Blog Tour!

Today we head back to James Barrera's Blog (The Sound of Sax). James has posted a great find from YouTUBE. The clips are from a promotional ad featuring Sigurd Rascher.

You can join the tour by clicking here!

The video is of course old. But, there are some timeless topics presented throughout. One section I really liked comes in video 3. He discusses tongue placement for tonguing, and shows a pretty classy graphic (for the 1950's :-). And the other section I really liked is his discussion on practicing difficult passages. He demonstrates how to practice passages using different rhythms.

I could go on and on - he also demos practicing overtones. Check out his "sax without keys".

Musical Motions

While music is not a visual art in the purest sense (ie - witnessed through our eyes), musical motion and expression does create a sense of motion in our mind. The evidence is simple. Listening to music makes most of us MOVE. The music creates an internal motion that is transmitted throughout our bodies and converted to real, physical motion. While performing music, most great musicians experience this same sensation. Can great musicians separate their musical performance and physical motion? In other words, can great musicians limit their physical motion to only what is necessary to play their instrument? I tend to think not. The visual aspect of performance is both necessary and critical to a vibrant performance, even if hear only through a recording.



The video is a pretty good NON-EXAMPLE of how motion and music are connected. While the robot had to have the movement programmed in, we as humans do not. We react to music! We INTERACT with music! Whether we are actually seeing a musical performance or not, moving to the music while performing seems to enhance the actual music (without even seeing the performer).

Musician performance movement is a debated subject. The debate is often tied to "how much movement is appropriate?" Rather than debate, lets set the scale to include all motion and leave the debate to another post. Many movements are incredibly subtle, an eye brow lift, a knee bend, a slight turning at the waist. Some motions are huge, like explosive dancing motions. For this post, motion is motion, no matter how small or large.

When teaching, I teach motions such as breathing and cuing. They are great places to start a young musician. Teaching a player how to establish a "mood" with something as simple as their breathing, is really empowering. For example, lets say a player has just finished a beautiful lyrical passage. The entrance following this section is a much more dynamic, rhythmic section. If the player breathes using a slow, subtle intake method, we may assume the next section is going to be just as lyrical. And more importantly, as a player, they may not really be "feeling" the rhythmic drive and energy they need to begin the section. Breath is a movement. We have to physically move our bodies, big parts in fact, to take a breath. Engaging all of the parts of our bodies to take a "proper" breath, in the mood of the section we are about to perform connects us internally, mentally, emotionally and musically. Our music performance will benefit from all of those senses, motions and emotions being in sync.

Cueing is another great exercise for a young musician. The goal is to get the player comfortable with physical motions other than those to just play the instrument. This can be incredibly difficult for a young musician (and adults). I use cuing because, well, here is the secret, "Cuing is actually pretty tough, and this one action alone can help lay the foundation for simpler motions." My logic is, start with something pretty hard, but make it seem easy. Once a young musician gains some skills in cuing, they start to free up in terms of other more subtle movements (and thus, free up musically). I start with cues such as cut offs. These are taught in the context of working with an accompanist. Younger students don't have to be working on solo literature with a live accompanist to practice this. We can all practice cut offs with ourselves, with programs like SmartMusic or with live accompanists.

Musicians of all ages benefit from connecting music and musical motion. As players, motion adds another dimension to our connection to the music. Allowing ourselves to FEEL the motion and act on that feeling through real, physical motion, will elevate our musical performance level.

Vibrato Instructional Videos

As a followup to my post re: group Vibrato, I posted two videos from "YouTube University" on saxophone vibrato.

Video 1: Timothy McAllister



Video 2: Jerry Bergonzi



Vibrato instruction is pretty complex. If left to ourselves, we come up with tons of ways of producing a "vibrato-like" sound, many harmful over time. Also, saxophone converts, those of us who play(ed) other instruments and now play sax, naturally want to apply vibrato techniques from other instruments to the saxophone. The direct application of vibrato techniques from other instruments can also be more harmful than artful.

As an ex trumpet player, I was taught 3 ways to vibrato on the trumpet alone.

1. Diaphragm -- early cornet style vibrato often used diaphragmatic vibrato.
2. Lip -- Creates a heavier, jazz oriented vibrato
3. Hand -- a more controlled, less intrusive to the airstream vibrato approach

Applying any of those techniques to the saxophone would be pretty detrimental to, well, just about everything. Imagine using a hand vibrato on saxophone :-) The reasoning behind specific vibrato techniques however, can be similar. For instance the hand vibrato for the trumpet, the technique I ultimately found home in my tool box, is used so the air stream and embouchure details can remain consistent and unchanged. This allows for a good sound first with a vibrato added for warm and expression on top. That principle is the basis for the jaw vibrato on the sax. The jaw vibrato allows for a consistent airstream and embouchure. The end result is a good saxophone sound with vibrato added for flavor.

Enjoy!

Quartet Vibrato

Reading "The Art of Quartet Playing, the Guarneri Quartet" has given me some really powerful insights including how to think about vibrato in our quartet. Vibrato can easily fall victim to becoming a "routine" component to making music rather than a fundamental nuance, artistically integrated into the overall performance of the tune. Routine vibrato is the kind of vibrato that is always the same, same speed, same degree - all the time, no matter the musical style, ensemble mixture, dynamics, or..... Approaching vibrato as a fundamental nuance to performance immediately challanges us as a quartet to thoughtfully integrate vibrato into the score.

So the challenge is laid out - Integrate Vibrato, be Thoughtful about Vibrato, Have a Plan (and justification) for Vibrato Use, Ensure Group Involvement in Applying Vibrato. Sounds easy right?

I've taken the material from the book and developed the following list for consideration.

• Ensure all members of the group have a fundamental understanding of vibrato production.
• Ensure members feel confident in their own production of vibrato -- ie -- all have applied the fundamentals of vibrato to create variations in vibrato, including speed and degree and application at various dynamics.
• Recognize that vibrato is not standard. The amount and degree of vibrato WILL vary for the group and for individuals.
• Recognize that vibrato is not ALWAYS ON. A non-vibrato passage can be very powerful.
• Recognize that mixing non-vibrato layers with vibrato layers can help bring out musical priorities.
  
• Recognize that vibrato can bring emphasis to a lesser important musical line (this is a negative thing :-)
  
• Recognize that vibrato should be discussed, decisions made and marked into scores and parts.

This seems like a lot to think about... and it is. In the book, this topic takes several pages with examples, and additional converations. I've just brushed the surface. Our art and our desire to better our performance requires indepth study of the elements. Vibrato is one of the elements worth dissecting and understanding.

Practicing -- Redefined

I recently read a post from a college friend of mine.

Amateurs practice until they get it right,
Professionals practice until they can't get it wrong.

This quote is actually very profound.

I have also recently reviewed "the basics" with an ex teacher. He reminded me that practicing is not about pounding through passages until they are tenderized. Joe Murphy, Sax Professor from Mansfield, has a pretty neat rule -- 4 times! While I may be interpreting this differently than intended, 4 times through with no success -- you are doing something wrong. Today, I tried this on a defined passage -- it works. Before playing a note, preparing the passage includes various activities. Then, play. Then, hone the passage, then play, etc. The 4th time through should be fairly up to your tempo and musical goals. If not, the piece may be too hard.

So, combining these two principals, being a professional means that after four times through, if you can't play it -- you will not be viewed as a professional. So, being professional is not about playing a certain level of music. It is about practicing so that you can not get something wrong, in a set amount of time, at a certain level.

We can all aim to be professional - it is in our control. We just need to redefine our practicing according to solid, proven philosophies.

Intra-family Doubling

How many of us perform on more than 1 sax? Most sax players do. As players looking to experience all that is possible in the sax world, most of us take every opportunity to play across the family as much as we can. In quartet playing, the lead player is more likely to double on Alto and Soprano. My goal is to always feel a synergy with the instrument I am playing. If I feel the instrument is fighting me, or is doing things I don't expect, I start to loose confidence. I get this feeling when I haven't practices on a horn and just count on the act of playing to be enough. For me, it is not. There is nothing better to me that the feeling of picking up the instrument, having it respond to every nuance of what I am trying to do, prviding the feeling that creating the sound is as natural as whistling. I can only get that feeling when I practice on each instrument.

What I have found is that when I play alto more exclusively, it somehow reprograms me. It manages to erase all of the bits and bites that allow me to strap on my soprano and make good music. The "virus" that my alto plants into me is hard to eradicate. I have the same experience when I play soprano more, leaving the alto sit for extended times. Same challenge, different virus I guess!

The solution is simple, but easy to ignore. So, here it is -- the real truth. The alto and soprano are different instruments. Yes, remember you heard it here first! To maintain each, each needs their time to be practiced. Neither likes to be ignored. To make absolutely sure I have that correct vision in my mind, I think of each instrument as unique, having little to do with the other. In fact, while I may be in the minority, I find some passages to be easier on alto than on soprano. And, of course, I have some things on soprano that feel more natural than on the alto. This difference has helped reinforce in me that each instrument is its own unique animal. I recently heard Branford Marsalis echo this practice philosophy; he practices each instrument. Being self taught, I try to learn everything I can from those who are willing to share. He is a good one to pay attention to.

I don't think you need to be overly creative when deciding on how to practice each. The same exerices can work for both. Of course, the soprano may require a bit more attention when playing at the extremes, both high and low. Each will require their own approach to creating the sound you are looking for.

So, if you want a simple plan, here's my approach.

• Play each every day if time allows (ie -- if you have a non musical job as I do, that time is hard to come by).
• If you can't play each every day, alternate.
• Play the same warm up for each -- I play slow major and minor appeggios for the full range of the horns. Listen for intonation, get the horn warmed up, think about your sound, listen, be in tune with what is coming out of the horn.
  
• Play the same exercises on each when practicing.
  

After that, I make sure I play either solo literature, orchestral excerpts, or quartet music that is written specifically for each instrument. My goal is to ensure I am playing music that is "meant" for the horn.

I apply the same to any of the instruments in the family. If I am playing bari, I throw that into the rotation.

Intra-family doubling deserves a special approach, individualized instrument time and a committment to creating the vision that each deserves this attention, to ensure success on each. Have fun!