{"id":49350,"date":"2020-06-10T11:10:30","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T18:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=49350"},"modified":"2024-06-26T11:34:01","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T18:34:01","slug":"it-has-been-awhile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2020\/it-has-been-awhile\/","title":{"rendered":"It has been awhile…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes indeed it has been awhile since I have had a chance to write anything for myself. I am hoping everyone is managing to stay healthy, and finding creative ways to keep their saxophone skills up. Quite frankly, for me the latter has been rather tough. <\/p>\n

For the last month or so I have been working on developing the COVID-19 Response Plan for Matterhorn Music. All businesses in BC are required by Worksafe to have one. Given we work with a lot of tools in our shop, and we do have customers in the store, it was quite a complicated process. My initial work on this will be finished this coming Saturday when I conduct a two-hour workshop for the staff. <\/p>\n

Before I ended up neck-deep in COVID-19 policy, I had an opportunity to do something that very few of us have had the chance to do since March: I actually got to perform in front of a live audience! <\/p>\n

My first pandemic performance<\/h3>\n
\"King<\/a>
My 1950 Zephyr tenor catching some early evening rays at my first performance since the pandemic hit. May 15, 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March, working musicians have for the most part, well, not been working. Venues we play in have been closed, and gatherings of 50+ people are not allowed in most places. <\/p>\n

Concerts, dances, performances of all stripes, have all been postponed or cancelled while the world’s scientists try to figure out a way to stop this fast-spreading virus. Ask any musician what their availability is for a given day, and they will most likely say: I’m free. <\/p>\n

This is what happened to me in mid May when I got a call asking if I could would be available to perform a 45 minute set at a  physically distant birthday party 4 days later. The forecast for the evening was good, so I said sure. <\/p>\n

However, given that I would have to perform outside\u2014about 20 or so feet away from the party guests who were sitting in household groups, and those groups were socially distancing themselves from each other\u2014and access to power was sketchy at best, I opted to do this as an unaccompanied solo act sans my regular piano player.<\/p>\n

I knew what the setting for this was going to be. I also knew I would have no time to figure out any battery-powered, midi-track accompaniment. So I just decided to wing it, and see what unaccompanied jazz standards on a tenor saxophone, performed at a lakeside setting would sound like. <\/p>\n

\"keep<\/a>A couple days after the show I realised the last time I played anything unaccompanied like this was likely when I was in Grade 7. I used to sit on the front step on a stool and play saxophone for the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

Just a side note here, in hindsight, I do feel for the neighbours. I know how badly I must have played back then with all of about 8 months experience. A much belated: I’m sorry to any and all our neighbours who lived in the Brundige area back when I did. Please forgive me. \":mrgreen:\"<\/p>\n

But I digress…<\/p>\n

While I realise that of course I play better than I did when I was 13, playing unaccompanied is not for the faint of heart. There is no one or nothing to cover a bad note; your attacks and releases have to be bang-on. Furthermore, playing a monophonic instrument leaves you with limited options for filling the airtime<\/em>, while at the same time making the song interesting and keeping it from becoming repetitive. Oh, and if you encounter any mechanical issues with your horn or reed, you are fubared. <\/p>\n

Was it the best show I have ever done? Nope. It was OK, but it certainly would have benefited from having my pianist playing some lovely fills\u2014not to mention all those chords \ud83d\ude09 \u2014behind me. I missed you Christine! <\/p>\n

Here are some nice shots from the evening taken on my iPhone. <\/p>\n

\"A <\/a>
A couple of families of Canada geese hung out the entire time. The babies eventually fell asleep, while the parents were on guard. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"First <\/a>
First time I used this sound shield in something like 25 or more years. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Sun <\/a>
Sun starting to go down. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Lilies <\/a>
Lilies in Mill Lake. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes indeed it has been awhile since I have had a chance to write anything for myself. I am hoping everyone is managing to stay …<\/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":[751,35,747,633,644,645,630,643,31,224],"class_list":["post-49350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings","tag-covid-19","tag-king","tag-matterhorn-music","tag-musings","tag-photos","tag-playing-saxophone","tag-tenor-saxophone","tag-vintage-horns","tag-vintage-sax","tag-zephyr"],"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