Saxophone Tip #4: Take One Step at a Time

It's time for another Saxophone Tip.  Today's Saxophone Tip is inspired by the holidays or I should say today's tip is inspired by the Christmas movie Santa Clause is Coming to Town.  This was one of my favorite holiday movies while growing up as a kid.  There is one particular part I especially like.  It is the song " Put One Foot in Front of the Other."  If you haven't seen this movie I suggest you get it and check it out.  It is full of great messages.  Today I want to focus on one particular lesson which is contained in the "Put One Foot in Front of the Other," song.

Here are the Lyrics.

Put one foot in front of the other

And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

You never will get where you’re going
If you never get up on your feet
Come on, there’s a good tail wind blowing
A fast walking man is hard to beat

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

If you want to change your direction
If your time of life is at hand
Well don’t be the rule be the exception
A good way to start is to stand

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

If I want to change the reflection
I see in the mirror each morn
You mean that it's just my election
To vote for a chance to be reborn

Ok, So what does this have to do with playing the Saxophone?  How can Putting one foot in front of the other be a Tip?  The answer is simple.  When learning to play the saxophone you have to remember to take things one step at a time.  In my last Saxophone Tip Enjoy The Journey I made reference to this idea.

Learning the saxophone is very rewarding and fun, but if your not careful you can become distracted from your goals or discouraged because you feel that there is too much to master.  What I want to stress today is you can accomplish anything as long as you have a plan and you take things one step at a time.  That's what I like about "Put One Foot in Front of the Other" Christmas song.  The song mentions that until you take the first step your not going to get anywhere.  It also mentions that by just focusing on one thing in this case taking a step one at a time soon you will be walking through the door.

This relates to the saxophone in the way that by practicing a little everyday you will make progress.  By focusing on something long enough  you will reach your destination.  You can't let the big things scare you to the point that you don't do the little things.  When it comes to learning to play the saxophone mastering the little and simple things leads to mastery and the accomplishment of big and great things.  So take one step at a time and you will be amazed how much you will grow musically and how talented you can become.  Use this Saxophone Tip with all the aspects of your life and you will see great growth.

Until next time

Caruso

 

Simple Improvisation Exercise Great for Beginners

Today I feel that I should talk about a simple improvisation exercise that is great for beginners.  It seems that many beginners are totally lost when it comes to learning improvisation, or else the advice that is given to them is just too complicated or hard for them at that moment.  So the question they typically have is something like this, "What is a simple way for me to learn to improvise?"

Today I hope I can give a good answer to this question for all you beginning improvisers.

Recently, well looking through some threads on Cafe Saxophone ,I came across a post where a beginning player was having some trouble with improvisation and feeling confident about their scales.  After reading this I thought I should share a simple improvisation exercise that is great for beginner players.  The following is a part of this gentleman's post.

       "However, when it comes to the improvisation 'slot' I freeze. The teacher is very laid back and  encouraging and often suggests that we just play a few notes from whatever scale we're using.   This sounds very easy at one level, but the things I worry about are:- whether I'll remember and stick to those notes that are contained within that scale (I'm not very confident about my scales yet); what order to play the notes in; what length of notes to play; how to achieve a sort of rhythm that matches the backing track.

      I usually have a go but I really don't like it. It's not about making mistakes or feeling that I should be good at it or worrying that I'll sound rubbish. For me, it's more an anxiety about not knowing what to do. This feels very different from playing from a music score that provides direction (that's comforting even when I know I'm killing the tune!"

I suspect that this individual isn't alone in their feelings of not knowing what to do and not being confident in their scales.  So here is the improvisation exercise that I suggested that helps a player both become more comfortable with their scales and also learn how to make simple melodic ideas at the same time. We all know that simple melodic ideas are the foundation of a good improvisation, so this exercise is great in helping a beginning player take their first steps into the world of jazz improvisation.

To get started with this improvisation exercise we are going to simplify the scale that you want to work on. Then later we will add to it until you have the whole scale mastered.  For this example I will use C major.  To start we will only focus on the first three notes C, E, and D.

You have the notes you’re going to use now it is time to practice making simple melodies.  An example of something you can do is the following.  Play the notes C, D, E with the rhythm being quarter, quarter, followed by a half note.  Then follow it by C, C, D, E being played eighth, eighth, quarter, half note.  You can come up with many different kinds of variations with just these three notes when you add different kinds of rhythms.  You don't always have to start on C either.

The thing to keep in mind with improvisation is that you are making your own melody and expressing yourself.  Learning to make simple melodies out of the tools you have such as scales and various rhythms is a great starting point to learning to improvise well.

Once you have the three note scale down add to it.  So now try using the notes C, D, E, F, and G.  With this you have five notes of the major scale.  After you are comfortable with the first five notes of the scale add the rest, the last two notes being A, B.  You can do this with any scale.

Something else that might be helpful once you are fairly comfortable with a scale is to practice it in a flexible manner.   Basically flexible scale practice is going up and down a scale any way you want.  Ex. you could play something like, C, D, E, F, E, D, C, B, C, D, E, F, G.  Basically you play the scale but you switch directions whenever you feel like it.

The above improvisation exercise is a great starting point for beginners who need to get more comfortable with their scales and who want to learn to improvise at the same time.  After performing the above improvisation exercise you will have a better idea of how to create melody's in real time, and you will have the confidence and direction that will lead to better and better improvisations as you continue to practice.  One thing I should point out about this improvisation exercise for beginners.  It is a starting point, but if you want to sound like a jazz player you still need to develop you style and jazz feel by listening to the music.  

The Best of luck

Caruso

Saxophone Tip #3: Enjoy The Journey

It's been a while since I've posted a saxophone tip so I thought that it was time for another.  Today's saxophone tip is to enjoy the journey.  So simple but something we all forget.

At some point in time you are going to find yourself thinking if only you were as good as so and so.  You might think I should be better then this, or you will be so caught up in all the stuff that you need to learn that you become overwhelmed.

Learning a musical instrument can be tough.  Often times downright challenging.  This can lead to frustration, which is something you don't want.  It is so easy to get trapped into thinking that your not good enough.  When this happens you stunt your own growth.  This is where my tip of enjoying the journey comes in.

To get past feelings of frustration or feelings of being overwhelmed you have to take a different perspective.  The perspective I suggest is looking at learning music as a journey that keeps getting better and better.  Realize that musical growth comes little by little.  Your not going to be amazing overnight.  You also have to realize that you can't learn everything there is to know about music.  It is vast.  What you have to do is figure out what your musically interested in and pursue it.  Little by little you will improve and master those aspects of music that you feel are important and that you want to explore.

Along with this realize that you are where you are today because of the efforts you made yesterday.  If you want to reach a specific level of playing you have to be willing to take the time and do the work that is necessary to reach that level.  Complaining or having unrealistic expectations won't help. It only hurts.  Instead come up with a plan to reach your destination.  Like any journey you only arrive if you have some idea of where you want to go.  Also like a journey there may be different twists and turns, and a bump or too, but in the end it is worth it.

Keep in mind that what makes a journey great isn't necessarily the destination, but all the things you see or learn on the way.  Music is no different.  Don't forget to celebrate your small successes and growth that will occur.  Also don't pass up the many lessons you will learn as you strive to achieve musical excellence.  It is the struggles and lessons learned that will shape you.  There is no easy path to being a great musician or saxophonist.  So instead of getting down stay optimistic and learn to enjoy the successes and failures that come along your musical journey.

So in summary look for the good and rejoice in the advancements you have made.  Remembering to take one step at a time along you musical journey.  The best of luck.

Caruso

Being Successful with the Traditional Approach to Jazz Improvisation

Now for the truth of the matter.  How do you become successful using the traditional approach?  You hear it all the time transcribe, copy, and play with the records.  Learn the jazz language by ear.  Imitate, emulate and innovate.  These are common things told to young improvisers, yet they never address some of the greatest challenges that young improvisers face as they strive to learn jazz improvisation through the traditional approach.  It is my hope to give some suggestions that will help an enthusiastic player overcome some of the common hurdles a players faces as they strive to learn jazz improvisation the traditional way.

The first challenge that many would be improvisers face is that of skill level. Lets be honest most beginning improvisers don't have the chops nor the ears to transcribe the greats.  So what does the player do?  It's simple they develop the necessary skills so they can transcribe the greats.

This involves a few things, first is developing the ear through practice of simple melodies and tunes such as twinkle, twinkle little star, or happy birthday. Something your are already familiar with.  The main thing being figuring it out by ear. A lot of players are embarrassed to do this.  They think it is childish, but this can greatly help develop your ear and allows you to start making the connection between the mind and the fingers.  Also these songs are usually already a part of you.  You know the melody by heart because as a little kid you sang them all the time.  This is really important.  To learn something by ear you must first internalize it.  If you can't hear it in your head when your not listening to the recording then it becomes extremely difficult to transcribe it.

Once you have simple melodies down and you can play them with any starting note then you can move on to learning heads to jazz standards by ear.  Yes, the above statement means that you need to learn the simple melodies in multiple keys. With the standards make sure that you choose tunes that are at you level.  Start simple then get to the more challenging stuff.  The great thing about the standards are you will start learning the phrasing and articulation that an improviser uses, but at a much slower tempo then their solos.

After you have gotten a few tunes under your belt your ear should be ready to start on actual solos.  Like before start with something you can accomplish.  Miles Davis's "So What" solo on his Kind of Blue record is a good example.  It is simple yet inspirational at the same time.  In no time you will be able to transcribe your favorite players.

As for getting the needed chops that comes with practice of scales, patterns, and working through technical studies.  You can also use the technical approach of jazz improvisation as a foundation builder.  it will give you the needed technique so that when your ear is ready to transcribe someone like John Coltrane  your fingers will be ready too.

I would like to say more, but this post is getting long so I will save my other suggestions till next time.  Until then.

Caruso

The Technical Approach: Pitfalls to Avoid

So last time I introduced you to the Technical Approach of Jazz Improvisation.  Today I want to warn you of some pitfalls that you will want to avoid.

The first thing to avoid is the idea that if you can play fast and complicated this makes you a good player.  This is something many novice improvisers fall into.  They think that because they are cooking they are the next John Coltrane or something.  I saw this on YouTube once.  The title said something like " Better that Coltrane."  It was just a kid trying to play fast and impressively, but instead of impressing me I just wanted to laugh.  The kid couldn't keep time, his articulation was all over the place and there was nothing musical about it.  It was just a blab of notes that weren't going anywhere.  It was nothing compared to John Coltrane.  The moral of the story being that playing fast isn't enough.  You also have to know how to play musically in time with clean clear phrases.

The second thing that technical players fall into is sounding too cold and mechanical.  If you don't make an effort while your practicing to make the technical things your working on sound smooth and natural you will hear this criticism a lot.  No one wants to listen to someone that sounds like a robot.  They want to get an emotional reaction from it.  They want to feel something.  As a musician you should be striving to express yourself and striving to move the audience in some way.  This means that for technical players they have to spend time figuring out how to make their lines and licks sound more authentic and alive.

Something that can help a technical player sound less cold and mechanical is to aurally hear the licks they are working on and see what inflections the masters use.  See how they execute a lick.  Try to understand how the player brings the music to life. Actually, this process is something that is important for all improvisers no matter the approach they take.  To learn jazz you have to listen to it.  I said it before, but to become a magnificent musician you need to listen to tons of music.

The last pitfall that comes to mind is the golden solo idea.  What I mean by this is some players especially those seeped in the technical approach of jazz improvisation start thinking that if they put this lick with that lick and then connect the next phrase with this pattern followed by a simple melody derived form this or that scale they will have a perfect solo.  To make a good improvised solo you can't just string lick after lick together with some scales and patterns thrown in between.  If you do this musically it just doesn't work.  Well most of the time it doesn't work.  Some players can make it work, but  more often then not it doesn't.

The technical approach to jazz improvisation gives you the tools and skills you need to be a good improviser, but it is up to you to use your own creativity to make a good solo.  Don't sound like someone else, and don't just regurgitate licks.  Make your own thing.  Truly express yourself and great things will happen.

Enough with the negative.  You now know the pitfalls to avoid.  So what can learning the technical approach of jazz improvisation do for you?  Its simple first and for most it gives you great technique.  This is beneficial because as you develop and improve you will find that the ideas that you think about will start to flow naturally.  Players that don't have a strong technical base sometimes struggle. They may have a great idea that occurs in their head, but they can't execute it do to a lack of technique.  Having phenomenal technique frees you.  Its simple by spending time on technical matters you create a link between your fingers and your brain so when you think something it is more likely to happen.  Well that's all for now.  The best of luck practicing

Caruso

Saxophone Tip #2: Listen to tons of music.

Listen, Listen, Listen, how many times have you heard this?  A lot?  I know I have.  If you want to reach your highest potential musically you need to listen to tons of music.  As much as people want to believe it, music just can't be taught from a book or in a vacuum.  Music is a hearing art meaning you need to learn to hear to master music.  It doesn't matter if your a jazz saxophonist, a classical saxophonist, or something else altogether you need to listen to music daily.  Don't get me wrong books are important and can be helpful, but to sound authentic and real you need to listen to lots and lots of music.

Think of it this way.  How did you learn to speak?  You listened to a model usually your parents.  Keyword there being listened.  You didn't learn your native language from a book.  Music is the same way, it is a language.  The best way to learn a language is by hearing it.  Think of music like a foreign language.  If you want to learn to speak the language you have to hear it. If you just learn the language form a book and never hear anyone speak it you might understand the grammar and structure, but you won't have the proper inflections, articulations and so forth.

I know I'm making a big deal about listening to music, and I know it seems obvious that a musician should take time to listen to lots of music, but guess what, a lot of musicians just don't do it enough especially beginners.  With that being said I guess I should tell you about some of the benefits of listening to tons of music.

For beginners listening to great musicians is key because it gives them a model of how to sound good.  As a saxophonist you should listen to other saxophonist.  What this will do is teach you what kind of sound you should strive for.  It will teach you different ways to approach playing the saxophone, how to phrase and accent musical passages, and it will give you an idea of what you will need to learn if you want to be a successful saxophonist.

For the intermediate to advanced saxophonist listening to tons of music helps you in different ways from that of a beginner.  It can give you ideas that you can later implement into your playing.  You can start to recognize how music theory relates to real music, and you can better understand the different nuances available to you as a musician.  At this point if your an intermediate or advanced player you should feel fairly comfortable on your saxophone,  because of this your focus should lend more and more to stylistic things instead of technique.  This is especially true if you have decided to focus on a specific genre.  As your listening to music really focus on the little things that the performer does that makes the music come to life.  Then try and implement those sorts of things into your playing.  This is especially important in learning to improvise jazz or any other style of music that has improvisation such as rock and roll.  Two people can play the same exact thing, but one person will sound great and the other sounds bad.  Why, the one pays attention to detail and accents and executes the lick in a manner that is stylistically correct were the other just plays the notes but is missing the inflections, articulations and accents needed to sound authentic.  You see this sort of thing all the time when a beginning jazz student tries to play a tune out of a fake book.  They play the tune, but it doesn't sound like jazz.  You just have to remember music is more than notes.  Listening to tons of music is the only way to learn about the nuances that really bring it to life.

So as a refresher listen to tons of music.  This will give you a model of how to  play, it will fill you up with ideas, and it will teach you how to bring the music you play to life.  Until next time.

Caruso

Jazz Improvisation for Beginners

Today I want to share with you a jazz improvisation technique that I used in high school with great success.  For most beginners the idea of having to improvise in front of others is quite daunting.  They really have no idea where to start.  They typically can't read chords and they have little experience on their instrument.  This leads to a fear of improvisation.  I can't tell you how many peers I had in high school and jr. high that were afraid to improvise just because they had no idea where to start.  I want to help with that fear and concern.

Jazz improvisation can be a tricky subject so I understand a beginners concern, especially when they are required to improvise but they're not ready.  Personally I found the idea of learning to improvise a challenge so instead of backing down I took every opportunity I could to improvise.  This led to me getting the first tenor parts  even though there were older  more experienced students around.  In my journey I discovered a lot of things, but I found that most methods of learning jazz improvisation just didn't help a beginner.  Often times your told read the cords, use scales, play notes that fit, transcribe the greats and so on.  These are helpful for learning to improvise in jazz, but just plain overwhelming for a beginner. What scales do you use, what notes fit the chords, how can I transcribe the greats when they play so fast?  These are challenges and questions that beginners have.  To get through these challenges a beginning saxophonist just needs to simplify things.  That's what I did in high school and it worked wonders.  Let me explain.

In high school I was reading a lot of jazz charts.  So many in fact that I never had time to truly learn the chord progressions.  What I ended up doing was looking at the key signature of the chart, and figuring out what key the piece was in.  I would then look to see if the chart had any accidentals that showed up frequently.  Then when it came time to improvise I would just use the major or minor scale that fit the key signature as my base.  If the tune had accidentals I would add those too.  From there I just played by ear.  When I started doing this I no longer had to worry about the chords, or what scales to use, or even what notes to choose.  This technique worked great for me and it gave me so much more freedom.  Instead of having to think about a million things all at once. I was able to focus on creativity and music. So in a nut shell here is the technique that I recommend beginners use as a starting point to learning to improvise jazz.

1. Use the songs key signature as a basis of finding what scale or scales you should use in your improvisation
2. See if the tune has frequent accidentals.  If so use those accidentals in your jazz improvisations.
3. Play and have fun.

It's that simple, find the key and use that scale as your base.  If you do this the notes you play will for the most part fit, and you will be more free to be creative and to experiment.  The jazz improvisation technique I just mentioned is a great one for beginners.  It is fairly simple and it's a good starting point.  I do have to say this however it is not a start all, end all technique.  Meaning you will still have to work at it and that there will become a point where for you to progress you will have to learn other techniques and you will have to learn how to read and play over chord progressions.  For beginners this technique works great because the music they play typically stays in the same key and doesn't have crazy stuff, but when you get more advanced music this technique won't work nearly as well because advanced music changes tonality from time to time and if you try to play the key signature when the tonality changes it will sound wrong.  Also for this technique to work well you will have to listen to jazz so you get an idea of how to build your ideas.  I hope this is helpful for all those beginning improvisers.  Later I plan on sharing other drills and techniques that help with learning to improvise jazz.  Good luck

Caruso

5 Reasons Why Long Tone Practice is Important

You’ve all heard it.  Practice those long tones, but the question is why should you?

Well you’re in luck.  Today I have 5 reasons why you should practice long tones.

People only cheer for those who sound good

Let’s face it; no one wants to listen to a musician that sounds bad.

You may have the coolest, most burning saxophone solo ever, but if your tone is bad you just won’t be convincing.  Believe it or not, people can tell if you have worked on your sound or not.

Besides, the best way to sound like a professional is to do what they did, and guess what they practiced their long tones.

Everyone needs a warm-up

Long tones are a great warm-up. They prepare you both mentally and physically.

When practiced properly long tones get you in the right state of mind to have a successful and productive practice session.

Don’t forget that long tones are simple. This makes it so you can really pay attention to little nuances.  This will make all the difference in the world.

Believe it or not daily long tone practice will do wonders to the way you sound, practice and progress musically.

Trust me when I say long tone practice makes your practice sessions better.

Gain complete control

Who doesn’t want to master their horn?

To gain mastery over you instrument, whether it’s a flute, saxophone, or even a trumpet, focusing on your sound is important.

Complete control comes from spending time mastering the little things.

Really you want your instrument to become an extension of yourself.  This only happens when you become intimate with your horn.

Long tones might not seem like much, but they really are the key to unlocking a professional mature sound.

By practicing long tones you develop your embouchure, lungs and your ear.  It also gives you the control necessary to being expressive on your instrument.

Instead of just having notes come out, you will have shades of colors in your tone.

Develops your own personal sound

This is my favorite.  We all have an idea of what we want to sound like, but the question is do you do something about it.

I know I sure do.  That’s practice long tones.

Practicing long tones on your instrument gives you the opportunity to turn your conceptualized sound into a reality.

It won’t happen by accident.  You have to take time working on developing your own personal sound.

Long tone practice does this by allowing you to experiment and figure out what you need to do with your throat, larynx and oral cavity to get the sound you personally desire.

Foundation for success

Everything you practice will benefit from the work you do on your sound.

Long tones really are the foundation of your success.

With long tones you learn how to blow, and I mean really blow.  You gain balance throughout all ranges of your instrument, and you understand what needs to be done with your whole body to handle your instrument.

High, low, middle it won’t matter long tone practice gives you what you need to play consistently everywhere on your horn.

Then don’t forget that with a stronger embouchure and greater lung strength comes a smoother airstream.  Something important for those really fast passages you play.

You can’t become a monster player without that smooth and steady airstream.

Putting it all together

Well there you have it, five great reasons why you should make practicing long tones a part of your daily practice.

It makes you sound better.  Gives you complete control, and don’t forget it is a great warm up that helps you develop your own personal sound.  All this while being a great foundation that all you’re musical endeavors can rest upon.

Need I say more? Yes I do.

Practicing long tones is the simplest and most beneficial thing you can do to improve your playing dramatically. 

I hope that’s not too much.  I just want to make my point clear.  Just do it. 

Well I would have to say that is all.

Until Next Time

Caruso

PS. Feel free to share how practicing long tones has helped you.