saxophone<3

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Hmm. I expected there to be more posts on this blog, considering it's supposed to have 8 times the number of contributors, and therefore 8 times the number of posts. Unless you factor in the extra Aaron(s), of course, in which case it becomes a whole lot more.

At any rate, I suppose I ought to talk about section stuff. We're doing pretty good, I suppose. Of course, we have to note that I'm (rather arbitrarily, might I add) defining "good" in relation to the general performance of the band. So in that sense "good" isn't really all that good. More like "marginally better than completely pathetic".

But lesson in the art of verbosity and definition aside, the section is improving quite a bit. I personally think we're showing some degree of passion for the music we're playing. Plus, we tend to listen and change whenever there's something wrong with our playing. And that's always a good thing.

There's still a whole lot of room for improvement, of course. I find us sounding more like a "collection of individuals playing to completely outshine, or hide behind, the other" rather than a "holistic entity of individuals playing to complement each other, and therefore play proper music". Quite clearly, we don't seem to sound very much like a saxophone section. Much of that has to do with the fact that we don't have a baritone saxophone, and have some inexperienced dudes. But that still doesn't excuse us. I've heard 4 man sections with a tenor doubling as a baritone play better than us. Ok, so I'm lying. But so what? I'm sure there are 4 man sections with a tenor doubling as a baritone somewhere out there.

The point is that we have to keep on improving ourselves, both individually and as a section. Yes, it sounds hypocritical given it's coming from someone whose skills have been in gradual atrophy for some time now. But that's not the point. The fact of the matter is that all of us have to learn to play properly and play together. That's the key to impressing people.

I remember David once came over to the section area to watch our section practice. That was when Lester and Jermyn and company were still in action. David, of course, was impressed by our brilliance. I'm thinking that, if we put our hearts to it, he can come over to the section area again, before SYF, and tell me that our section quite literally blew him away.

Oh, and another thing. Abtzy, you owe me a dollar.

- Jumbiez saxophonist MUSIC`