So, I realized I never wrote any more of these blogs.
In Jazz we ended up playing a big concert called Mambos & Mocktails with a couple hundred attendees. Our setlist looked a little like this...
St. Thomas - Sonny Rollins
Count Bubba's Revenge - Gordon Goodwin
Mambo Hot - Victor Lopez
El Taco Loco - George Shutack
The Chicken - Alfred James Ellis (Performed by Jaco Pastorius)
Pennsylvania 6-5000 - Carl Sigman & Jerry Grey
When I Fall In Love - Edward Heyman & Victor Young
Birdland - Josef Zawinul
Muy Caliente! - Scott Stanton
In The Mood - Joe Garland
Sway - N. Gimbel & Pablo Beltran Ruiz
Tequila - Chuck Rio
Angel Eyes - Earl Brent & Matt Dennis
Killer Joe - Benny Golson
Claudia - Chucho Valdez
Third Time Around - Jeff Taylor
Soul Bossa Nova - Quincy Jones
What'd I Say - Ray Charles
Sing, Sing, Sing - Louis Prima
Don't Get Around Much Anymore - Duke Ellington
Minnie The Moocher - Cab Calloway & Irving Mills
Jump, Jive and Wail - Louis Prima
Zoot Suit Riot - Steve Perry
I only ended up playing one solo, but as second Tenor, I wasn't expecting many. The song I played my solo in was Soul Bossa Nova, which you may remember as the theme song from Austin Powers. Overall, the gig was an absolute success. It raised enough money for the school to purchase two new Tenor Saxophones, four new Flutes, three new Trumpets, and four new Clarinets.
Jazz tour happened prior to Mambos & Mocktails. Tour was to Unifest at the University of Saskatchewan (Which I will be attending in 2009). We ended up with the #1 rating. The whole tour was a HUGE success...a bit of a miracle really, considering that in the band, 6/10 Saxophones were freshmen, 2/3 Trombones were in their first year of playing Trombone, and we only had 4 guitar players capable of actually playing the songs. On that tour we also played at an elementary school. That concert was a success as well. The kids looked so happy, and there was one part in which we allowed some of the kids to play the auxillary percussion...there was this little girl who looked like she wanted to go up there so badly, and the entire band/choir was shouting at the teacher to pick her
Jazz finished with the pep rally, and a final concert at the local elementary school. That was another success..thus making this year of Jazz a complete success. Things are looking bright for next year, with myself taking over the position of, not only lead Tenor, but lead Saxophone overall.
As for this semester, I have taken over the position of lead Tenor in concert band from one of the best Saxophonists I've ever played alongside. I've got the responsibility of mentoring some younger players, so that's an opportunity that I'm looking forward to doing throughout the semester, as my goal is to be a music teacher. This will certainly help me get there.
Yes, life as a Saxophonist. It's harder than you think. You see, we can't just press down on a fret and pluck a string, no, we have to hold down anywhere from no keys, to 9 keys, adjust the ombishure, and tongue, or slur notes. All of this has to happen at once. It's actually a pain in the ass sometimes. And then when any part of your saxophone fucks up, it stops working. If you chip a reed during a concert, you squeak like hell, and have to replace your reed. With that said, new reeds taste like shit, and we have to put these things IN OUR MOUTHS!
Sometimes you chip a reed and get a sliver in your lip or tongue. Sometimes we drop our ligatures, and step on them by mistake. Sometimes we chew on the top of the mouthpiece, and the result is having to replace it. A new mouthpiece costs MORE THAN $100 FOR A FUCKING PIECE OF PLASTIC! Reeds? Well, you're gonna pay $30 per box for a decent brand..and then there's chromatic scales. Going up is harder than going down, and usually it's the opposite way around. People with small hands have trouble reaching some of the keys (Especially on my Saxophone, a Tenor).
However, it's not all bad. We get awesome harmonies, beautiful legato phrases, and all that Jazz. Speaking of Jazz, we get to play the best parts of Birdland and The Chicken. Saxophones get awesome solos too. They can be up-tempo (Born To Run), or emotional (Jungleland), they can also be very 80's...ish (Urgent). We're often the most respected members of a Jazz band, and usually the most fun people (They say the instrument you play signifies who you are). Saxophones, unlike guitars, are something really special when they come in less common colors (For example, my pewter colored saxophone).
Saxophone is a great instrument, and I strongly urge anybody on UG who has an interest in learning new instruments to learn the Saxophone.
After The Storm: 'My Chemical Romance Is A Pile Of
Current mood: amused
After The Storm have hit out at the band My Chemical Romance, calling
them “a pile of shit.”
Bassist Trevor Norris is clearly irate with media outlets praising My
Chemical Romance, and decided to hit out.
Norris ranted: “Basically, Gerard
Way thinks he's hot shit, when in reality,
he seriously sucks. He's possibly one of the biggest egotistical assholes in
the music business today; I'd say he gives Pete Wentz a run for his money.
“I
think My Chemical Romance is fucking garbage, it's bullshit. I think there are
bands that just need to take the advice of John Petrucci's Psycho Excercizes.
They should sell their guitars on eBay, and kill themselves.”
He finished to the website Music-Talk.org: “All I can say
is anyone actually listening to the music can put the records next to each
other and listen to them and see that there's actually no similarities between
My Chemical Romance, and any form of decent music. I think My Chemical Romance
is a pile of shit.”
Apparently focusing on Bass entirely for a couple weeks makes one less of a Saxophone player. Yep. Picked up my Saxophone, and my Bass Clarinet today to practice in preparation for the first day of school, which is Tuesday. After all was said and done, I realized that any "talent" (I use that term loosely) I may have had on those instruments has completely disappeared. Tis a shame, but I suppose it can't be helped.
Band wise, things aren't going very well. Tim dropped out of the band, and we are once again drummer-less. I expect Mel to be back in St. Albert very soon, by Thursday at the latest, so I suppose that we'll have to start rehearsing for coffeehouse fairly soon. I've decided on the song "That's What You Get" by Paramore as the song that we'll be playing. A simple, but fun little bassline, along with a (yet again) simple, but fun guitar riff, and some incredible vocals. I'm sure Mel can pull off her finest Hayley Williams impression It'll be fun regardless. Anyways, I'm tired, and bored of writing now, so I'll end this here.
I woke up this morning in a bit of a daze. For the first time in nearly a week, I was waking up and realizing that I didn't have to rush upstairs to take a shower, throw the dryer on for 10 minutes, have a tea, and head out to work..nope, today I got to just sit around. It's much more frustrating than it sounds. First off, Andrew has work today, Melanie's in the States, and Tim is..well, I dont know where Tim is, so I'm forced into another day of practising alone. I tried using my creative genious to come up with a fancy little bassline, but to no avail.
It's somewhat frustrating doing 20 hours of Bass practice over 5 days without anybody to practice with. Oh well, I suppose I had to get on with it. I notice that my fingerpicking has vastly improved over the past couple days, but I keep getting that annoying knocking of the E string against the last fret, so all my recordings end up sounding like shit. Hopefully I can get together with the guys and do some practising before the school year starts, because we'll have a show to play within the first month, yet we haven't even decided on a song to play for the show...such is the forming of a new band. Hopefully things will be a little more in order before August 30th.
I will be examining the genius that is Ben Kenney on Wednesday. I'll be sure to write a review on the concert when I get home Wednesday night.
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Liberation's blogs, last updated : June 7, 2008
