I Used to Play Tenor Saxophone

Description

Tenor Saxophone — If you ever played the tenor saxophone before, you know what a joy it is to participate activelyin making music. That is exactly what this book is about. I have designed the book to includea wide variety of songs in many different styles, with the main idea being to have fun makingmusic. Additionally, I Used To Play Tenor Saxophone contains many exercises for the adultmusician to re-learn skills that may have been learned many years ago. It begins with a reviewof important aspects of music theory and notation, followed by warm-ups, scales and exercisesthat re-introduce you to playing the instrument and that help you build your “chops” back up. Thetechniques covered are basic to playing the music included in this volume. The pieces in the bookcover a broad range of styles and are generally familiar to most people who have been involvedin listening to music through the years. I also hope that the songs in this book will rekindle somefond old memories of playing your instrument and reignite your desire to play music again, justfor the fun of it.Practice the long tones and daily warm-ups on pp. 8–9 a little bit every day to build the staminanecessary to perform the music. Work on one of the scales and some of the technical exercises onpp. 14–17 a little each day as well. Then turn to one of the pieces you would like to play and tryreading it. Take it slowly at first; don’t get frustrated if it doesn’t come easily. It will take time torelearn and to retrain the muscles to do what you once did. You should also listen to the pieceswhich can be downloaded from carlfischer.com and play along with the tracks that are played bya tenor saxophone with piano and, in some cases, other accompaniment instruments. This willprovide you with a model for getting your tone back. When you become sure of yourself, you cantry playing with the accompaniment track without the melody.I Used To Play Tenor Saxophone is not a beginner’s book. If you are new to playing an instrument,I suggest that you obtain a beginner’s book and a teacher. After you have mastered the basics, youcan then come back to the material in this book.Remember to take it slow, have fun and enjoy making music! I Used to Play is aimed at adults looking to get back into playing their instruments of yesteryear, and will help jumpstart their memory and comfort with music. Its number one goal is to get people re-acquainted with their instrument(s) by not only reviewing theory and technique with etudes, but also providing them with types of music they want to play, including pop, jazz, and classical tunes. Each book contains downloadable audio files of complete performances of most songs, plus accompaniment-only play-along versions. Also included are printable PDFs of piano parts for practice or performance opportunities. It’s just the push former players need to fall back in love with their instruments again!