[SmokeyJoe]

Hi All,

I spent 20 yrs playing Bari Sax before having 4 kids, a job and no free time. Just got a great deal on a barely used Cannonball alto, and after another 20yrs NOT playing, am looking to start up again. I'm a big fan of blues and classic (50s-70s) Jazz. I've been practicing long tones, blues scales in all keys, overtones (which I currently suck at). I was wondering if y'all could recommend some additional technical exercises/books/sites. I want to spend the next 6 mo or so just rebuilding my base, picking up licks, remembering how to play a low Bb without sounding like a cow in heat, etc.
Thanks!

 

[SmokeyJoe]

LOL, just saw that most of this forum echoes my exact question. Just ordered some Holcombe books. Any thoughts on a pure blues approach?

 

[Reet McVouty]

For blues I would suggest the Charlie Parker Omnibook, you get blues and bebop in one. For saxophone calisthenics, get the book by H. Klose' .

 

[jaleelshaw]

For blues I would suggest the Charlie Parker Omnibook, you get blues and bebop in one. For saxophone calisthenics, get the book by H. Klose' .

I would say check out top tones by Sigured Racher. Also, try transcribing solos by ear...

 

[mmichel]

I would say check out top tones by Sigured Racher. Also, try transcribing solos by ear...

+1

I'd add that how you practice can be more important than what you practice.

I would also extend the "by ear" part to almost everything that you practice. For example, when you're (re)learning a scale or pattern, read it in one key and memorize how to play it and, most importantly, the way it sounds. Then, without reading anything, transpose it up a half step until you can play it comfortably in that key. Rinse and repeat. Once you get your basic scales (e.g., major, melodic minor, pentatonic) back in your ears and under your fingers, you should also make sure to practice them in varying ways, including:

• Starting on each scale degree (up and down)
• In broken thirds, fourths, and fifths
• With different tuplet feels, meters, and/or starting on upbeats and downbeats

If you want to rebuild your core competency efficiently, you should practice all of the above (including your long tones and overtones) slowly, slurring (tonguing can mask sloppy technique and act as a crutch when playing intervals), and--most importantly--with a metronome. I'd recommend that, for the next six months, you play everything with a metronome and have the patience to practice things slowly to even out your technique. Otherwise, your current technique issues will just be more deeply ingrained in 6 months.

Finally, I'd suggest that when practicing long tones and overtones (at least) you play over matching tones or drones so that you can reestablish your intonation and your ability to tune yourself by ear.

 

[lesacks]

It is often suggested to record your self.
There are some inexpensive handy / field recorders available that are better than most phones. Combined, maybe, with decent headphones - you'll be horrified!

 

[moxie]

All great ways, different ways of practicing.. Seems like success there will hinge in how much practice time you can "make time" for. For me, success came after an internet friend scolded me for trying to talk up my recordings (SATB quartets).. He said that music is best as a social activity. I found that the local junior college offered entry, with very little restrictions, to all interested in, Concert Band or Jazz Ensemble groups (classes, if you will), comprised of actual students, at different levels of competence, alumni, and general community members ( known as "Adult Community Enrichments Programs!). I was 4 years of playing clarinet and bass clarinet in grade school, 4 years of bari (HS), and two years at tenor (R&R in college), THEN TOOK 45 YEARS OFF.

Best thing about this for me---?? Remember in school when the director said "lets hear the alto saxes at letter C"!? Sitting in with my daughter's alto sax (because the group's director was happy to have me as long as I was bringing the alto she needed!) I starting scrimping every minute together that I could possibly practice, so that I would not be made to sound foolish next to the Junior College freshman on second tenor or (God help me) the very talented EIGHTH GRADER (with real moxie just to show up) also playing alto. We all help each other, and actually have had terms where our collective ages went from 13 to 73. I soon moved over to the bari chair after finding a GREAT horn that I could afford, and both directors know that no matter what, I will be able to play each chart perfectly by concert or contest (remember those in school??) Some of use are learning to improvise in the Jazz Ensemble, some can really do well, just want a place to have fun without the rigors of "real" band membership And if you feel like you're at the end of the runway and ready to take off, just say "goodbye" at the end of a semester (don't leave a gaping hole in the concert by leaving two weeks prior).

We practiced this fall term by spreading ourselves all over the auditorium in which we give our concerts, finally taping our concert from a central omni-directional mic. I value these two groups very much at 71, I'm not even the oldest guy in either the Concert or Jazz groups! I use a like-new Beaugnier-made Vito 38B "Duke" (double low-C key version, circa 1965) with either a PPT Signature 7, or, a Brancher HR L27 for jazz, and an Ida Maria Grassi "standard export" (also circa '65) with an EG-modified "Double Chamber" Yanagisawa 5 for Concert band. Check out your local Junior College bands, some are so full of "ringers" that they are truly kick-butt bands. Feel free to PM with questions!