[derbyhat]

So back in the day, when one wanted to practice at home, you busted out a rickety stick music stand, put a sheet music (in paper slash book form) on that stand, maybe used a paperclip to secure things, and played. And if it was a jazz practice session, you popped in the CD, selected the track, and cranked the volume up.

At least, that's how I remember it.

So how does it work today?

This forum has a ton of posts about sheet music, equipment, and forums on the sax, mouthpiece, and reeds I need. Everyone has suggestions of sites that appear to feature friendly community members who enjoy using engraving their own stuff using Sibelius.

As a beginner, what other stuff should I have handy? Is paper and pencil still the way to go? Does everyone use ForScore and an iPad with scanned PDFs from a Fake Book? Or is there a download service available somewhere - like if Hal Leonard had a Netflix for sheet music service that integrates with a Kindle and/or iTunes for back tracks?

 

[artstove]

I guess it depends on what and how you are practicing. A music stand, some staff paper, sheet music/books and a pencil still works. You can go electronic if you want, but it isn't necessary. The real bottom line that you need is just the horn and a place to play it.

If you are trying to learn to play by ear, some sort of good music player is necessary. (I just took my '70s-'80s era stereo with CD player and added a miniplug adapter cord and bluetooth adapter so I can play my phone through it.) If you are working online with a teacher or an ensemble or something like that you will need a laptop or tablet and whatever software they recommend.

 

[datsaxman]

Depends on what you are trying to do, and where you want to be.

 

[milandro]

I still have all the Aebersold somewhere,

every now and again I use it, that is the sound of a real band.

IrealPro seems to be what most people use these days, either on phone or tablet , it has many faults but they are editable ( and the forum of its users provides a lot more than there is on the standard library but of course there may be mistakes, which, can be edited)

playing with a band where we’ve had many different singers in the last 5 years , we’ve had to transpose so often that I real pro has become very useful to all of us.

The ability to share chords charts (playable ) on what’sapp , for example where the band has a croup chat , has been very useful.

Besides, the program costs very little, once you have one license you can share it on all the devices within the same platform ( they are separate Applestore and Playstore so if you have an Iphone adn an Ipad or an Android phone and and pad you pay only once but if you have one android phone and android pad you need two licenses)

 

[lesacks]

you busted out a rickety stick music stand

Yeah, things have moved on

Tall? Practice Standing? --> K&M 107 Music Stand

To date, I've been using the basic music stand I chose because it was closest to the shop counter when I bought my Alto. I think it's a K&M 101 or such like. But I'm 6'4'' / 1.93m I like to stand while practising but have always had to stoop a little when reading stuff - even more so if using a...

www.saxontheweb.net

As a beginner

The tablet, as well as being book/metronome/cd player (with added looping/slowing down); can bring other useful stuff. Want to learn that pattern ffj just posted or one of Randys' blues licks? YouTube on the music stand!
FWIW I don't used a phone/tablet for recording, I use a handy recorder because it's a smoother process.
And I use Bluetooth headphones with it all to protect my hearing and balance volume.

One other useful practice tool I have - a bit of paper with a grid printed on and all the keys in column 1, for tracking what I have practiced across sessions. Obviously that could be done on the gadget. I prefer the paper.

 

[stomias]

Stand, Pencil, Paper, tablet, IReal pro and my bluetooth speaker. I have guitars and keyboards in the home studio to flesh out chord arpeggios along with a huge library of sax music from the last 100 years. I use Matt Otto's drones & pedals for long tone and pitch support Lesson 15: Drones and Pedals - Matt Otto

 

[turf3]

Reed clipper and scraper.

Metronome.

 

[motteatoj]

I've hired my own house band and have them quarantining with me full time.

 

[Bjroosevelt]

......yeah.....well......uh.....I've upgraded to a Manhasset music stand from the rickety steel fold up one I was given in 1974.

I use a metro-tuner with earphones.....preferably a headset which covers your ears so I can hear the beat even when I am blowing into my mouthpiece.

I have a recording and playback system so I can hear myself play. I use this when I am serious about improving.

I have lots of old-fashioned literature. Most of it is paper. Reading from a tablet is hard on my eyes, so I don't do it much.

I still use a clothespin to hold open my DeVille book open to the correct page.

But ultimately, here is my trick......I play 60 to 90 minutes per day.

 

[Bjroosevelt]

.....oops. I still use a pencil to mark up my paper.

 

[derbyhat]

Rockin'. There's some great stuff in here.

There seem to be some pretty standard jazz books out there. Are there electronic versions of them, too? Or is paper still truly the way to go?

 

[GaSax]

Y'all had music stands and CDs?

I had to sit my case on the bed with case open and prop my music up in the case.

I finally got a nice music stand for Christmas my senior year of high school.

 

[bvhoyweg]

...
I have lots of old-fashioned literature. Most of it is paper. Reading from a tablet is hard on my eyes, so I don't do it much.
...

I changed recently and am happy with it. I thought I would have problems with a tablet. In the past I was always looking for a well lit spot in the room. Now with the tablet I can adjust the backlighting.
I'm using a 12" tablet. I feel a 10 would be too small.
The main advantage is I have everything (Music sheets, metronome, Music) in one place. And the tablet can also be used as a tuner.

 

[lesacks]

Most of it is paper

Yeah... It's hard to get velum or parchment to lay flat. Hence the clothespins, I guess

 

[SL77]

As a beginner (One month on sax, four years on wind):

PDF copies of the aforementioned Fake Books and other scores on my laptop and backings downloaded from Youtube and saved locally so I can have them playing on repeat in VLC. The same backings both as video and converted to .mp3 on my phone. (and the same little bluetooth speaker in both cases).

I DO have a large-ish stack of paper sheet music building up, all found at a local thrift-store over the past year, but find I rarely bother with any of it since the .pdf collection is so much more convenient.

I've been thinking that the ideal setup would be a raspberry-pi tablet-ish portable with an e-paper screen (possibly two screens side by side), a small LCD screen and a few buttons for selecting/starting/stopping backing tracks, either a wired foot-switch to flip pages or a wireless bluetooth-le button attached somewhere to the sax, and possibly built-in speakers (though I personally prefer the speaker a bit further away and would probably leave them out of the build, sticking with bluetooth instead). Oh:, and a camera tripod mount on the base as a music stand for it. With two e-paper screens, you could hit the next-page button as soon as you start reading the second page, and the slow refresh of page one to be replaced by page three on the e-paper wouldn't be a problem since it would be long finished redrawing by the time you start reading it and hit the button again.

So back in the day, when one wanted to practice at home, you busted out a rickety stick music stand, put a sheet music (in paper slash book form) on that stand, maybe used a paperclip to secure things, and played. And if it was a jazz practice session, you popped in the CD, selected the track, and cranked the volume up.

At least, that's how I remember it.

So how does it work today?

This forum has a ton of posts about sheet music, equipment, and forums on the sax, mouthpiece, and reeds I need. Everyone has suggestions of sites that appear to feature friendly community members who enjoy using engraving their own stuff using Sibelius.

As a beginner, what other stuff should I have handy? Is paper and pencil still the way to go? Does everyone use ForScore and an iPad with scanned PDFs from a Fake Book? Or is there a download service available somewhere - like if Hal Leonard had a Netflix for sheet music service that integrates with a Kindle and/or iTunes for back tracks?

 

[derbyhat]

@SL77 You're on to exactly the kind of thing that I was curious about, except I don't want to have to build the thing myself.

I hadn't really thought about it, but I wonder if there's an Amazon download to the Kindle and the ability to mark up the output.

 

[mmichel]

Metronome.

+1

Whether software or hardware, this should have been one of the first answers, along with a tuner. I'd recommend a tuner with a "sound back feature" (e.g., Korg TM-60, Tonal Energy app) so that the player can practice tuning with their ears instead of by looking at the tuner's needle.

Also, if you're interested in classical and technique stuff, IMSLP is a invaluable resource for online music.

 

[lesacks]

I'd recommend a tuner with a "sound back feature" (e.g., Korg TM-60, Tonal Energy

Gosh yes. I use this on TE for long tones / overtones. I'm sure it's good for the ears.

 

[SL77]

Oh yea... I know you said no "gear" you have to make for yourself, but one bit of kit I'd highly recommend to an absolute beginner is something you can make yourself on the computer or with scissors, glue, and a fingering chart out of a student sax book from a thrift store: A Concert Pitch Fingering Chart. That's what I did for the Bb clarinet a year ago: cut apart a fingering chart from a student band book and glued the labels in the 'right' spots for concert pitch instead of Bb transposed. I was saved having to do the same when moving to the alto sax since the fingerings are essentially the same between the two instruments (in concert pitch, not so according to their normal fingering charts). It also turns out (though I only realized it recently) that since I've played flute for years, I can just think in terms of flute fingerings moved to the sax to read Eb scores or make sense out of what key a sax guy is talking about when they name off a note or mechanism. It depends on what material you want to play and who you expect to be playing with down the road, but I considered the concert-pitch ('correct') fingering chart for the clarinet an essential piece of gear to start with.

@SL77 You're on to exactly the kind of thing that I was curious about, except I don't want to have to build the thing myself.

I hadn't really thought about it, but I wonder if there's an Amazon download to the Kindle and the ability to mark up the output.

 

[SL77]

It surprises me that a concert pitch fingering chart is something you do have to make yourself and can't just pick up anywhere. Heck I'd expect fingering diagrams for alto sax with Eb on one side and C on the other to be perfectly normal and included in student band books, and the same for the Bb clarinet - but instead you can't even find a .pdf version online.