:roll: Practice w/o the saxophone??

[SaxColuss]

Hi all ya saxers! m goin to serve national service soon.the prob is,i can't bring my sax along.do ya think jez by bringing my mp and neck will in a way help me retain my embouchure...and breath control.but to think of it,there'll be no resistance to it. :roll: Nevertheless,i've to make do with it.for the 1st 2 weeks in camp,i'm not allowed to book out of the (army)camp.But after which,am only allowed out on weekends. so,ermm,wat do u think of me jez bringing my mp and neck?any comments on dis will be greatly,saxerely appreciated!! 8) (P.S.By the way, i really need to practice.Can't live a day w/o practicing my sax! :D )

[Razzy]

That's unspeakable!! Why can't you bring the whole sax??

[Andrew]

I heard that Coltrane had a stick that he used on the bus when he couldn't practice. He'd go over lines and scales fingering on the stick. I practice in my classes when I get bored. I just use my pencil as a guide, and sometimes I just don't use anything and just finger notes in the air. You may not be able to hear yourself, but at least you can get your fingers down. This is how I learned my major scales :) Watching TV while "air fingering."

[colibri]

Saxcoluss,
I assume you play alto saxophone? You can just bring your mouthpiece and reed with you. Whenever you have time, do some pitch exercises on it.

For an alto mouthpiece, with proper embouchure pressure you should get a concert A. If you're playing with a real big jazz sound, a G# is fine. Try to make the mouthpiece pitch sound nice by having good air support and stable embouchure.

Another thing you can do is pitch bending. You should have at least an octave's range on the mouthpiece alone by dropping or tightening the embouchure, moving your tongue into different positions, while giving a steady strong air stream. Play tunes, scales, apeggios on the mouthpiece. When you have your sax back, you should notice you could play the entire range of the horn better.

[SaxColuss]

Oh well..will try bringin the mp and the neck then.yeah.i'm use to the air fingering thing...it's jez that without the sax...can't hear the sound and it all,kinda bug me,man..It don't mean a thing if it ain't got the thing!!! in this case,no sax. well,Razzy,can't be sure it'll be safe,ya noe.and my practising there may cause some disturbances.. especially to the well known 'ghouls' there,and of course,my bunk mates.(And i dun trust my sax to be safe there :lol: ) Not bein' superstitious or wat..but ya noe,must respect both worlds...hehe
guess i can do the pitch on the mouthpiece and do long tones on it. Mmmm....thought of bringin the soprano sax there.oh well,av to think bout it first...the reason for all this is that,i've experienced it before,if u stop practicing for a few days,oh man,u'll feel different when u pick ur sax and play it a few days later. and I dun wanna dat to happen.Ak uh!! No way.... Plus,m gonna perform on TV on late May...so gotta practise. My friend do suggest i practise my scales,theory stuff more deeply during in camp.dat's a nice idea too...long tones on my mp/neck. Thory,scales studies... Air fingering.. Humming/singing all the great stuff i thought of... Oh yeah....!!!

[SaxColuss]

[quote="SaxColuss"] on my mp/neck. Thory,scales quote]
Oops! Should be Theory.not 'thory'.....Jeez! Looks like 'horny' to me..hehehe :lol: Sax On, ya all....
Oh,and are there any more stuff i could do? any saxers wanna give me anymore advice...? Greatly appreciate.... Peace....
8) SaxColuss