Part 5: It's Been Real

Well its a wrap!
I felt like I accomplished a lot in my 6 weeks of learning saxophone. I went from just learning on the mouthpiece to being able to play Careless Whisper on stage in front of a bunch of people (sort of). This project was unlike anything I have ever done for a school assignment. Sometimes I didn't even consider it an assignment because I just enjoyed playing and practicing the saxophone.

Looking back, I can say I am happy with the topic I chose. Not everyone can say that. It was easy enough to make significant progress in six weeks, but it was also complex enough that I wouln't get bored in my time learning it. Also I am a musical person, so picking an area where I can expand my musical abilities was a great idea. My mom teaches kids how to play instruments for her job, so when I first stared out she gave me the basics about how to hold and play the instrument. Without her it would've taken much longer for me to get started. Shout out to my mom, you the real MVP.

I thought my Ted Talk went pretty well. I didn't have any major gaffes or mess ups. The technology didn't play the videos, but they weren't essential to my presentation so I was able to move along. I thought my playing was decent as well, It wasn't obviously as good as I practiced, but I carried through the piece. After the performance it seemed like everyone like it! I'm still la beginner, so I did my best.

Overall this was one of my favorite projects I have done in school. I had a great time, and I also enjoyed hearing everyone else's own journey through their projects.

See you all later.
- Joel

Vlog!

Hey everyone. Here is my vlog! 

Interview

I sent these questions out to 2 saxophone experts. One, Chris Farr teaches at the University of the Arts in Philly. The other, Matthew McClure teaches at UNC Chapel Hill. My family and I  actually ran into him while I was touring UNC Chapel Hill. My family and I were exploring some music buildings and stopped to talk with Matthew about the music program at UNC. I figured he would be the a perfect person to interview! He  is the saxophone teacher and assistant director of bands in the Department of Music at UNC.  He also directs numerous saxophone chamber groups in the department.

I asked these 5 questions to both professors.

• How long did it take before you considered yourself to have mastered saxophone playing?
• Throughout your school career, how involved were you in music groups?
• It has been said that "music makes you smarter". Based on your experiences, can you vouch for this claim?
• How has the saxophone and music impacted your life?
• In your life, What is the coolest place your saxophone playing has taken you?

Chris must have been pretty busy, because his answers were not the greatest.

Here is a look 

Matthew McClure's Answers

Matthew's answers were much better. I am thankful that he took the time to write out great responses for me. It was great to hear a professional's perspective on my questions.  

Part 4: The Brain and Music (is this the brain project?)

        Hey everyone!

        This week I started to think about my saxophone playing from a more educational lens. I was wondering if there were benefits to the mind while playing a musical instrument. I have heard a number of my music teachers mention that “music makes you smarter” but I wanted to set out myself to find out if this claim was true.

I did some research and discovered a study conducted by Boston Children’s Hospital on this very topic. The study was featured on Psychology Today Magazine. In short the study found that there was a strong correlation between musical training and “improved executive function” in both children and adults. Executive functions high-level cognitive processes that let people to quickly process and retain information, regulate their behaviors, make good choices, solve problems, and adjust to changing mental demands. They came to these conclusions by using MRI brain imaging of people who played instruments daily (sounds like me!).

Nadine Gaab from the Boston Children's said, "Since executive functioning is a strong predictor of academic achievement, even more than IQ, we think our findings have strong educational implications." He also claimed, "While many schools are cutting music programs and spending more and more time on test preparation, our findings suggest that musical training may actually help to set up children for a better academic future."

I found this evidence to be very surprising. Schools should take another look at studies like these before they try to cut music education!

So… An update on this week.

One of my goals from last week was to push my limits by practicing and learning longer pieces. In previous weeks an average song length was about 20 seconds. However, this week I learned pieces that significantly longer. They consistently were over a minute long!

Here are two selections.

I was genuinely surprised at how my mouth tired so quickly. I found myself having to take breaks between each run-through of the songs.  But as the week progressed, my mouth strength became much better.

Remember that horrible squeaking I was experiencing last week? Well, it’s gone now. I am not exactly sure why it is gone. It’s probably a combination of small things. Such as, studying diagrams on saxophone embouchure, gaining familiarity with newer notes, or simply repetition.

Diagrams 

                                      

Hopefully the horrid squeaking and squawking is gone for good!

The future looks bright!

                         --  Joel  

Part 3: Two steps forward, one step back

      This week I did not have as much time from practicing. I only got in 3 practice sessions, when my goal was to get 5 each week. I had extracurricular activities, and had to practice my main instrument, the trombone, in preparation for a jazz competition. Overall though, I main progress in learning new notes, and new rhythms. But endured setbacks in my tone quality. Basically, I was squeaking a lot.

Moving along 

This week I went through and learned 3 pages in my book. However, the material was much tougher to master than in previous weeks. The songs included faster and more complex rhythms. They required me to move my fingers quickly to each note which I struggled with. My unfamiliarity it with treble clef seemed to be holding me back. The rhythms were only eighth  notes, but they a surprisingly difficult to play on a new instrument. Since I do not know the notes by heart  (since I am just learning them) I would often stumble through the parts that included eighth notes. This was frustrating to me! I am used to being able to play these rhythms with ease on the trombone, so I became demoralized when I had to keep redoing simple melodies.

These are some of the good takes I had 

On the top are quarter notes. On the bottom are eighth notes (which I was having trouble with).

I learned new notes along the way this week. They are E, F, A, and C#. A feature I enjoy about my lesson book, is how it integrates the notes into songs. It first gives a slow pattern in order to familiarize yourself with the note. Then it often uses a folk song or traditional tune that everyone knows that uses the specific note. I find this method to be very effective for learning.

Tone

Learning new notes has its downsides. I must have been more focused on playing with speed and reading rhythms, because my tone quality suffered this week. It was on certain notes, particularly the low F, that my saxophone would squeak uncontrollably.

This did not only bother me, but annoyed the heck out of my family especially my mom. As I mentioned in my first blog my mom is a music teacher. So she could not stand the squeaking, and was trying to help me fix my tone. I believe the problem was with my mouth position. I made a few adjustments with it, and I think I have it correct now. I just have to remember to always have the correct embouchure locked in when I play. My squeaking fiasco also reminds me that I cannot get ahead of myself and rush through the book. I always have to keep the fundamentals in mind.

Here I am squeaking. This was not the worst of it!

This is what the embouchure should look like. Most likely, my problem                                           was that I was putting too much pressure on my bottom lip.

Plans Going forward

This coming week I want to slow down and work on the embouchure problems. I must lock down the correct mouth position before I can do anything else. I do not want to anger my family with squeaking again, because they still have to hear me play the saxophone for a few more weeks. I will encounter much longer songs this week. I looked ahead and saw that there are songs that are a whole page in length. I want to learn this piece, and be able to have enough stamina to play through it completely. See you all next time!

I'll send you off with the happy Mexican Fiesta song!

Part 2: Progress!

This is getting easier for me! When I started I wasn’t sure how I would progress, but I am happy to share that I am excited with my results!

Treble Clef 

One of my concerns in the beginning was that I would 

struggle with learning new notes and reading them in 

the new treble clef. Remember, before starting the         saxophone I had only read in bass clef, which is entirely different placement of notes. However, I am psyched at how easily I am picking up the brand new treble clef. The last time I updated you all I only knew 3 notes ,which conveniently were enough to play "Hot Cross Buns" (See right)

Notes

Now after just more than a week of practice I already know 8 notes! They are A, B, G, D, C, F#, F, E. The reading/identifying of them need a little bit of improvement. It is not natural for me yet to see a note and know exactly what it is, and which combination of keys to press. This was as I expected. Overall though, I am excited with my progress in this area. 

Here is a chart of most of the notes I know how to play. The 6 circles represent the 6 main keys on the saxophone. When the circle is filled in, that means the player must press down the keys. 

Stamina 

Last week I talked about the pain and lack of strength in my mouth. I experienced this pain because although I use mouth muscles for playing the trombone, the required muscles for saxophone are different. While playing the sax you have to use the bottom lip, as well as the corners to control your sound. Before, these areas would become sore and unusable after around only 10 minutes of playing! Now after practice and drilling, these muscles do not hurt very much at all.

Speaking of practice routine, let’s talk about that!

Routine

Whenever I sit down to play, I always go through the notes I previously learned in order to reinforce them in my mind. I then go back and repeat exercises/short songs that I learned before. Next,  I proceed through my lesson book. Sometimes I get to a difficult song like jingle bells, (yeah I know it doesn’t sound hard, but it’s hard for a beginner. So back off). My strategy is to first take it slow, and assess the notes that are in the song. Then, I take short parts of the song and practice them until they are perfect.

Playing

 Logically, I next add the small parts together to form a whole, and speed the tempo up. This strategy is the most efficient and effective way for learning songs on the saxophone for me. In the beginning of each practice, I work on my articulation of notes. First I start on the mouthpiece, then move to the whole instrument. 

One of my goals was to be able to play short songs. I have reached it earlier than expected. Although it is hard to define a “short song” I believed I have fulfilled the most basic sense of this goal. I have played a bunch of short songs, learning them with the method I described before. Here I am playing                                          "Old McDonald Had a Farm"                                            

I enjoy playing these songs, because it is nice to play familiar tunes. It keeps me interested in playing, and progressing through the book. I also get curious about what songs lie ahead in the book, which makes me want to keep flipping the pages. Along the way I learn new rhythms, notes, and finger positions. 

Here is me playing "Good King Wenceslas" (as much as I can)

Overall, I am very happy with my progress. Since last time, I have achieved my goals I  outlined at the end of my last post. I have improved in every area I hoped to get better in, and If my growth continues at this rate. I will be in great shape by the next time I update you all.

Part 1: Gotta Start Somewhere

Choosing to learn the saxophone was pretty much no brainier for me. When I sit behind the saxophones in jazz band practice on Wednesday nights, I have to admit that I am jealous sometimes of what they can do on the instrument. The sax section always gets the most soli sections (where a whole section is featured soloing together), and it seems to be easy to solo on the sax because the instrument is so versatile. I’m not saying that the trombone can’t do cool things too, because who could forget about the iconic “sad trombone” sound effect.

I come from a musical family where it is valued heavily, so it is natural that one of my passions is music. I think I have the musical capability to learn it, making significant progress in reading notes, learning finger positions, and playing short songs. The materials I need to work on the basics of saxophone playing are easily accessible. My mom is a music teacher and she played the sax growing up. She still has her instrument, and she has let me use it for this project.

 Also, many of her beginning and intermediate lesson books are still in the house for me to use. Yes, some are from the 70’s, jeez 40 years ago when my mom first learned, but they will still get the job done. I have looked through them, and they are at the beginner’s level. I should be able to progress through them methodically. If I need help with my embouchure (mouth position), or other nuances of sax playing I can use my mom as a resource, because she is a beginning band teacher. It is her job to teach kids how to play instruments, including the saxophone. Overall though I want to try to learn the instrument on my own as much as possible. I think it will be an interesting experience to teach myself something as complex as the saxophone.

                                      

 

Last night I took a look at some music written in treble clef. Prior to choosing to learn the sax I think I underestimated how difficult playing treble clef would be. It is a complete overhaul of what is natural to me now while reading music. In all my musical experience I have only read bass clef, and saxophone music is written in treble clef. So basically notes are in totally different places in these two clefs. For example, the note A is located on different lines depending on what clef you are playing in. Since I have never read treble, I will be stumbling over myself when I try to read music. combine that with not knowing what keys to press, and you get a frustrated musician named Joel.

Here is a chart showing the difference in notes from Treble Clef to Bass Clef.
 (Treble being the symbol on top, Bass being the symbol on the bottom)

After school today, on the 14^th, I sat down with my new sax, and learned how to put it together. With the book, and a little help from my mom, I learned the embouchure by playing just on the neck of the saxophone. I was surprised by how much air, and lip strength it takes. My mouth was pretty sore, and it got tired very quickly.

After I worked on getting a nice sound out of neck, I attached it to the full saxophone and learned the finger positions for three notes, B, A, and G. They simply involve 3 fingers on the left hand. I played each note, and tried to get a consistent solid tone. 

I am confident I can expand on my young saxophone skills by my next post. I hope to learn new notes, gain more stamina in my lips, and progress through my lesson books to play longer and more complex songs!