[Fader]

I've got the "what is the keyboard / trumpet player doing" look perfected.

I can fiddle with my mouthpiece and look disgusted with the best of them.

I mastered holding up the sax at eye level and messing with the bell keys years ago.

Pointing at my ears, and shaking my head whilst looking at the sound-man is almost too easy.

What's your excuse? :mrgreen:

 

[jazzbluescat]

I always messed with/blamed the reed.

 

[nachoman]

I can fiddle with my mouthpiece and look disgusted with the best of them.

A personal fave.... though a vague non-specific look of disgust is always good for a sort of horn mystique....
failing that drunkeness can cover most eventualities!

 

[Andrewhead]

I once saw Branford Marsalis change his reed four times in one show. One time he even took a good five minutes between two songs to find a good one. Then during a song that featured the bass and piano he proceeded to talk to a fellow bandmate through the entire piece. It was wonderful.

 

[swperry1]

I once saw Branford Marsalis change his reed four times in one show. One time he even took a good five minutes between two songs to find a good one. Then during a song that featured the bass and piano he proceeded to talk to a fellow bandmate through the entire piece. It was wonderful.

One time I was playing an outdoor gig and it was really humid then raining, so reed viability became an issue. I pulled out a fibracell I used to keep in the case because I was soaking through the cane reeds, but it was too hard. It was a rock band, so I called one of the tunes I didn't care to blow on and moved off to the side to make some quick adjustments with my trusty sandpaper and plexiglass. It was fine (and bright and buzzy as hell) the rest of the evening.

After the show everyone was very curious about the sax player who they swore was sitting over there doing blow a few songs into the second set!

 

[Pete Thomas]

What's your excuse? :mrgreen:

Just play another wrong note.

I'm old enough now to just shrug my shoulders and adopt a "What Me Worry?" face.

 

[hakukani]

After the show everyone was very curious about the sax player who they swore was sitting over there doing blow a few songs into the second set!

Man, you shouldn't do blow when it's raining. The lines might get wet! (Should I have read the first paragraph? )

 

[swperry1]

Man, you shouldn't do blow when it's raining. The lines might get wet! (Should I have read the first paragraph? )

haha! I stopped trying to explain it away after a while...No one believed I was adjusting a reed over there anyway!

 

[theapocryphaltruth]

Man, you shouldn't do blow when it's raining. The lines might get wet! (Should I have read the first paragraph? )

I have no idea what he's trying to say either.

 

[swperry1]

I have no idea what he's trying to say either.

I was trying to say that I stepped off the "stage" and pulled out my plexiglass and sandpaper to make the hard reed more playable, and everyone thought I was over there cutting lines...People were offended that I wasn't sharing.

 

[theapocryphaltruth]

I was trying to say that I stepped off the "stage" and pulled out my plexiglass and sandpaper to make the hard reed more playable, and everyone thought I was over there cutting lines...People were offended that I wasn't sharing.

Oh, I understand now. Don't see why they would be offended if the song didn't call for any sax playing anyway.

 

[BrianMitchellBrody]

I point at the soundman. :twisted:

 

[RootyTootoot]

I have been known to take the mouthpiece off the neck and look down it from both ends as if there might be an obstruction.

 

[saxmusicguy]

One time I was playing an outdoor gig and it was really humid then raining, so reed viability became an issue. I pulled out a fibracell I used to keep in the case because I was soaking through the cane reeds, but it was too hard. It was a rock band, so I called one of the tunes I didn't care to blow on and moved off to the side to make some quick adjustments with my trusty sandpaper and plexiglass. It was fine (and bright and buzzy as hell) the rest of the evening.

After the show everyone was very curious about the sax player who they swore was sitting over there doing blow a few songs into the second set!

I have no idea what he's trying to say either.

It was clear to me. Funny story.

Another "excuse" is to blow air at the upper tone holes, as if there's water blocking them.

 

[Fader]

Just play another wrong note.

I'm old enough now to just shrug my shoulders and adopt a "What Me Worry?" face.

Play it twice and it's no longer a wrong note - it's an interpretation.

 

[hakukani]

I point at the soundman. :twisted:

That's one reason we get paid more than the band

 

[paulwl]

Scales.

 

[hakukani]

Scales.

Don't they have creams that get rid of those for you?

 

[bstrom]

If it's a big band type reading gig - "I forgot my reading glasses or I need new lenses" or "the brass are to loud, I can't hear anything" or "I don't do these kinds of gigs anymore".

If it's a smaller group - "I never played that tune" or "I don't do these kinds of gigs anymore".

I think I have other ones too.

I like these kinds of anti-ego threads. I get so sick of musicians and their over- inflated egos.

 

[paulwl]

You kind of hit home there...People who are p!ssed at themselves find it very hard to be told it's their ego at work. Tell them "it doesn't matter" and they hear "you don't matter."