Yes, it’s that day of the year again. Where did the last 12 months go? I wish all my readers a very Happy Saxophone Day 2015!
Saxophone Day is celebrated by saxophone players the world over on November 6 every year to commemorate the man who invented our instrument: Adolphe Sax. He was born on this date in 1814 in Dinant, Belgium.
That’s right, Adolphe was born 201 years ago today in the quiet little town that today proudly celebrates all things Sax.
Oh what would Adolphe think about his invention today? Would he be happy that his saxophone is so loved that it has spawned new variations and types beyond what he imagined? What about the electric saxophone? Would he be enamoured with it? (Seemingly very few others were.)
Sadly of course the man who invented so many musical instruments, and improved others, died basically penniless at the age of 80—a very old age ATT, especially given that he had cancer at one point in his life.
So no matter what you’re doing today, pause for a moment and remember the man who invented the instrument that you hold in your hands everyday.
If you forget the importance of today, perhaps Google will remind you as you search for stuff online…
This is what they say about their doodles for today:
If you were alive in the mid-nineteenth century and had a particularly keen ear for music, you might have noticed a void somewhere between the brass and woodwind sections. Adolphe Sax certainly did, and being both a talented musician and the enterprising man that he was, he started tinkering and endeavored to fill it. The result was the iconic, honey-toned instrument still bearing his name: the saxophone.
The son of an instrument-maker, Sax was highly creative and had a deep understanding of brass and woodwinds. He started tinkering with instruments of his own, and upon bringing together the body of a brass and the mechanics of a woodwind created a hybrid that would revolutionize music. His eponymous saxophone had a sound all its own, a wonderfully smoky middle ground between the two.
The Saxophones that were popularized by the likes of John Coltrane, Lisa Simpson, and Kenny G constitute only a fraction of his impressive body of work. From the whimsical looking 7-bell trombone to the large and swooping saxtuba, Sax never tired of exploring, experimenting, and creating new—and sometimes unusual—instruments. To properly highlight his inventiveness we couldn’t possibly make just one Doodle. Which is why you can find five unique Doodles today, each celebrating a different instrument created at the hands of Mr. Sax. There is one notable exception—what we affectionately call The Googlehorn. Inspired by the intricate tubing Sax employed to alter and manipulate sound, this is Doodler Lydia Nichols’ attempt to fashion an instrument as unique and quirky as both Adolphe Sax and Google.
Initial sketches with some errors in hand-placement. From left to right: Saxtuba, Alto Sax, 7-Bell Trombone, Soprano Sax, ‘Googlehorn.’ The background treatment was changed in the final to mimic the plates and engraving typically found on instruments of that era.
Source: Google.com
Here are the remainder of the Google Doodles for Saxophone Day 2015.
Happy Saxophone Day 2015 everyone!
