One Step Closer!

 Hello! Unfortunately I did not find the time to record myself, however I definitely plan to do that in my next blog. I feel as if I have improved over the last couple of weeks, but I still have a long way to go.  This week I experienced my first chipped reed, so I will have to start using a different one. Although it is only a small chip, the reed must be symmetrical to produce the best sound quality. Along with replacing my reed I will research proper care and maintenance to make sure it doesn't happen again.

I have finally moved on to learning some of the marching band music! I have focused primarily on two different pieces: our school fight song and "September".

 This is the saxophone part for the fight song:

The song is fairly easy to learn, however I have not yet attempted to play it at the speed at which the band does. Before I do this, I want to be sure I can play the right notes the whole way through. There is an occasional sharp or flat that may throw me off, but this is the easier of the two songs.

Here is the sheet music for "September":

If this looks harder than the fight song, you're right! I have only practiced the opening and the chorus so far, and some of the notes are too high for me to play right now. This piece, however, is the one I want to be able to play, so I will continue to work on it until it sounds good. We played this for marching band band this year, but I was on the trombone. The parts are similar, but the saxophones have the melody more than the trombone, so I enjoy playing the saxophone part.

In the upcoming weeks I will continue to work on these two pieces as well as one or two other marching band songs. I'm excited to be a step closer to my goal and am looking forward to playing more music!