I’ve taken up saxophone practise again after a break of six or seven months. Giving up was precipitated by getting a new mouthpiece that turned out to be very hard to play. I could only play for a few minutes before my lip collapsed, my tone became uneven in the upper register, and my intonation went all over the place. I knew it was a good mouthpiece, not because the brand had a great reputation, and not because I’d read somewhere that it was good, and not because it was expensive; I knew it was good because it just sounded amazing, made playing across the break easy, and sounded evenly throughout the registers. For the first few minutes, that is. … read on »
Archive for the ‘music’ category…
The Black Page Part II
Just over a year ago I published a post about my experience learning a difficult piece of music, I Sleep At Waking by Ian Wilson, for solo saxophone, which has lots and lots of notes. Well, the good news is that I’ve made progress: I’ve memorized it and I can play it through, after a fashion. The bad news is obviously that it has taken a year, and also that I still haven’t mastered it. There comes a point with a piece when it becomes part of your mind and body, and it is yours – but I haven’t reached that stage yet. However, I’m developing a feel for it, and I love it more and more, despite its awkwardness. … read on »
Review: Zappa Plays Zappa Plays Edinburgh
I don’t often walk the stretch of Lothian Road between the Usher Hall and St John’s, but for a reason I can’t remember, that’s what I was doing one morning in May, and if a higher power was responsible for this circumstance I’d just like to thank him or her or it.
For that was how I came to see out of the corner of my eye that unmistakeable symbol, “ZAPPA”, on a poster amongst other posters clustered around a door. I jerked to a halt and exclaimed out loud, “Jesus!” The door turned out to be that of the HMV Picture House – which I didn’t even know existed – and the poster was advertising the upcoming tour date – … read on »
The Black Page
Two posts ago I reported on my success in the jazz grade three exam. Now it’s about time to start preparing for grade five, the top jazz grade, but I don’t much like the tunes. Should I still do it? I think I need to, because my practise has become rather aimless lately.
But one thing that has carried me through these last few months is my latest challenge. I’ve been learning a modern classical piece for solo saxophone, I Sleep At Waking by Ian Wilson. After all the jazz I wanted to tread some unfamiliar ground, to put my technique to the test, so a few months ago I asked my teacher for a through-composed piece in a modern style, … read on »
Messiaen Around
Last night I went to the Edinburgh International Festival performance of Olivier Messiaen’s Eclairs sur l’au-delà – which is usually translated as Illuminations of the Beyond – at the Usher Hall, played by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with a sprightly young fellow named Ilan Volkov conducting.
In my seat in the upper circle I waited for the first chord, which begins the piece in a strangely unassuming way, catching you unaware, as if the orchestra is picking up a performance midway through – which helps give it an eternal, cyclical quality. But when the performance started I was puzzled. I didn’t recognize it at all. I mean, yes, it’s an unassuming opening for sure, and I’d listened to it only … read on »
Saxophones and Photographs
I have two reasons for the recent lack of blog action, and I mention them because they’re quite interesting (though I feel that neither will counteract the suspicion that if one takes four months off from work then one has time to write blog posts pretty frequently): I was preparing for my saxophone grade three jazz exam; and I’ve become addicted to Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/alistairrobinson/)
Last time I mentioned the sax exam in these pages, I had just committed to do it. I said at the time that I had opted to play All Blues, Autumn Leaves and Mopti, but I decided not long after to forget about Autumn Leaves and play Lady Be Good instead. It was a good mixture of … read on »
Exams Again: Getting to Grips with Jazz Sax Grade 3
(To any sax players out there: yes, my fingers should never be that far from the keys – one of many bad habits I’m trying to break)
Last week I gratefully received, from my friendly postman, the book of tunes for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) Jazz saxophone grade 3 exam. Despite my doubts about jazz education – about its usefulness in producing spirited jazz players, and also about the usefulness for me in particular of an exclusive focus on jazz – I think I can still benefit from it hugely. What I want, and what it promises to give me, is an objective measure of progress; some structure and discipline; and goals.
And besides, the program … read on »
Roger Scruton on Conceptual Art & JAR on Music
Last September, I had a debate with Brian Rowan in the comments of one of my blog posts. The debate was about music: whether you can say, for example, that Stravinsky is better than James Blunt. I said yes, you can, and Brian said no, you can’t. Well, I saw this article in the American Spectator a few days ago, by Roger Scruton, an interesting thinker who has appeared on this blog twice before. It’s mainly about visual art rather than music, but I believe the argument stands for any kind of art. He says it so much better than I do. Here’s an excerpt:
Increasingly, many teachers of the humanities agree with the untutored opinion of their incoming students, that … read on »
Obsessional Equilibrium, Or How to Juggle a Saxophone and a Canoe While Suffering from Gas
Such has been my obsession with saxophone practise over the past few months that I’ve badly neglected my blog, so here I am with a new post…about my obsession with saxophone practise.
Obsession
I’ve been working in Edinburgh since March, and the main benefit has been that I’ve had time to practise the sax almost every day, for one or two hours. Some of you may remember my burning enthusiasm in March last year, which died because owing to awkward circumstances I couldn’t feed it. This time I’ve kept it well stoked. Soon after I took out my horn again I felt the familiar old obsessiveness begin to consume me, and part of me worried that it was just another example of … read on »
My 25-year-old Earworm
Often when I wake up I start singing the song Sing Hosanna! I was reminded of this on Sunday when I heard the song on a comedy show on the radio.
Most of the time I merely mouth it in a whisper as it runs through my head, or else I hum it or whistle it. I said that I start singing when I wake up, but I’m usually already singing it before I become aware of it and before I’m fully awake. It goes back to my days at Sunday School when I was about 10 years old, and it’s been happening on and off since then.
Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising,
Give me joy in my heart, … read on »
©2010 Alistair Robinson