First 101 update, and a digression about music
57. Pick up my clarinet or saxophone and try to play it again.
Ow. After about a half-hour of noodling on my alto sax, my lip was numb. When I first lifted the mouthpiece, I couldn't even get a sound out. I tried a few more times, fully prepared to get very upset, and finally found the embouchure to play a long, clear G.
After that, it kind of mostly came back to me. I played up and down to see how low and how high I could go (low C and high D, respectively), and even remembered the first few bars of a solo I played once. I felt out the melodies of a few songs from Wicked. I certainly was rusty and had trouble hitting the low notes and switching between registers, but I'm a little relieved at how much I remembered. (Or rather, how much my fingers remembered; if I had to teach someone how to play a song I'd just played on that thing, I wouldn't have a clue.)
My next task:
58. Practice at least one song to the point where I'm no longer appalled at how rusty I've undoubtedly become.
I'm not sure I want to do that on the sax. The clarinet and sax have two very different purposes to me. The clarinet is a "learn a song and practice until you get it perfect" instrument. The sax is more of a "dick around until you come up with something nifty" instrument. You can probably see why I started with the sax today. Plus, my clarinet skills had several years of experience on my sax skills when I stopped playing them both. I'd expect far more of myself on the clarinet. On the sax, without practicing at all, I'm already no longer appalled at how rusty I've become.
Ow. After about a half-hour of noodling on my alto sax, my lip was numb. When I first lifted the mouthpiece, I couldn't even get a sound out. I tried a few more times, fully prepared to get very upset, and finally found the embouchure to play a long, clear G.
After that, it kind of mostly came back to me. I played up and down to see how low and how high I could go (low C and high D, respectively), and even remembered the first few bars of a solo I played once. I felt out the melodies of a few songs from Wicked. I certainly was rusty and had trouble hitting the low notes and switching between registers, but I'm a little relieved at how much I remembered. (Or rather, how much my fingers remembered; if I had to teach someone how to play a song I'd just played on that thing, I wouldn't have a clue.)
My next task:
58. Practice at least one song to the point where I'm no longer appalled at how rusty I've undoubtedly become.
I'm not sure I want to do that on the sax. The clarinet and sax have two very different purposes to me. The clarinet is a "learn a song and practice until you get it perfect" instrument. The sax is more of a "dick around until you come up with something nifty" instrument. You can probably see why I started with the sax today. Plus, my clarinet skills had several years of experience on my sax skills when I stopped playing them both. I'd expect far more of myself on the clarinet. On the sax, without practicing at all, I'm already no longer appalled at how rusty I've become.