{"id":49204,"date":"2020-03-31T11:38:49","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T18:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=49204"},"modified":"2024-06-26T11:07:57","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T18:07:57","slug":"a-sax-players-life-amid-a-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2020\/a-sax-players-life-amid-a-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"A Sax Player’s Life Amid A Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Given that the entire world is currently practicing physical distancing, and much of the world’s population is not supposed to go out except for essentials\u2014or as Arthel Neville put it: “Don’t roam. Stay at home.”\u2014it is fair to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has turned our current world view on its head. A tiny invisible enemy has brought societies and cultures to a screeching halt.<\/p>\n

Musicians are part of the cultural fabric of all societies. However, regardless what level of musician you are; no matter where in the world you live; regardless what instrument you play; there is one thing we all have in common right now: We are all not rehearsing\/playing with our peers. <\/p>\n

If you can’t practice with your peers, what do you do? If you’re a serious musician, the answer likely is: practice at home… A LOT.<\/p>\n

I have seen lots of posts from my sax-playing, Facebook friends that are showing the books they are currently working on. Like me, many are pulling out books that they haven’t opened for 20+ years. They’re pulling out books from university, and are working their chops on stuff long forgotten. <\/p>\n

How Helen is spending her weeks social distancing <\/h3>\n

\"music<\/a><\/p>\n

1. I started working on my Bb clarinet chops in a more serious way. <\/h4>\n

Since I started on sax and picked up clarinet as my double around year 3, I have always been at a disadvantage when it comes to that particular little wooden pain stick. Then I switched to bass clarinet a couple years after that, and my Bb clarinet was all but forgotten about. <\/p>\n

All clarinet was forgotten about for over 20 years until I needed to relearn it for a pit gig, when I crammed to re-learn the instrument I disliked. Fast forward 5 years, and now I am seriously working on becoming equally proficient on both bass and Bb clarinets. <\/p>\n

To that end, I pulled out my Klos\u00e9 clarinet method, and am seriously trying to learn how to do justice to the Selmer Centered Tone, full Boehm clarinet that I got in December. The sound is amazing, and this horn appears to have had very little use. I joke about me playing it is a bit like giving the keys to a Ferrari to a 16 year old. \ud83d\ude09 \ud83d\ude06<\/p>\n

My goal is a very humble one. When this pandemic is over, and we are all allowed to gather in groups again, I would like to be proficient enough on clarinet to be able to play the Clarinet 3 parts solidly in our local community band. (They regularly play Grade 4-5 stuff.)<\/p>\n

2. I started to seriously work on my sax technique that has slipped A LOT in the recent years.<\/h4>\n

Like most non-classical players out there, I have let much of my technical studies go by the wayside since formal studies. Even when I get together with my friend and occasional teacher, Kenton, he and I rarely practice technical stuff. <\/p>\n

Despite part of the reason for the decline in my technique being a decline in my fine motor skills due to my neuro problem, I persevere. Although I will never be as clean in my execution as I once was\u2014this is especially obvious on my Bb clarinet with open tone holes\u2014I am still building up my speed every day. <\/p>\n

To track my speed, I use a new practice sheet that I developed. I am using it for my students as well as myself.  If anyone is interested you can find the Excel template here: practice schedule template<\/a><\/p>\n

The 32 Etudes by Ernest Loyon is a book from Kenton that I got a couple of years ago. It is a book that they used at Berklee. It is a killer. I have worked on and off on a couple of them over the years, but never seriously. Now I am seriously working on one of the easiest ones (#3), and am going to see how close I can get to getting it up to speed before we are no longer housebound. <\/p>\n

\"practicing,<\/a><\/p>\n

Looks easy enough, right? Just try and play it. It isn’t nearly as easy as it looks. So far I have been working on it on tenor and soprano. Haven’t done it on bari or alto yet. <\/p>\n

3. I am completely redoing my musical gear inventory.<\/h4>\n

Years ago I started an Excel spreadsheet that contained all my musical gear. The problem was it was hard to find anything, and adding things was a bit problematic as well. <\/p>\n

Then last week I downloaded a household inventory template and customized it to my needs. The result: I discovered I have way more gear than I thought…<\/p>\n

\"gear<\/a><\/p>\n

Even at 10% of the original size, the list is cut off as you can see. At this moment it at has 216 line items. This is not counting books. It is not even counting swabs, individual ligatures (they are included with the MPs they are attached to), reeds, or even neck straps. <\/p>\n

This inventory list includes horns, MPS, replacement necks and cases, electronic gear, mics, cables, stands, amps, and sundry accessories. <\/p>\n

The colour-coding makes it easier to find things specific to individual instruments like altos, tenors, baris, or, or, or… You get the idea. <\/p>\n

However you decide to put your inventory together, this is a very good idea to have. I have always had 2 copies of my inventory at least: 1 on my computer, and the other on a USB stick in the fire safe or safety deposit box. <\/p>\n

Until I started going through all my old bills and putting dates and prices in the spreadsheet, I had no idea exactly how much $$ I had spent on gear. It is quite shocking actually.<\/p>\n

Much of the $$ wasn’t even entered on my spreadsheet, since I didn’t record repair bills, or overhaul costs. Not that you couldn’t create columns for those costs, I just didn’t see the point. <\/p>\n

4. Working with one of my students remotely<\/h4>\n

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Don’t roam. Stay at home. Arthel Neville[\/perfectpullquote]<\/p>\n

Many sax teachers have switched to Skype lessons. I am not one of them. At least not yet. But then I don’t have a lot of students. <\/p>\n

That said, this week I have been working with one of my students who was given a school assignment to write out and play a 12 bar blues solo. For those of us who have been at this a long time, we probably can’t remember what it was like to learn this stuff for the first time. I know I don’t. <\/p>\n

My student and I have been Facetiming, emailing, and texting while she learns how to not only play a killer tenor sax solo, but how to write it out using MuseScore. Good times.<\/p>\n

So amid a pandemic a sax player does what?<\/h3>\n

So as you can see, there are lots of things we as sax players can do to keep ourselves amused during this period of self isolation and social distancing. <\/p>\n

I’ve told you what I’m doing, but I’m curious what you’re doing. Chime in and let me and others here know as well. <\/p>\n

Most importantly, stay safe. Let’s all be here when this is over!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Given that the entire world is currently practicing physical distancing, and much of the world’s population is not supposed to go out except for essentials\u2014or …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[447,751,753,667,647,752],"class_list":["post-49204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings","tag-clarinet","tag-covid-19","tag-gear-inventory","tag-practicing","tag-teaching-saxophone","tag-technical-studies"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t