Post 1: Looking forward to these next 6 weeks!

You might notice that this blog is titled "Jax Sax".... Jack's Sax.... get it? I know, it's a pretty bad pun, but one that I'm proud of, nonetheless. Anyway, I'll be using this blog over the next six weeks (and maybe past these next six weeks into the future, who knows?) in order to document the beginning of my mastery of the art of jazz performance on the alto saxophone.

     I've been playing the saxophone for 6 years now, or since the young age of 9. Playing the alto saxophone has been a constant and has reflected not only my development as a musician but also my developing maturity as a person. What I love so much about the saxophone, and maybe what I love so much about music in general, is that while the saxophone certainly provides the task of its mastery as an instrument, the saxophone is first and foremost a medium of emotional expression. Up until this point, I have restricted my formal studies of music on the saxophone to solely classical literature. And while playing the masterpieces and works of Mozart, Bach, and other composers has been invaluable to the development of my technical skill, what I'd really like to be doing now is expanding my stylistic repertoire - which is why I have decided to uptake jazz!

This is the first blog post of many to come. I think that for this post, I'll really be explaining the way that I've planned out these next six weeks, so we all can have an idea of my goals and what's to expect from me and this blog in the future.

Here’s how I’ll be breaking up my time: 

Week 1: Understand Basic Jazz Elements
Week 2: Jazz Chords & Scales
Week 3: Be bop - Charlie Parker
Week 4: Swing - Duke Ellington
Week 5: Hard bop - John Coltrane
Week 6: Soul Jazz - Eddie Davis

Weeks 1 and 2 would be dedicated to learning and becoming fluent in the jazz scales and chords that form the basis and structure of most types of jazz. Once I'd have these down, I would then shift my focus to the more stylistic elements of jazz. There are multiple styles of jazz within the entire genre of jazz itself, and in order to give myself the fullest possible exposure, I decided to pick out four sub-genres within jazz that I would begin to learn. I won't release right now what these four "subgenres" are(forgive me if my terminology is completely incorrect), but from what I can tell due to a bit of preliminary research, all of these styles are unique and really cool.

So from Weeks 3 to 6, I’ll be spending one week on learning the stylistic basis and technique of each type of jazz. I’ve also chosen a significant artist in each sub-genre to study and listen to over the course of each week. Hopefully after a week of practicing each individual style of jazz, I'll be able to at least play a little excerpt from each genre. At the end, I’ll provide myself with one last week to put everything that I will have learned together, and I’ll choose jazz standard to prepare more intensively for the purposes of possibly performing that piece.

I'm really not too worried about my access to resources. My sax teacher is really knowledgeable about not only jazz performance but also the potential and colors of the saxophone. Also, in addition to any music provided by my teacher, the internet is a gold mine of free sheet music and jazz manuscripts. If I ever have any really expensive questions, or if I even just want a guide to jazz in general, there are a few great forum and community based websites that are full of experienced hobbyists willing to answer questions (saxquest, woodwindforum).  And in terms of having an idea of what I'm aiming for, there are tons of music and recordings out on the web and in stores for me to listen to and learn by example. And in terms of an adequate and effective saxophone set up, I think I'm pretty covered (by the way, my next blog post is going to be about my set-up.)

My end goals at the end of these next six weeks are:

1. First and foremost! - Of course, to establish a basic understanding and knowledge base of the elements of jazz and its performance

2. To prepare either a recording and video, or live performance of a jazz standard of my choice!

I am without a doubt, looking forward to these next 6 weeks. This is going to be quite an intensive learning experience, but I know it'll be a fun one! Check back in for more information and updates frequently - hopefully, I'll be posting on this thing a lot - :p. Bye for now.