Saxophone Maintenance & Care

Below is a list of things to do, things not to do, and stuff about saxophone maintenance and care. Pay attention!

If you value your sax and it has it's lacquer still on it, then wipe it clean with a dry cotton cloth after every playing session. Use damp Q-tips to clean out the crap in between mechanisms. For those less anal, just clean the easily accessible areas with a damp cloth once a week or so.

Pads are a great invention. You can clean and/or condition your pads once every two or three months, but either you do it or you don't. If it's a new pad job and you intend to keep it clean, then do it. If your horn has old pads and you aren't gonna clean them regularly, then stay the hell away from them. The worst thing you can do is dislodge some hairs or a speck of dirt on the pad that's creating a seal with the tone hole. This is sage advice. Your horn will play like a sieve if you do this.

To clean your pads first cut/tear strips of paper the size of your tone holes, place them between the pad and the tone hole, press down the key and wiggle the paer side to side and out. Then, swipe damp Q-tips around the pads. At this point you can either stop or go on to protect and condition your pads.

There are two products you can use – neatsfoot oil, and liquid silicone. The neatsfoot oil should be applied sparingly with Q-tips. Same goes for the silicone. Be sure that the pads are dry before applying the neatsfoot oil, and wait a couple of weeks before applying the silicone. The neatsfoot oil conditions and softens the pads, while the silicone will semi-waterproof them and keep them from sticking.

ONLY ATTEMPT THE ABOVE CLEANING IF YOU'RE CONFIDENT THAT YOU WANT TO. Don't be afraid to do more research before you get into it.

Apply oil to the rods and keys at least once a month. One time i took my horn in for a check up and the tech asked when the last time was that I oiled my mechanisms. It had been about a year, and he could actually see ground metal mixed in with the thick oily goo that was left. No wonder my action seemed sluggish and stiff!

Learn to put cork and felt on your horn. All you need is sheet cork, contact cement, sandpaper, sheet felt (good quality) and scisssors. Tweezers help too. I looked for months for good felt and never found it. All you can do is buy it from the repair shop or music store. Same goes for sheet cork 9unless you drink wine and you're willing to settle for crappy cork). Anyways, learn to do this because any serious musician should be able to fix their own instrument.

NEVER USE A STUFF-IT ROD. Those things have ruined so many horns pads. I'm refering to the long fuzzy rods that one stuffs down the length of their horn. They hold the moisture in, leave hairs stuck to the pads, and just plain suck eggs. Use a pull through swab. There are chamois ones that are great if you can find them. Once it's dirty throw it away and buy a new one.

If you hold your sax by the bell, hold it so that the horn is above the bell, not below. It is possible over time to weaken or even snap the soldered bell brace. It happened on my '71 Selmer tenor. Of course this isn't an issue for alto players, and I really doubt you're gonna try it with a bari. Also avoid holding by the neck. One great way to hold your horn is with you fingers on the keys like you're playing. Think about the rods and keys you're liable to bend if you aren't carefull.

That's about it for now. If anyone has suggestions go ahead and post them.

L8R

THE SECRET TO JAZZ !!!

I was studying with Pat LaBarbera in a class at Humber College in Toronto a few years back. One day he was talking about improvisational theory when out of the blue he said, “and maybe that's the secret to jazz.” He was referring to the use of triplets, and he was kidding around, of course.

I took this comment a little more seriously though, and directed my usual doodling in my notebook to creating a sketch of eighth note triplets majestically mounted on a pedestal shining and glowing. I gave it even further thought, and that class has been stuck with me ever since.

How many lines do you play that don't have one triplet in them? How many lines do the real cats play that don't contain triplets? Yes, there is a discrepancy. Sometimes guys like Dexter, Trane, Rollins, Bird, etc, etc, only implied triplets through the use of space and their heavy swing, but they were there.

I've made it a point to modify the riffs/licks/patterns I've learned over the years to include triplets. Doing this makes for a way more swinging flowing line. I strongly suggest that you give this 'secret' some thought.

It pays to listen closely to the heavies, even if they're just telling a joke.

Real Book Free Online!

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/jazzrealbook

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/jazzrealbook2

These links should take you to all charts in the real book. As I remember you can download individual charts by clicking the title and saving a .GIF image of it. These charts are O.K. and hopefully you can print them at the proper size. Good luck!

Why We Woodshed

WHY WE WOODSHED

Can anyone tell me why we do this to ourselves?!? I've sat in my basement for hours upon hours with my bluenote records lifting solos of the greats and acquainting myself with every little nuance of their style. I've practiced the same riff for two hours straight day after day. I've done a lot of things in the name of great music that most people would say was either crazy or just a plain old waste of time. But I don't regret it of course. I continue to dig deeper into this world of music and am constantly satisfied yet never satisfied. The drive to better my skills is insatiable. Some of us can relate; for the others, I need to ask you... why are you doing this to yourselves?

We play because we enjoy it. If you're not enjoying making music, what the heck are you doing playing? I can only really speak for myself, and I know that I just plain love to play music. It doesn't matter if there's a crowd or not. Some cats really dig the performing, often crashing after a big show. Studies have shown that some people experience a vivid endorphin high from performing, and they also show that after this endorphin rush some of those people come crashing down into depression right after. Recognize this? I have a friend who lives to play shows and is in his glory on stage, but when the show ends, he always goes home mopey, and the next day he's always depressed.

When I was about 10 years old I had a crush on a girl in my class. I found out that she was joining band one day, so I raced home to ask my father if I could play trumpet in the band (I thought it was the coolest instrument – now I know it's a distant third, after the bass and of course the sax, he he). Fortunately for me he had a sax in the basement that he used to play, and I was set. I practiced that sax every chance I got, and after two years I was the best in my school. There was this other kid who always just fooled around in class – a real joker – and years later he ended up dating this girl I liked. The funny thing is that by then I had forgotten all about her and had become immersed in the world of music. I no longer played to be recognized – I played because I liked the challenge, I liked the creative control, and I liked the ability to make a lot of noise.

Today is no different – I'm still a noisy bum. And I still play for myself. I used to busk (perform on the street for money) and at times I enjoyed it, but mostly it really sucked. I had to play things like the Pink Panther theme over and over again, and sometimes all I'd get was a few cents. I got soured on music for a while. I was bitter about playing for tourists, but then I realized that music is what I make of it. If I go busking now I'll go for myself – not for the money. Sometimes I'll make a lot of dough, sometimes I won't, but I'll always enjoy it, and that's what counts.

Let me know if anyone out there can relate. If you have anything to say on this just click on the 'comments' link and post away.

L8R

Desktop Image 4 U !!!

What do you do when you have a Selmer MK VI sax, a website, and a good graphic design program? You make a desktop image! Note that "mark six" is written on the bell to the left.

SAXOPHONE TECHNIQUE

SAXOPHONE TECHNIQUE

You asked for it. Now I'm gonna bring it. Below are some more advanced insights, but hey, anyone can use this info.

Let's assume that you are already solid on a number of subjects; scales in all keys (major & minor), basic chord progressions (see below)...
II- / V7 / I Maj
III- / VI7 / II- / V7 / I Maj
III- / bIII7 / II- / bII7 / I Maj
Also blues progressions, rhythm changes, various standards, cycle of fourths, etc.

Now, you should be able to play some basic patterns over these progressions. For example, on each chord play the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th degree notes of that chord/scale ( over C Maj, play C D E G ) in eighth notes. Hopefully you have worked out some more advanced patterns – like 1st, 6th, 3rd, 2nd, or 2nd, 1st, 5th, 3rd or various arpeggios– and applied them to specific changes over some of your favorite songs.

Above are just a couple of basic improvisatory techniques and with them under your fingers you can actually go a long way. See, most people are too lazy to sit down and work that stuff out. Rarely do we see a cat that's so dedicated that he's gobbled up everything he can regarding improv techniques. Of course, there is such a thing as practicing something TOO much, and we should get into that now.

With patterns and scales we can tend to lose sight of the main objective – good technique and good solos. While we want to have this stuff down, only a small fraction of our practice routine should be devoted to it (unless of course we don't know this stuff at all – then it's time to play catch up and really focus on it for a few months). If you are a classical player you should still learn the above exercises, as it's important for any musician to know the ins and outs of chord/scale relationships. If you're an improviser you will need to learn this stuff and promptly forget it. Yes, you need to memorize it, be able to fly through it at lightning fast tempos, and then stop practicing it. Why? Because if you don't, you'll just be another mechanical soloist, spouting scales and patterns on stage with no logic or flow, and you'll die old and alone.

Seriously, this is where a lot of cats go wrong – young and old alike. What do you think you'll play on stage if you've been practicing patterns like this over and over for years? That's right – you'll play patterns. Of course this is no excuse to skip this material. I've known guys to say, “hey, I don't want to sound mechanical, so I ain't gonna learn that garbage. I want my music to flow.” Unfortunately, they usually sound like they're lost when blowing, as if they're ill prepared to cope with the realities of improvising. Like I said before; learn the stuff inside out, and promptly forget it.

THE GOOD STUFF

You were wondering when I was going to get to the good stuff, eh? Well you won't believe how simple it is. There are only three things you need to do to greatly improve your playing, and you have probably already heard of all of them. The trick is to know how to practice them right. Ready for it?

Transcriptions, long tones and overtones. No, I'm not kidding. Mastering these three things will put you at the top of your game, and people will actually want to listen to you. Below is how you can do it right...

Transcriptions. Let's sum it up first. You listen to a solo over and over until your ears bleed, memorizing every little nuance to the point that you can sing it when you aren't listening to it. Then you get out your horn and try to play along with it, messing up along the way, but getting a rough idea of what they're doing so you can more easily map it out. At this stage it's important to isolate a few key points and lift them by ear, memorizing them. This is the secret to transcriptions. Any one of us can sit down and cop a solo note for note on paper, but then what do we have? A solo on paper – not in our heads. In order to really learn a solo, we need to memorize it first – then write it down.

So here you are with some of your solo memorized, and the remainder firmly etched in you mind. Now sit down with your paper and write the whole thing out. You've got it on paper now, so you can actually play along note for note with the recording. Do this a few times to get the timing down right. That's the first part. Now memorize the whole thing if you haven't already (if you don't want to that's fine). Next, you should pick one or two riffs and learn them in a few keys. That's how to transcribe, and you can be more or less thorough, depending on how much you want to get out of it.

Long Tones. I'm not joking around here. How do you rate your sound? Great tone quality, eh? Well, record yourself much? You should. After getting over the initial shock and residual depression of hearing yourself recorded, you should start practicing your long tones. When I was a teenager my sax teacher hipped me to this and I never looked back. He said, “you can fly through changes like a stunt plane, but if your tone is crap, no one will hear it- all they'll hear is lousy sound.” He was right. Now you know WHY you should do it, so let's look at HOW to do it.
Take a deep breathe and blow a note in your middle register at a steady volume for as long as you can keep it steady. Now do the same on a bell tone, and up high too. These are basic long tones that will steady your sound. Next, play low, mid range and high notes with dynamics. Start quiet, gradually increase your volume, and taper off at the end back to the volume you started at. The length of time it takes to get to maximum volume should be the same as the time it takes to get quiet. This is harder than it sounds. Steady your tone! Do long tones at the end of your practice, not the start – you'll blow out your embouchure right away if you don't save it for the end. Seriously gang, this doesn't need to be a pain in the butt – you can have fun with this stuff, It's important to do, and your ability to play for longer periods will improve.

Overtones. There's more to this than you think. Try to plaY a low Bb, and then tighten your mouth so the note skips up an octave. Get the note to skip up to the F above, then the high Bb. If you can, get it all the way up to palm F. Now start with the low Bb fingering but blow a high Bb of the top. Can't? Then just the F. Try tone matching, where you blow the mid F with proper fingering and without articulating or stopping switch to the low Bb fingering. Do this on low Bb, B, C, and C# – all the bell tones. Try to get the pitch and tone to match with the actual notes on your horn. Your sound will open up and your ability to really nail your notes in all registers confidently will improve. You can make up your own exercises eventually, but that's beyond what I'm giving you here.

So there you go. That should keep you busy for a few months.

Any questions?

New Miles Davis Book

For all of you Miles Davis fans out there I recently had a new book brought to my attention. I've read his autobiography (if you haven't you should, it's great reading) and may just try to hunt this one down. Anyways, some basic about it are found here.

L8R

Stan Getz Interview

Here are excerpts of a great interview with Stan Getz. If you're not familiar with Stan, You should be. Some thing the interviewer doesn't go into here is Stans drug problem. As I understant it, Stan Getz was frequently loaded at big shows, arriving late and out of his tree. Sad that that happened to some of those cats. It's strange how his music was so beautiful, but that he dealt with drug and alcohol abuse for much of his life.

The one question that is most important to me when I think of you and your music is your sound. Could you fill us in on how you conceived your sound and how you actually developed this concept?

I never consciously tried to conceive of what my sound should be. I never said, ' I want this kind of sound!' I believe it was because of the bands I played with from the ages of 15 to 22. The first one was Jack Teagarden, who we all know played trombone, but his sound was so great, so...(pause) sort of legitimate, and effortless. I never tried to imitate anybody, but when you love somebody's music, you're influenced. Then I was with Benny Goodman when I was 18 and I believe his sound had an influence on me; such a good sound that he had in those days, you know? And, in-between I heard Lester Young of course, and it was a special kind of trip to hear someone like Lester, who sounded so good and almost classical in a warm way. He took so much of the reed out of the sound. I really don't know how I developed my sound, but it comes from a combination of my musical conception and no doubt the basic shape of the oral cavity. I did always try to get as much of the reed out of the sound as I could.

You mean, hear more of the reed ?

No, just the opposite. I always wanted to take as much reediness out of the sound as I could and hear more of the breath. I came from an era when we didn't use electronic instruments. The bass wasn't even amplified. The sound was the sound that you got, and I discovered that my dark sound could be heard across a room clearer than somebody with a reedy sound. It had more projection. My sound always seemed to fill a room. I also did a lot of practice in the Hollywood hills in the open air. That's God's sound! I appreciate men like Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins very much, but I just don't like a reedy sound. I have to work hard to get my sound because I use a harder reed (med-hard Van Doren). People think that I play effortlessly. I remember doing a record date with Bill Evans and afterwards he said to me, you make it sound so easy but when I get right up next to you you're working hard and making it sound easy! '

Your sound just seems to float, especially on a ballad. Could you clarify how you go about working out a tune or song and how you find them to play, as well as develop them for performances?

I practiced saxophone eight hours a day for the first two years I played. But, I never practiced after that because I was always out on the road working. The only time I take out the horn, other than work, is to find a new reed. But, in my mind, I'm always hearing things. Jane (Stan's lady) sees my fingers moving in meditation and she knows not to talk or disturb me. That's what I call the 'alpha state.' That's a state of relaxed concentration and effortless creativity. It's not like an accountant that just adds, it comes off the top of my head. As far as choosing songs and tunes, I don't write music so I just choose what I like to play.

Does not composing your own music sort of free you as a performer? I often think it's a bit of a curse to have to play one's own compositions and especially at times when that particular selection might not be appropriate but it's your's and there is a commitment to perform them.

I've always regretted the fact that I've never formally studied and learned the mechanics of writing music. I don't know if it frees me, but it's a pain in the neck to have to depend on others to write things, or if I have something in mind and am barely able to tell someone what to play behind me. Most musicians seem to be able to follow me because I've learned enough chords to be able to play them without even knowing their names.

I've heard you play some very complex stuff like Chic Corea heavy duty changes. Are you saying you don't analyze chords, but instead simply play them by ear?

I try to throw the changes away after I've looked at them and play by ear. I don't believe in playing over the changes, which I may do a lot, but I don't like it. When I'm really free, I like to play totally by ear, knowing the basic structure of course.

It's like forcing yourself to let go so you don't use a chart as a crutch. It's the biggest single problem I encounter with private students on saxophone, at workshops, and for that matter, at jam sessions.

In the jazz program at Stanford, students won't be taught just from a book. They're going to play with other good musicians and will have to use their ears and memorize songs. They don't have the foundation we had. Life is too full of distractions nowadays. When I was a kid we had a little Emerson radio and that was it. We were more dedicated. We didn't have a choice and we didn't have big allowances. I got out of the Bronx by taking that saxophone in a room eight hours a day and playing it! Now there's more distractions like movies, video, and sports. Early on we made records to document ourselves, not to sell a lot of records. I still feel that way. I put out a record because I think it's beautiful, but not necessarily commercial. I remember being assailed by the wife of a famous trombonist after receiving eight Grammies for a record that I thought was just beautiful. She screamed, 'you turncoat, you went commercial.' I thought the Bossa Nova music was just beautiful music. I didn't care if anybody thought it was commercial. Commercial can be a good word too. It means getting to a larger number of people. Records used to be documents but now record companies want 'product.' They want to sell a lot of records and guys want to get famous. I never thought about being famous or having a band. I just wanted to play music.

Your bands have always had outstanding young musicians in them.. How do you go about finding these players?

I used to go out and hear players but after I got a reputation for giving a lot of solo space to developing young players, such as Horace Silver, then people would come to me. Plus, when you have a good band, if somebody leaves, you ask who the others would like to play with and if our tastes agree, I tend to go with that.

What classical music do you listen to?

I find something good in just about all classical music. I just heard Bernstein do Mahler's Ninth Symphony at Davies Hall. It's so great. I just like all the classical composers. I don't listen to much jazz, mostly classical music. There's only a few so-called classics in jazz that I want to go back and listen to.

What would those be?

Miles. Those classic Miles dates like Kind of Blue, and Round Midnight with Philly Joe Jones. They're just tremendous jazz classics! And of course, I've listened to Duke Ellington a lot. But there is something refreshing about so-called "classical music." You can play a classical record in the morning and it purifies your soul (laughs). It's almost religious.

What combination of mouthpiece and reed are you currently using? I believe you mentioned using a med-hard Vandoren reed.

I'm using an old Otto Link rubber mouthpiece. It was a 5 * but it was worked on by Ben Harrod. Otto Link had sold the company to him and some of the best Links ever made were made by Ben. He's retired and now lives in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He's very good and is also a musician and an honest man. He's refaced it for me. I'm uncomfortable with a rubber mouthpiece. It's too big. Every time I try a metal mouthpiece I wish it could work for what I want. But I use rubber mouthpieces because they afford me what I need. I like to hear the brass vibrate in the sound, not the reed. Like I mentioned earlier, I like a dark sound, which is contrary to what just about everybody else is looking for. One of the drummers I was working with (Billy Hart) had also worked with Joe Henderson. We were working in Chicago and I wasn't using a mike. He said, "I thought Joe would have a big sound and you wouldn't, but it's just the opposite. Your sound is much bigger." So what is miked is not necessarily the sound.

When you recorded the ''Poetry" album with Albert Dailey, did you use a minimal number of microphones?

We only used two mikes. It was recorded in my studio, which I had built on my estate in New York. It is built of all wood, with window views out in the country. It has a high ceiling and we used two B & K calibrated mics, one on me and one on the piano, which went directly into a modified Studer two-track. No mixing board was involved. I guess that's why engineers and boards came into being because musicians forgot how to blend themselves. That's why so many use monitors now. We used to play so that you had to listen to each other and mix your own thing on the spot. You had to hear everybody more than yourself. Then vocalists would need some reinforcement and that's when sound boards came in. Symphonies are recorded with two mikes and Benny Goodman made all those great records with one or two mikes. Musicians used to mix themselves!

That has become a lost art!

It is and it's a reflection of their musicianship. Maybe it's a combination of the use of electrical instruments and playing larger venues. When you record, if you use two mikes properly positioned, it will sound like your two ears are in the room with the musicians.

There are some engineers who don't understand how to record acoustic instruments because they want everything to sound as if it's in your face. Do you generally mike your horn from a distance?

I stand far from the mike and I try not to use one if it's at all possible. Sometimes we mike the piano a little and of course there's the bass amp. I have to use mikes to balance with where the drummer is at. You start with the drums. There are lots of places, however, where I don't use a mike like Fat Tuesday's, Blues Alley, and the Old Keystone Korner. You learn how to project your instrument and think projection, try to see the corners of the room. You don't have to play louder, it's just a certain center to the sound that you can get going through the room. It' s not loudness but sound, and brass vibrating, or resonance without reediness.

I've walked around the room when you've played and your sound does indeed permeate every corner.

You get it from playing outdoors a lot. I heartily endorse playing in the open air. When I was a kid in the Bronx, we lived in a tenement building, where all the houses were right next to each other. In the summer I would to into the bathroom to practice with the windows open and it was all tiles and echo. Then somebody would yell, "shut that kid up !, " and my mother would say, "play louder Stanley." (laughter) When I left Jack Teagarden I moved to Hollywood and would go up into the hills with bass and drums and we would play for hours. It was a ball! I don't think there is the same kind of dedication among younger musicians that we had. I was married at nineteen and had a kid at twenty, and then two more, and I had to work a lot. But I always went to the jam sessions afterwards. I played in rhumba bands, mickey mouse bands; all kinds of bands. But after the job we would jam all night. We just had a different kind of dedication than kids do today. Although, they have records to jam with, but it's not the same thing. Interaction is what jazz music is all about. That's what I'd like to see happen with the jazz program at Stanford. You can read all the textbooks and listen to all the records, but you have to play with musicians that are better than you. What needs to be done is to simulate the atmosphere of a club. Maybe a place in Palo Alto where four nights a week, under supervision of the teachers, the students can play under actual conditions. That, plus take the big band on tour to Montreaux and other festivals. There's a way to train young jazz musicians without having to go on the road. In the traveling academies I was with, I learned many things, more than playing music, some of which I regret (laughs). But there's a way to get kids interested. But every teacher must be a great player.

Would you like to say something about your very famous saxophone repairman, Emilio Lyons?

We were talking about musicians that came from a different era, people that were craftsmen and artisians. I met such a man in Boston years ago who is a good clarinetist. Somebody asked him to repair my horn in an emergency. He was so nervous at the time that he was trembling. Since then, he's become the finest saxophone repairman in the world. They call him the "Saxophone Doctor. " When he overhauls your horn you won't have to see him again for at least three years. He coats the pads with something and they never waterlog or split or leak. He just spends hours at it. See this flower on my horn, it's not just a cork, it serves a practical purpose with style. He's a guythat cares and he comes up with things like the cork extensions on the palm keys. I would have never thought of that.

What would you like to say to all the saxophone players reading this interview?

Switch to piano! No; really, if you like an instrument that sings, play the saxophone. At its best it's like the human voice. Of course, it would be best if you could actually sing with your own voice. The saxophone is an imperfect instrument, especially the tenor and soprano, as far as intonation goes. Therefore, the challenge is to sing on an imperfect instrument or "voice" that is outside of your body. I love that challenge and have for over forty-five years. As far as playing jazz, no other art form, other than conversation, can give the satisfaction of spontaneous interaction. A good quartet, listening closely to each other, is like a good conversation among friends interacting to each other's ideas.