Jazz Saxophone Practice Routine
- Thread starter Ed
- Start date
One of the things I like to do is to play some Charlie Parker out of the Omnibook and/or Jazz Saxophone Etudes out of Greg Fishman's Volume two. Sometimes I'll spend 30 minutes before a lesson and then wonder downstair. My instructor has said during these times that I'm finally starting to get it. I attribute that do the fine materials in these two references. 
One of the things that I'm considering is hooking up with a teacher to help with the focus aspect. Greg Fishman does lessons by email which would be pretty easy to fit into my schedule. I'd have to get my studio back up and running to record myself (computer crash).
I don't think you really need any "extra" practice "routine". I think, perhaps, listening to jazz, particularly by the composer of the piece(s) you're working on or by the performer of the piece(s) you're working on could help.
At one point in my life, I was THE baritone saxophone player in high school. I distinctly remember a concert I was in that went from "symphonic" band (read: orchestra without strings) to regular band to jazz ensemble. Yes, for awhile I was playing all of these using my Rascher mouthpiece. I eventually got a really old C* with the "long shank" which became a Berg Larsen 110/0 hard rubber. Hey, I gotta be HEARD.
For instance, when I'm singing the blues ... OK, that was too hard to resist: my last choir had a director that was into old-tyme blusey gospel, I could be jumping from singing some relatively monotonous bass line on a hymn to doin' some funkengruven ternorish (bass parts for this stuff don't really exist) on a piece by Larnelle Harris to something like The Messiah in the space of a couple minutes. I didn't practice any differently. I just sang differently.
Possible that practicing some diminished scales and such would be helpful. Some improv, too, if that's what your music requires.
However, it's just an opinion.
At one point in my life, I was THE baritone saxophone player in high school. I distinctly remember a concert I was in that went from "symphonic" band (read: orchestra without strings) to regular band to jazz ensemble. Yes, for awhile I was playing all of these using my Rascher mouthpiece. I eventually got a really old C* with the "long shank" which became a Berg Larsen 110/0 hard rubber. Hey, I gotta be HEARD.
For instance, when I'm singing the blues ... OK, that was too hard to resist: my last choir had a director that was into old-tyme blusey gospel, I could be jumping from singing some relatively monotonous bass line on a hymn to doin' some funkengruven ternorish (bass parts for this stuff don't really exist) on a piece by Larnelle Harris to something like The Messiah in the space of a couple minutes. I didn't practice any differently. I just sang differently.
Possible that practicing some diminished scales and such would be helpful. Some improv, too, if that's what your music requires.
However, it's just an opinion
.
pete said:I don't think you really need any "extra" practice "routine". I think, perhaps, listening to jazz, particularly by the composer of the piece(s) you're working on or by the performer of the piece(s) you're working on could help.
At one point in my life, I was THE baritone saxophone player in high school. I distinctly remember a concert I was in that went from "symphonic" band (read: orchestra without strings) to regular band to jazz ensemble. Yes, for awhile I was playing all of these using my Rascher mouthpiece. I eventually got a really old C* with the "long shank" which became a Berg Larsen 110/0 hard rubber. Hey, I gotta be HEARD.
For instance, when I'm singing the blues ... OK, that was too hard to resist: my last choir had a director that was into old-tyme blusey gospel, I could be jumping from singing some relatively monotonous bass line on a hymn to doin' some funkengruven ternorish (bass parts for this stuff don't really exist) on a piece by Larnelle Harris to something like The Messiah in the space of a couple minutes. I didn't practice any differently. I just sang differently.
Possible that practicing some diminished scales and such would be helpful. Some improv, too, if that's what your music requires.
However, it's just an opinion
I was looking at my Berg's earlier tonight. Must resist the Berg's!
I've been digging my Selmer S90 but last night I was playing around on my long shank Soloist and I may use it instead. I can get a bit more volume out of it. Of course, I'll probably end up playing alto with the group but I never know.
Ed, I've been working wall to wall gigs, so please excuse my slowness in posting of late. So I'll throw in my $.02 and help to muddy the waters.
Ed, I would recommend that you work on changing keys, modulating freely from one key to another. You probably know about doing this, you might be doing this right now, but I'll explain how it works for me. Sorry if I'm giving you old news.
Find a nice strong phrase and play it through the keys, going up in half steps.
Start with something short, but with a very strong melody so that you can easily hear your mistakes when you move to the new key. Something like the very first phrase of "Take The A Train." I'm talking about the first six notes, the lyrics are "you... must take the A train," just those six notes. You don't want to try too long of a line, keep it short, less notes to keep track of.
So play that phrase in the key of C concert, the standard key, get it down so you can play it very easily, and once you are confident with that, take the phrase up a half step to Db. You're playing the exact same phrase, only a half step higher. When you are very well versed in Db concert, move up to D natural concert. Ed, you might want to spend a week in each key, maybe less, maybe even more. But you want to know the old key so well that the transition to the new key is almost a release of tension. So keep moving up in half steps until you get to the key of B natural, which will be your 12th key. Then start in concert C again and work the phrase through the keys by playing one time only in each key, floating the line up and back down in half steps. Move to 2nds, 3rds, 4ths etc.
Then do the same thing with the 2nd half of your "A Train" phrase, with the lyric "to go to sugar hill way up in Harlem." This phrase is more diffucult than the first one, so feel free to segment this one, cut it in half or less. Play slowly! Take your time, don't try to move too fast, the sound will move deeper into your being with the more time that you spend with it. Then do the same thing with the bridge and by jove, you've got it! "Take the A Train" through the keys!
Now this is a long term project, Ed, but the main ingredient is momentum. Do some everyday. Keep up the momentum and the keys will come to you like reading a great mystery story. Each key has it's own sound, feel, and personality.
You want also to work on your basic chord information. Get your major7ths, minor7ths, dominants, diminished, half diminished, and augmented chords under your fingers and in you ear. Don't do 'em all at once. Start with the major7th. Start at the bottom of your horn with the Bb major7 one note at a time. Bb, D natural, F natural, and B natural. Take it up to the Bb with the octave key and go back down playing ONLY the notes of the Bb major7th chord. Do the same routine with this that you did with the take the a train deal. Play the Bb major7 chord root, third, fith, and maj7th, till it's running out of your ears, then move up to the B natural maj7 chord. And keep going up in half steps until you can float the maj7 line from low Bb up to high A natural. I play my F#, G, G# and A three octaves, but I would recommend that you play these two octaves only, you're going for the sound of the chords, not playing a saxophone exercise. Don't get hung on the altissimo notes.
Once you are able to negotiate the maj7ths easily, move to the minors doms, and so on and so forth. Take your time and listen very closely for mistakes. Play all of these things (including the A Train thing) as [[[slowly as possible,]]] you have to be accurate or you will only be learning mistakes. Speed will come only from timely repitition!
Eventually, you want to be able to play everything you know, everything that you can play, in all 12 keys. You want to be able to change keys on every beat if nessesary, if the chord structure of the tune calls for it. I've been working on this for over 30 years and I'm still working on it. The key to keys is keeping up your momentum, and working for accuracy, not speed. The speed will come over time.
Ed, I would recommend that you work on changing keys, modulating freely from one key to another. You probably know about doing this, you might be doing this right now, but I'll explain how it works for me. Sorry if I'm giving you old news.
Find a nice strong phrase and play it through the keys, going up in half steps.
Start with something short, but with a very strong melody so that you can easily hear your mistakes when you move to the new key. Something like the very first phrase of "Take The A Train." I'm talking about the first six notes, the lyrics are "you... must take the A train," just those six notes. You don't want to try too long of a line, keep it short, less notes to keep track of.
So play that phrase in the key of C concert, the standard key, get it down so you can play it very easily, and once you are confident with that, take the phrase up a half step to Db. You're playing the exact same phrase, only a half step higher. When you are very well versed in Db concert, move up to D natural concert. Ed, you might want to spend a week in each key, maybe less, maybe even more. But you want to know the old key so well that the transition to the new key is almost a release of tension. So keep moving up in half steps until you get to the key of B natural, which will be your 12th key. Then start in concert C again and work the phrase through the keys by playing one time only in each key, floating the line up and back down in half steps. Move to 2nds, 3rds, 4ths etc.
Then do the same thing with the 2nd half of your "A Train" phrase, with the lyric "to go to sugar hill way up in Harlem." This phrase is more diffucult than the first one, so feel free to segment this one, cut it in half or less. Play slowly! Take your time, don't try to move too fast, the sound will move deeper into your being with the more time that you spend with it. Then do the same thing with the bridge and by jove, you've got it! "Take the A Train" through the keys!
Now this is a long term project, Ed, but the main ingredient is momentum. Do some everyday. Keep up the momentum and the keys will come to you like reading a great mystery story. Each key has it's own sound, feel, and personality.
You want also to work on your basic chord information. Get your major7ths, minor7ths, dominants, diminished, half diminished, and augmented chords under your fingers and in you ear. Don't do 'em all at once. Start with the major7th. Start at the bottom of your horn with the Bb major7 one note at a time. Bb, D natural, F natural, and B natural. Take it up to the Bb with the octave key and go back down playing ONLY the notes of the Bb major7th chord. Do the same routine with this that you did with the take the a train deal. Play the Bb major7 chord root, third, fith, and maj7th, till it's running out of your ears, then move up to the B natural maj7 chord. And keep going up in half steps until you can float the maj7 line from low Bb up to high A natural. I play my F#, G, G# and A three octaves, but I would recommend that you play these two octaves only, you're going for the sound of the chords, not playing a saxophone exercise. Don't get hung on the altissimo notes.
Once you are able to negotiate the maj7ths easily, move to the minors doms, and so on and so forth. Take your time and listen very closely for mistakes. Play all of these things (including the A Train thing) as [[[slowly as possible,]]] you have to be accurate or you will only be learning mistakes. Speed will come only from timely repitition!
Eventually, you want to be able to play everything you know, everything that you can play, in all 12 keys. You want to be able to change keys on every beat if nessesary, if the chord structure of the tune calls for it. I've been working on this for over 30 years and I'm still working on it. The key to keys is keeping up your momentum, and working for accuracy, not speed. The speed will come over time.