WOODWINDS
Ian Sherwood is an award-winning singer-songwriter and instrumentalist from Halifax . When he ’ s not touring his own music across Canada , the U . K ., and the U . S ., he is often on stage as a sax player with other songwriters and bands and doing risky home renovations . www . iansherwood . com .
By Ian Sherwood
Getting Back On It
Is there a saxophone in your closet ? A clarinet under the bed ? Maybe you ’ re like me and you loved playing a woodwind instrument but your music career has taken a more pop or folk path and you ’ re having difficulty finding a way to fit it in . Still , you liked that instrument , right ? Maybe even loved it . Just maybe it was the whole reason you started playing music in the first place . But let ’ s face it ; getting back to that instrument after all these years can be a hard thing to do – especially as we grow older and time comes at a higher premium . Where do you even start ?!
First off , I ’ ll say this , and you ’ ve heard it before : there is no such thing as too late . Not only that , there are some benefits to being an “ older ” player . By now you may have outgrown the ego ’ s necessity to be the fastest player on the block . Your maturity of music has also grown and , as a result , your playing will have more depth and reward . Still , there are some things that you will have lost for sure . So , developing a practice routine that both works your chops and keeps you engaged is critical to ensuring you ’ re not going to give up . You need to have a good balance of what you want to work on , what you need to work on , and what you enjoy playing .
What To Play ? When deciding what you want to play , figure out your goals . Is it playing on stage with a funk band ? Chamber orchestra ? Christmas carols in the living room with the family ? All are totally valid but identifying your wants will dictate what to practice .
Sightreading , soloing , and ensemble playing all have their own sets of challenges that will help you narrow down your exercise goals and keep you on track .
Figuring out what we need to play isn ’ t hard . Your sound is king , and time spent not playing means your embouchure is likely toast . Long tones ! There are countless YouTube exercises out there that can give you tips on this but a good place to start is to spend at least 10 minutes a day holding long notes , paying close attention to consistent volume , tone , and pitch . Hold the note as long as you have breath . Then , move in semitones either up or down to the next tone . Work the low and high ends of the instrument especially . After that , do the same exercise , but this time start off as quietly as you can , build to double forte halfway through your breath , and then back to pianissimo for the remainder of your breath .
Finally , play what you enjoy . Always give yourself time to just play the instrument . I always try to devote at least a third of my practice schedule to just playing . And when I play , I do so with the meaning of keeping it REAL ! No fancy stuff . If you start with a preconceived idea of what you want to sound like , you ’ ll never discover what you can sound like ! Also , you ’ ll either get bored with yourself or frustrated that you don ’ t sound like what you want and that will be the end of your inspiration .
Me , I like to set the metronome to 90 bpm and play standards . Sometimes I just play a couple of notes at a time . I make them count and make them honest . I ’ ve discovered that , over time , I get faster and more ideas come to me . And when I do this , I ’ m very present . I don ’ t try to impress myself or think of anything aside from the music I ’ m playing . The goal is to be as creative and original as possible .
Keep It Honest Probably the most important thing I keep in mind these days is my notion of what music is . Over the last few years I ’ ve tried to dispel the concept of genre and just write and play good , honest , and heartfelt music . I ’ ve been applying this idea to my sax . When I was first learning the instrument , I had one genre in mind : jazz . Everything I applied to the instrument – songs and scales I was learning , people I hung with , music I listened to – was centred around the jazz world . Now , if it ’ s good , I like it . Not being bound by style keeps my mind much more open to the possibilities .
There ’ s a fantastic concert by pianist Brad Mehldau at the Vienna Jazz festival in 2010 . ( You can easily find excerpts from it on YouTube .) His set is almost entirely instrumental versions of pop rock and folk songs . There is a tremendous amount of play and instantaneous composition as he weaves medleys of popular hits from the last couple of decades together . It would fall under the Jazz label in a Walmart bin , but it ’ s much more than that . It ’ s music . Really good !
Now with all of that said , here comes the closer : Have fun ! If you took the horn out of the case today and played something , that ’ s a good step . Recognizing the importance of practice is the key to getting better , but having fun is the key to never quitting again . Find the balance !
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