Practicing In My Mind

"Opinions are like assholes . . . everyone’s got one."
- Art Blakey

Sometimes I can't get my sax out to practice. If the situation arises where I wan't to practice and have the time to do it, but something gets in the way. When this happens I can 'practice' in my mind. Going through the motions while moving my figers as if I was playing has been productive for me, and I even do it when I'm on long bus rides or in line ups.

Imagine reading a theory book, or a scale/pattern/technique book, and instead of playing the exercis you visualise them in your mind. Tap your foot to keep time if you want. Practicing in this way can make it easier to get through the tedious stuff like learning patterns using triad pairs, with inversions, over weird chords.

Anyways, if you haven't tried this, you are probably still wasting your 'bored' time away. Why not be the only person in the line-up at the bank with a smile on your face?

L 8 R

Small wonder we have so much trouble with air pollution in the world when so much of it has passed through saxophones.