Sax Player

Wat's the hardest thing there is besides playing the sax? well, playing the sax expressively of
cos.. :) Anyone can make a sound, play a simple tune on the sax. But to play dat same tune and
make it come alive with emotion, passion and expression, now dat is a great challenge. Taking
just 3 simple notes played legato for example, anyone can play them technically, but how does
one make dat 3 note tune stand out is the challenge. Personally, i'm still far from being the
expressive saxophonist dat i'll like to be :)

I'm into the 6th month of saxing already and by normal standards, i've made tremendous
amounts of progress. But where my standards and goals are concerned, i'm far from being good.
It's like cramping 8 years of playing and experience into a mere window of.. 6 months? Sounds
impossible? Well, yea it sure does, but it warrants one good attempt at it. At least, if i dun make
the goal of MDC, i can be sure dat i've gone far by anyone's standards :) Dat's the only
reassurance. But anything's possible. Anything.

These days, we're concentrating on more sightreading and expression. gone are the days where
we're doing scales.. arpeggios.. now it's all expression and i've been playing more music pieces,
pop, blues or classical :) Ultimately, it's gonna be MUSIC dat i'm supposed to play, NOT notes :)
Dat's a vast difference. I've certainly learned a thing or two about expression, my sight-reading
has greatly improved and my tone has gotten better :)

I guess to be more expressive, i gotta:

1. Really listen and tap on my emotions.
2. Listen to more expressive saxophonists.
3. Remember bits and pieces of expression which had worked well in a particular song.

It's a lot of memory and yeah just goin with the flow. I'm far from dat.. and i tend to lose my
confidence while playing. Gotta really give it a solid confident and authoritative voice!