Practice Log, 22-31 July 2024

This entry is part 14 of 17 in the series 2024 Practice Log

Last week, practice was a bit of a mess. I had trouble booking the room on a couple of days—the practice space I use has been getting busy!—and I also caught a cold, which usually occasions time off practice for me. 

On the days I did practice, I spent time on tunes as usual, but also on some Ferling Studies (yes, really!). I still am not sold on the idea I need to get these perfect, but they have some handy fingering exercises and challenges in them, even if they’re not really my kind of thing to play. It’s wild how much I remember, and how quickly these pieces came back to me, after so many years away from them. 

I also spent time working through the altissimo fingerings in the back of Larry Teal’s The Saxophonist’s Workbook. I was surprised to find that some of them now do work for me: I know I tried them back in the day and got nothing, but maybe the overtone work I’ve been doing has helped. Oh, yeah, I’ve also been doing overtone work, though I’ve hit a limit with the fourth overtone and am now working on pushing past that. I think between the overtones and altissimo practice, it’s probably not that pleasant to hear me practicing. 

Tunes I’m working on include:

  • All the Things You Are
  • Bemsha Swing
  • Black Orpheus
  • Days of Wine and Roses
  • I Can’t Give You Anything But Love
  • Waltz for Debby
  • Waters of March (Águas de Março)

Because a felt and a couple of corks fell out of my tenor, it was literally unplayable until the other day when I got them sorted out, with the result being that I practiced so much alto I have these tunes down a lot more on alto than in the key they’re usually played in on tenor. That’s just short-term problem, though, more practice will solve it. “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” is played in so many keys that it honestly might be the first tune I learn in all twelve keys, just because why the hell not? 

I need to sit down and really study “Bemsha Swing,” because the changes are such that I have a feeling  for how to play over it but it sets me down the wrong path sometimes. “Black Orpheus,” on the other hand, is pretty straightforward and I was off chart pretty quickly with that one. 

The other thing is that my GetaSax New York alto mouthpiece (7 tip) is such a pleasure to play, it actually makes me like playing alto now. That’s another reason I’ve been practicing it so much—which, if I’m honest, I’d been doing even before the felt and corks dropped out of my tenor. I never thought that would happen, but I guess the Vintage Meyer and the work done by hand on the piece really paid off, because I love the sound I get on my alto for maybe the first time ever.   

Series Navigation<< Practice Journal, 15-21 July 2024Practice Log, 1-7 August 2024 >>

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *