theory, chords, and the relationship between them. Now what?
Continue readingG# is a magic note. It takes the vanilla, banal, bland sound of a major scale and makes it into music. Here’s how.
During a trip to Manhattan last winter (Jan 2016 or so) I heard some buskers in Union Square station making sounds that were at once familiar and new.
Continue readingMy Saxophone is back from the workshop of Emilio Lyons. It is a pleasure to play on it. I would say “like new” but for two things. First, the horn was twenty years old when I got it, so I never played it new. Second, Emilio has customized the feel of the horn enough that o suspect it never played like this. What did he do?
Ring of a Selmer Paris Saxophone
Dropped my Sax off at Emilio Lyon’s house and workshop. My folks bought it for me from him at Rayburn Music in Boston back when I was a High School Freshman. I still remember him pointing to the sticker on it that indicated “This is my work.”
As someone who loves both the saxophone and working with my hands, I have to admit I was looking forward to meeting him. I was even a little nervous. He has a great reputation. Was he going to chastise me for the state of my horn? It hadn’t been serviced in…way too long. I was a little worried that the lack of changing the oil on the rods would have worn down some of the metal connections.
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The Saxophone is a harsh mistress. She demands attention every day. A musician friend once quoted to me: “Skip a day and you know. Skip two days and your friends know. Skip three days and everyone knows.” That quote keeps me practising nightly.