A few months ago I received an email completely out of the blue. The email came from a bass saxophone player in Germany. The player’s name was Andreas Kaling. Andreas is ¼ of the bass saxophone quartet known as Deep Schrott.
Andreas was writing to inform me that he had designed a new type of bass saxophone stand. This stand was intended as a playing stand, and made it possible for players to not only be able to stand up while playing their horns, but also to sit down. Furthermore, the angle of the stand could be adjusted so that a player would be able to play the sax transversely if that was more comfortable for them.
I checked out the links that Andreas gave me where I could see the stand being used, and I was intrigued. Here is a good view of the stand being utilized as Deep Schrott performs the Beatles tune Helter Skelter.
Andreas has sold a number of these stands throughout Europe, and even as far away as the United States. I can see why people would buy them; there is something very appealing about these bass stands.
To my knowledge—and feel free to correct me if I’m wrong—Saxrax is the only company currently making bass saxophone stands. Now I really like the Saxrax stand, but they do not allow you to change the angle that you play your horn at.
Some players still use the old school Hamilton stands, but besides being incredibly unstable, they really only work if you’re sitting down.
If what Andreas said was correct, then the stand that he invented combined the best properties of each of these stands. I was most definitely interested.
Ever since becoming ill with this strange neurological condition nearly 4 years ago, my fatigue levels have been quite severe. Everything physical tires me out like it never did before. Playing bass is no exception.
Standing up while playing my bass only adds to this level of fatigue, and my current stand does not allow me sit down. I saw Andreas’ new stand as a possible aid in making bass playing much easier. I would finally be able to sit down while playing bass. This would make practicing a much less grueling undertaking for me.
So I fired off an email to Andreas saying that I was quite interested in his new stand, and that I would very much like him to send me one.
To be continued…
Part 2 while be a photo essay of the new stand’s arrival in my studio, and my efforts in assembling it. (Thanks to my neuro problem, I am even more spatially challenged than before.) 😉
