New Year's Musical Resolutions

tjontheroad said:
1) Focus this whole year practice time and lessons on clarinet. Get through all of the "Celebrated Method" as a part my lessons.

2) Sell all the stuff I'm not using or don't really need.

3) I just joined up with a funk/jazz trio playing alto sax and wind synth. I want to work on cultivating this new exploration to it's fullist.

4) (most important) Have fun.
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1) Still focused on the clarinet and I'm about 1/3 through the book with my lessons.

2) Sold one mouthpiece and a microphone. More stuff likely to hit ebay soon.

3) The funk/fazz thing hasn't taken off yet. Partly my fault. I missed a gig due to really bad weather and a long drive to get there. Partly the band's fault. They set up some practice time and then later canceled due to illness of the bass player. We just keep missing each other for some reason.

4) I am having fun with my woodshedding time. I'm making great strides.
 
Well, it's way past the half way point of the year. So far for number one I have six pages left in the book. I am pretty much just focused on finishing this beginners book and moving onto the second part of the beginners book.

fox said:
My plans for this year are:
1. Finish through all the lessons in both beginner books.
2. Start on intermediate/advanced lessons.
3. Start building a repertoire
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Gandalfe said:
Happy New Years everyone. I'm not much into New Year resolutions but I was thinking about what I wanted to accomplish musically this year.
1. Learn to play 'O Sole Mio' on mandolin for Dad.
2. Continue work on learning to read changes.
3. Improve the sound on my tenor, my weakest instrument and the one I'm forced to play the most because everyone seems to have an alto.
4. Sub 4 times this year.
5. Keep hammering away on my weakest area, sight reading aka rhythms.
​
I'd be interested in hearing your musical goals for this new year.
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1. Done and done.
2. Still working on this. Pretty good with chord tones up to 3#'s and 3 b's.
3. Got a Berg Larson with a high baffle and volia the tone normalized. Every time I try to change the mouthpiece or reed, my teachers notice.
4. Hmm... have subbed more than that and found that I really don't like some of the gigs. Never do a fairground gig, for starters.
5. Spend most of my time on this. Not making as much progress as I should. Sometimes spend the whole hour in lessons on this.
 
Al Stevens said:
1. Make backup tracks for and memorize some bebop heads.
2. Choose a tenor from the five I have and get rid of all but one of the others. (That's going to be difficult.)
3. Sell a lot of mouthpieces. (That's going to be easy.)
4. Get back into the community band, but on alto sax instead of trumpet.
5. Hustle some gigs.
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  1. Not as many as I planned. But a few.
  2. Have not sold a tenor.
  3. Have not sold a mouthpiece.
  4. Did two concerts on alto. Switched to tenor because that's where they have the most need.
  5. I have picked up a few gigs, but nothing like before.
 
Every year I predict the upcoming end to my career (or so my wife tells me.) During the summer, I'm always pretty sure my prediction is coming true, and I sell some stuff.

Then the biz picks up and by the end of the year I'm running myself ragged.

I'm going to stick with the same pessimistic program. It's worked for over 40 years, so why stop now? Besides, I still have lots of stuff to sell during the summer.

Anybody wanna buy a mouthpiece?
 
I'm looking for a loud and brash stick out in a big band piece for bari? Does anyone want to buy a mouthpiece. . . :D
 
Well, how did everyone do on their New Years Resolutions?

I am still working on the first beginner book, but I have three pages to go - progress has been very slow. Yet, I have started working on technique and scales, so that takes up a lot of my practice time. As for the repertoire, I've begun learning Brahms Lullaby and Habanera.

fox said:
My plans for this year are:
1. Finish through all the lessons in both beginner books.
2. Start on intermediate/advanced lessons.
3. Start building a repertoire
Click to expand...
 
Don't want to talk about it.
 
Iffen you don't make any resolutions, you never have to regret not achieving them. It has always worked for me.

(In any event, I maintain a "to do" list (indeed, maintained long before the advent of PDAs and other such stuff) that serves as a "rolling" set of resolutions. It's always fun to watch the list grow and shrink as time goes by.

Yesterday, we finally made the push to get the stuff for a long-overdue kitchen sink replacement project. I picked up a new "synthetic granite" two bowl sink and a fancy-schmantzy faucet cum sprayer at Costco, plus the install items and a new disposal at Home Depot. Now, all I have to do is to get the time to put them in...
 
Gandalfe said:
Happy New Years everyone. I'm not much into New Year resolutions but I was thinking about what I wanted to accomplish musically this year.
1. Learn to play 'O Sole Mio' on mandolin for Dad.
2. Continue work on learning to read changes.
3. Improve the sound on my tenor, my weakest instrument and the one I'm forced to play the most because everyone seems to have an alto.
4. Sub 4 times this year.
5. Keep hammering away on my weakest area, sight reading aka rhythms.
​
I'd be interested in hearing your musical goals for this new year.
Click to expand...

Hmm... I did all of these. I'm thinking I'll need to be more adventurous this year. It would seem that if I set a goal, I more often than not acheive it. So I'm gonna have to think about it this year.
 
Gandalfe said:
Hmm... I did all of these. I'm thinking I'll need to be more adventurous this year. It would seem that if I set a goal, I more often than not acheive it. So I'm gonna have to think about it this year.
Click to expand...

How about learning how to arrange for saxophone quartet! :emoji_rage:
 
tjontheroad said:
1) Focus this whole year practice time and lessons on clarinet. Get through all of the "Celebrated Method" as a part my lessons.

2) Sell all the stuff I'm not using or don't really need.

3) I just joined up with a funk/jazz trio playing alto sax and wind synth. I want to work on cultivating this new exploration to it's fullist.

4) (most important) Have fun.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... let's see here...

1) Nope. Didn't finish it. Did get through at least half of the book.

2) Nope. I have more stuff I don't really need. But who's counting??? :emoji_rage:

3) Nope. Changed my mind.

4) YES SIR... ABSOLUTELY :emoji_smile:
 
New Year's Musical Goals - 2010

I've been thinking about this from the respective of what I said I'd try to do last year. Maybe this is close to what I'll do.
1. Arrange a sax quartet, not just by adjusting transcriptions for F Mezzo, alto, tenor, and bari saxes.

2. Exercise more. Setting up Philips DirectLife monitor baseline. Want to increase my wind endurance on woodwinds.

3. Put together and gig with clarinet choir. Wanna do this at least once. Toccata and Fugue is the first thing on my list.

4. Put together and gig with sax choir. We meet next week and Mirilla's arrangement of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' tops the list of interesting songs.

5. Get through Charlie Parker's 'Omnibook'. Both of my instructors are working with me already on that. Lesson at 2 PM today.

6. Find three gigs for the Microsoft Jazz Band, 4 paying gigs for the Professor Gadget Sax Quartet, and 6 for the WCB Music Ambassadors this year.

7. Sponsor two jazz jams at my house this year.

8. Master the growl effect on saxophone.
​
 
1. Become a better improvisor
2. Play in at least 6 pit orchestras
3. Figure out a practical application to owning a low G Bass sax
4. Play said bass sax at least once weekly
5. Get better at oboe
6. Buy a Rampone R1 Jazz soprano
 
The same as it is every year...

To play fewer wrong notes than the year before.
 
if that was my goal I'd have to start going to rehearsals, or opening the book before the first rehearsals for the musicals I do... Usuall I'm in like 2 days before opening night. That first rehearsal has a LOT of wrong notes. Between that first rehearsal and my improvising, I play plenty. Thank God I make up for it later.
 
Get at least a part of my sax book ideas ready for publication. Or at least get a good deal of it ready.

Health concerns will, unfortunately, affect this goal.
 
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