Well, What type of sax do you all play in Church? I have played Soprano, alto, tenor, and bari in Church. I usually play either the tenor or the soprano and they seem to fit better, however I played the bari a few weeks ago and doubled the bass lines and everyone seemed to like this. I seem to be able to fill better with the soprano too. What do you all play in church and what type of music do you play?

 

I play tenor in my praise and worship team doing fillers and occasional solos. In addition to me there is an electric bass, drums, piano, and lead vocal/guitar player. We play mostly contemporary Christian songs. Whenever we sing traditional hyms, I usually stay out...most of the time it doesn't sound right with the sax.

What I've learned is that less is better. If you come in at the appropriate times, it's more effective and sounds better than trying to play all the time. When I'm not blowing, I'm either singing along or playing some sort of percussion instrument like sticks, maracas, tambourine, etc.

 

I played at my best friends funeral a few years ago. He played Bass Clarinet and sax, and died of brain cancer. His name was Graham Dodd. I played "Wise One", by Trane, cuz he wrote that tune for Dolphy. Was an experience I'll never forget.

 

Tenor is my axe. I just picked it up after many years. I can still do it. I love Coltrane. I want to work up LOVE SUPREME, SPIRITUAL, BRASILIA AND LONNIE'S LAMENT for my church-namely for during Communion.

 

tenor!

I play tenor with our band of piano, keys, guitar, bass, drums, 3 singers. I sing most of the time and just add sax in for the occasional song. Probably would play more if I were better, but I've only been at the sax for 2 years -- only playing in public since the beginning of the year. Having lots o' fun, though, and it has been well received in a fairly conservative church.

 

Yeah, my church used to be REAL conservative back in the 70's and in some respects still is today. One of my elders had to literally fight to get the guitar accepted into worship. We used to only worship with piano and our voices, which was fine, but a alot more was desired by many. As our church became more open to the musical possiblities of other instruments, a bass and drums were added. I thought for sure my sax would be looked down upon, since it was such a sultry sounding instrument. However, it was totally welcomed and I didn't face any opposition. I try not to play every Sunday, and when I do play, I let it all hang out for Him and give the congregation a treat. The sax really enhances worship IMHO...and occasionally gets some "yeahs" from the people. :wink:

 

As I posted in the previous incarnation of this thread, I play saxophone and other winds frequently in my church. It's part of the United Church of Canada, which is an amalgamation of Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregationalist churches.

The music I usually play is classically based. It's not what I'd call conservative per se; we play quite a bit of 20th century classical music. There are no barriers as far as instrumentation - no prohibitions on sax, or electric instruments. However, the usual Sunday service is with choir and organ or piano.

 

I play tenor sax in church. On occasion I play bass guitar. Our church is a free evangelical, so it is pretty conservative, doctrinally speaking, however we have quite a bit of leeway with regards to music. Some of it is your standar hymns from a hymnal, some contempary Christion music, and on occasion just some good rockin, bluesy tunes. I've only been up playing for about three or four months, but it is a blast. The usual band consists of guitar , bass, drums, piano, keys, alto sax, tenor sax, trumpet and a gaggle of backup singers.

 

Alto has served me very well in churches.
It can kick a hot rhythm groove as well as anything, if that's the kinda deity you have one morning; and for backing off into a more conservative heavenly-choir symphonic feel, it has a lot more to offer than a tenor. I once found myself in this "long ringing notes sound good over this harmonic sequence" space and the minister was going nuts. Play more! he said. Keep going! Again! Twenty minutes later my lips were sore and if there had been any hardware in the building whose resonant frequency was "G" it would have been destroyed .. but everybody was happy.

 

I play alto and soprano and ocassionally some tenor and flute. I mainly improvise -- we have a really upbeat church -- the music is very R&Bish -- with some traditional stuff thrown in for good measure. I am fortunate enough to live in Nashville, so there is never a shortage of good musicians. God has blessed me with this outlet.

 

I have found soprano works best for me - we generally only have guitar/keyboard and voices, sometimes bass and drums. It was a hoot playing with a violinist or flautist in the band too, we had a lot of fun weaving harmonies together. I find the range of the sop sits nicely against those instruments and a lot of the time I play harmony lines or answering phrases based on the tune - I tend just to busk it. I have used tenor as well on more rock-based tunes but found it tended to get a bit lost in the mix. I haven't got on so well with alto in worship music, the transposition is a bit worse with one more sharp (and that frequently gets to 6 or 7 as the songs have been written in guitar-friendly keys), maybe I just tune in better for improvising with a Bb instrument. I love it, but I am a better and more experienced guitarist in a worship setting so I often get cast in the role of worship leader. There are worse gigs!

 

Since clarinet is my main instrument I use it for most of my solo work at my small, conservative Baptist church. I will occaisionally solo on tenor sax. During traditional hymn singing I like to play the tenor part on tenor sax while the pastor plays melody on trumpet. This makes a nice compliment to the organ, piano and Clavinova/Roland Synth.

 

Playing sax in church

I have played soprano, alto, and tenor either with the praise team or as a soloist during Offering. This has been a great outlet for me and it has given me a new passion to pick up the sax after a 20 year layoff. I have found that a can play off the chorus books by transposing the base line using the alto. Just play the base line as if it were a trebel cleff and just add 3 sharps or take away 3 flats. I don't why this works but why ask why? Chuch playing as moved to playing for weddings, funerals, and now at Christian book stores.

 

c-melody

i heard that one of the big draws of C-melodies were that they were good for church music (because no transposition is needed)

 

Re: c-melody

i heard that one of the big draws of C-melodies were that they were good for church music (because no transposition is needed)

I use one for playing in church and it definitely does make playing a bit easier. However recently I created a cheat sheet for transposition. I have not used it yet but I am excited to try it with my other saxes as the intonation is a bit better with them than on my C Melody. But I sure have fun playing it with our band. They consist of an acoustic guitar, an electric bass guitar, a piano, a flute occasionally, some bongo drums, and about 10 singers.

 

Church is the only reason I'm back playing after a 20+ year layoff - and the only reason I'm playing sax at all. I went back as a clarinet player and decided to double on sax. Got a great alto/tenor set, but still looking for that sleeper deal on a soprano.

We play very contemporary music - a lot of swing arrangements, R&B, etc, with lots of it being totally ad lib off a rhythm chart. I never knew playing could be this much fun, but the fellowship of that bunch of crazy musicians all serving the Lord is just great. Several of us knew each other B.C. (before Christ), and all we can do is shake our heads and marvel at His grace. Practice tonight . . . can't wait! Takin' my "new" Yana 880 alto for the first time!

 

Good for you Fred. I started back after a 35 year layoff! Looking back, I realize that, even though I enjoyed playing, I was doing it mainly to please my mother. Now I'm doing it to please and praise the Lord. What a difference!

 

Good for all you guys. I started back playing Bass Guitar after a few years off the Club Circuit. I now am playing in a Southern Gospel Group and love every minute of it. Also, I am starting to relearn Sax and will do some Specials with it pretty soon. And, practice tonight, can't wait. Love Playing for the Lord, and yes some of us used to play in Clubs together 35 years ago. Keep playing for the LORD..
Bless Ya'll,
Big Jim

 

Big Jim,

I do a good deal of work with southern gospel artists.

I have done session work for Lilly Knauls -- of the Gaither tour fame.

And I have played with the Happy Goodmans -- and Johnny Minick. I have done a fair amount of session work with Johnny Minick (talented guy).

I also done some session work for the Daryl Williams Trio

I have also played live with several of the Gaither tour folks as they passed through town.

Who said southern gospel doent have a place for sax.

 

Hi Sessionsax,
Glad to hear from you. At practice last night we discussed the Sax thing. I don't think I am quiet ready for it yet. BTW, do you know Dan Traxler? I have a couple of his tapes. That's my Mentor, along with Ace Cannon and Boots Randolph. Are you the Sax player on The Gaither's now? The Tenor Man with the headphones.. Anyway, have a great day. Email me sometimes. Also, the Group I'm in is called The Kingdom Heirs in the Houston Texas area. We do about 70 Concerts a year around the Metropolitan Texas area.. Be Blessed,
Big Jim
JSned@ev1.net

 

Big Jim

No, I am not the tenor player on the tour right now. I do mainly session work -- and I do several live dates at churches with just sax.

I have a newborn, and my wife would not go for the traveling thing. I do have a couple of classmates on the tour though (I graduated from Belmont University here in Nashville). Denise hopper and Mike hopper from "The hoppers" are fellow belmont grads. The are great christians -- the real thing.

The Kingdom Heirs ay -- not the group that is at Dollywood all the time I take it.

Keep working for God friend

Blessings,

Terry Thompson (sessionsax)

 

Big Jim

Just wanted you to know that I recieved you email and sent a reply, but it was bounced back with an "access denied" error.

 

arsenic87: Our church is a free evangelical, so it is pretty conservative, doctrinally speaking, however we have quite a bit of leeway with regards to music.

This is interesting - it seems generally the more conservative denominations that are opening up to saxophone music...perhaps following the Southern Baptist example of making the religious experience more intensely personal?

I attend a "mainstream-liberal" congregation in the NYC area where the music is modern in some ways (Vaughan Williams, Britten, Françaix), yet highly traditional in instrumentation (choir, organ, and occasional brass or flute). Outside of the Friday jazz vespers, I can't imagine a sax there.

 

Sorry, Session Sax. The email I sent you was from my office computer. Sometimes it does that. My home email address is JSned@ev1.net please re-send it to that address. Thanks again,Jim

 

I attend a "mainstream-liberal" congregation in the NYC area where the music is modern in some ways (Vaughan Williams, Britten, Françaix), yet highly traditional in instrumentation (choir, organ, and occasional brass or flute). Outside of the Friday jazz vespers, I can't imagine a sax there.

Paul, that sounds very similar to my church. If the music director's already predisposed to V-W, why not ask if you could perform some or all of the Six Studies in English Folk Song for preludes/offertory/postlude together?

I just played one of the Finzi Bagatelles for clarinet (on clarinet) last Sunday. Beautiful way to put people in a meditative frame of mind.

 

In the Episcopal church I've been attending for a loooooooong time, I've done classical soprano and also play Akai EWI.

But our church has developed a non-denominational service that is more of a gospel/jazz/blues band... we're even doing Sanborn's "Love & Happiness" but changing the words to fit the church... and we're going to do "Revelation" by the Yellowjackets (as done on GRP's Gold Collection Live CD w/vocals). In that band, I still usually play just soprano and EWI...I use the "Joel" sound on the EWI 1000, which is more of a "Steps Ahead" Brecker sound, and I'll be playing more alto and tenor in the near future.

Oh, keeping a lot of reverb on the saxes is important to get more of a 'holy impact' emotionally I guess :lol:

God's Peace,

Aaron ><>
(there are sound clips on my website by the way... www.aaronsantee.com)

 

Paulwl, when I first starting going back to church about eight years ago, I went to a very liberal church, UCC. It however was very conservative in regards to worship music, only traditional hymns sang to and organ. The choir did a song alone accompanied by piano. The only other instrument ever played was a tenor recorder during a Christmas service.
We are going to have a great service tomorrow Praise to the Lord the Almighty, Power of your love, Reaching for you, You are the way, Hear our praises, You Alone, I am playing Our God Reigns on tenor for the offertory, which I need to practice soon
Have a great weekend, Ron