[jstin4all]

For whom do you dislike playing for the most and why?

I voted for "your sax playing friends (not really your friends)" because my friends usually call out the must ludacris requests like Donna Lee, in their key of preference which usually goes ignored.

Also, I'm not sure if this is a universal phenomenon or just local but has anyone noticed that when you lend a sax playing friend something...it automatically becomes theirs until you physically retrieve it? I've lost mouthpieces, ligatures and more CDs than I can count by one of my buddies saying "hey man, can I try this out? I'll get it to you next time I see you."

 

[joelsp]

I get really annoyed playing in front of just my family, because always seem to take it so seriously. Except for my one uncle who is a great guitar player, I don't mind playing in front of him, because he usually just wants to play along with me.

 

[Agent27]

I remember my first musical performance ever. It was 1987. Inspired by the movie La Bamba, I decided to take up guitar and I got one for Christmas. Being the musical genius that I am and having no training whatsoever, I immediately composed my first song. This masterpiece consisted of only playing notes on the open strings. When school resumed, I brought my guitar to school to let my classmates hear this work of art. I began playing and fell into a trance where it was just me and the music. This trance was abruptly broken halfway through the performance when the teachers hand swiped in and strummed the strings twice. Apparently, she and the class though the song sounded like "Old MacDonald" and the two strums were for the "Quack, Quack." I took this as a huge insult to my musical integrity and immediately stopped. Sadly, I broke my arm shortly thereafter and never played guitar again.

OK, the last line was a lie. I did break my left arm though and I had to stop playing 6 months after I started. Then it healed and I resumed my playing but broke my arm again and ended up giving up the guitar for a long while. I finally learned how to play La Bamba 10 years later.

 

[fballatore]

Chuck Norris. I played a Kenny G tune for him once, and he knocked me out. :!:

 

[Grumps]

Very wealthy cocktail party folks.

 

[brutlix]

Chuck Norris does not need to listen to anything, he heard it all already.

 

[ianhart]

I would hate to play to Chuck Norris, as we all know he has fists on his fists that are on his fists, and saxes are delicate. Also, he would knock me out, wihtout a doubt.

 

[JL]

Well, none of the above or any of the above, actually, depending on how responsive they are. The kind of audience I hate is one with no response to the music, whatsoever. Grumps may be close to what I mean. Say a country club cocktail party where the music is just "window dressing:" You play a great tune, end it, and no one looks your way, no clapping, nothing. They just keep nattering away over their cocktails. I've only been in this situation once or twice, luckily, but it's pretty deadly. Of course if the money is good, I don't care that much. Still, that would be my most hated audience.

 

[hgiles]

Drunks (not on the list).

 

[tomsch]

I agree with drunks. Did a gig two weeks ago that kept yelling out if I knew any Ace Cannon!!! I yelled back "yes.... here's one", and we played Give it to me baby by Rick James. I don't think the guy even noticed.......

 

[Minatar12]

None of the above. I hate playing in front of legends (have played in front of the likes of Bud Shank and Slide Hampton before.) I always want to shoot them, and then turn the gun on myself in a classic homicide-suicide scenario.

Joking.

Seriously, it's just too nerve-wracking. I was quavering like mad when I played in front of Shank (of course, I was pretty young and had only been playing for 3 years.) Hampton was scary too, but he's such a nice guy he made it a lot better than it might have been. The good part is we played a really fast version of Lover Come Back to Me (his arrangement) at a concert, and I dueled with him. He had the tact to say that I acquitted myself well. I promptly dissolved into a puddle of sweat on the spot.

 

[Martin Williams]

other sax players... they can tell how bad i really am!

 

[58tenor]

My sister beat up Chuck Norris

A Grumps/hgiles amalgam: rich drunks. And it's a special treat when the buggers want to sit in with the band and SING.

 

[jstin4all]

Ok, from now on we'll lump "rich old drunk people" in with the "old people response"

I have come to understand that Chuck Norris is actually a percussionist...he's actually had several pieces written for the thunderous sounds his fists make when striking a man dead. One of the pieces actually has a cadenza of him cracking skulls. Or at least that's what I heard.

 

[saxphil]

A wine event because everything is more important than the music, especially them talking BLAH,BLAH BLAH and BLAB:blah5:

 

[Prime Sax]

I couldn't vote!
I, in my glorious 8 months of playing, have never played to an audience I didn't like.
1) my wife. She loves my latin version of "The Nearness of You". She's from Mexico City.
2) my daughter. She pretty much ignored me the first 5 or 6 months, then she heard my soulful a cappella rendition of "Danny Boy" in the garage and became my biggest (and shortest) fan.
3) my son, the music man. Virtuoso on trumpet, flugelhorn, English horn, and several dozen other instruments, it was he who suggested I take up sax. Even though he can play circles around me and stop on a dime, he loves it when I play and especially loves to duet.
4) the rest of my family. Actually, I haven't played for them yet. I'm working up to giving them a big (and hopefully pleasant) surprise (along with my son) for our annual Thanksgiving feast.
5) my church. This is my favorite spot to play. I have the freedom to play or not play, wherever the Spirit leads me. The addition of tenor sax (my son's suggestion) has been yearned for for decades by church members. They wanted it so bad they don't even mind that it is me.
6) pizza joint. On a beer-sogged late evening, I played through my entire 20-song backing track CD four or five times. I made a ton of money, some free pizza, and lots of new friends.
7) city college concert band. This was a new experience with very difficult pieces and I played air sax quite a bit. The good thing was I faded well into the sea of 120 other tuxes and black dresses so no one noticed me.

I just have fun playing the sax and although I know someday I will experience one or more of the negative audiences that have been previously mentioned, I hope I can just take it in stride and keep on honking.

 

[coolsax2k7]

old people, generally :|

btw - Your saxophone playing friends (not really your friends) that's funny

 

[Birdman]

Old band directors.
Why do they need to hear me again I'm done with them and plus they're all old and don't like listening to one thing very long like a small child.

-Birdman

 

[kevvieg]

Drunks are the worst. I also hate being asked to haul out my horn as entertainment at a party. The only way I enjoy playing solo is when I'm practicing. Other than that, I like the interaction of playing with someone. Besides that, I'm at the party to have fun, not to be the entertainment (unless it's musical friends and a jam happens).

 

[rs1sensen]

Haha, next year I'm going to have a professor named Chuck Norris for Music Theory and Sightsinging...