BC105 - Ear training
Posted by Daniel Christian on 05 Nov 20:08
The second practical lesson! See if you can play along with the backing track at the end by ear. It's tricky at first but after a few listens you'll get there. Both Eb and Bb versions included with this video.
The 5th video in a series of totally free online saxophone video lessons by Professional saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Dan Christian. The lessons range from reading music, playing jazz, music theory, backing tracks, improvisation to aural and general musicianship skills.
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The note C
We play the note C by pressing the second button on it's own, remember not to let any of your fingers fly away from the keys, keep that round shape.
Exercise 1
Play the note C, make it sing! Try and play it in tune if you have a tuner but don't get bogged down in this yet. If you want to know how it should sound, check the first part of the video where I play it for you.
Exercise 2
How long can you hold the C on for? 20 seconds? 30? Have a few Goes and find out :) Listen to the qualities of the note again, what does C sound like?
Exercise 3 - Finger Drills
Alternating between notes quickly is what all good Saxophone Players excel at, how do they do it? Practise. Flick between these notes for 1 minute at a time:
1 min - C - A
1 min - C - G (Tough this one! Make sure all of your fingers go down at the same time!)
1 min - B - C (Note that later we have a better technique for this movement but for now it's a nice little speed building motion)
Exercise 4 - The Aural Segments of the video track
Can you tell what it is yet?