Sunday, November 6, 2016

The Saxophone Is Progressing.

The sax stuff is coming along nicely. I can now SORTA play 2 songs by ear, "When the Saint's Go Marching in" and "Ode To Joy". These are very very basic versions of the tunes requiring only 5 notes. Still not bad, I only started playing 4 or weeks or so ago. Slowly but surely I am improving.  I usually play everyday, some days it might only be 15 minutes other days an hour or more. Lets keep this up and see where we are in 10 years time!

I bought a bunch of Alta Sax sheet music off Amazon today. Most of it will be too advanced for me but I think I should be able to play some of it in the next few months. I also cleaned my sax for the first time, found out that is actually supposed to be an every time you play deal. If you do not clean your sax it fills up with saliva and food particles, and starts to smell, ICKITY ICK ICK!!!!! Will need to do the cleanings as part of my daily routine.

Update* What is strange is that I am starting to develop a passion for this sax playing thingy. I have only had one real personal driving passion in my life and that is photography. Will saxophone playing join in with my photography? I doubt learning music will ever come close to what I feel for my photography but if it has only 10% of that strength then that is more than enough to drive me forward the rest of my natural life. I started too old (52) to be a great musician but there is no reason I cannot be a good player even a fine one. I could have 30 years left to devote myself to it. All it takes is tons of work, and commitment. If you have enough love and feeling for it then it is no sacrifice to put in the work needed to be very good at it.

Am listening to the great jazz saxophonist Dexter Gordon as I write this, simply sublime! Got his LP a few days back, this is my first listen. I love Mr. Gordon's music so much, he might be my favourite player.