Life is busy, especially when you spend what feels like an entire Sunday afternoon replacing a bathroom tap, having it leak, freaking out, going to Mitre-10 an hour before closing to get a replacement filter washers, only to realise after a replacement flexi-pipe was ordered and delivered that I was never going to win that initial round. The original part was definitely missing a washer at best, and was the wrong pipe at worst.
That’s my long way of saying that I’ve been wanting to blog more and add more videos, but have had to juggle chores and things.
Here’s a couple of videos that were posted in April and May, and here’s my thinking on them.
Tips for faster tonguing was a request by the band director. There’s a WCCB piece that has some fairly quick notes, but no-one in the clarinet section can double tongue. The only thing for it (practically speaking), is to just eek a bit more speed out of a single tongue technique. Truth be told, I’ve never really tried to double tongue on clarinet and sax properly because I couldn’t believe it could be done faster than single tonguing without sounding like rubbish.
Well, YouTube proved me wrong, that’s for sure. Damn there’s talent out there, and now I’m a believer. See it to believe it, that’s for sure. I’m going to have to work on that technique, because it’s a gap in my technical arsenal.
I’m still not sold on double lip embouchure, but that’s a story (and video) for another time.
Notice the new saxophone in the video? After playing my Yamaha AS100 since the year 2000, it was time for an upgrade (KBB Music mad a lot of money off me this year). The new saxophone plays amaaaazing. I call it the C-3P0 of saxophones.
The next video, Grooving Sax, was something to help a student out. Some students still want online lessons, so it gets a bit difficult to describe pieces at times. Grooving Sax is just one more of the Sixty for Sax pieces. Great book that, so be sure to pick it up.
Coded Notes 