Making Music

Thanks for the kind words, I've been playing (badly) a long time. I'd be more competent if I could be bothered to practice more, but I don't spend a lot of time playing, same with my tenor saxophone, I flit between several hobbies, probably golf then gardening, get the most time.

The Tyros 5 is my sixth electric piano.

I bought that last year, which replaced.


This a PSR 1000 (so old it recorded to floppy discs)




Which replaced

(stock photos now, not mine)

This, a PSR 5700




Which replaced


This, a PSR 90



Which replaced this

A Farfisa double manual (in a nice roll-top cabinet, but it didn't do much)



Which replaced a cheap second-hand one that I bought from a friend.



I'm on my third saxophone.

First a new Yamaha YAS 275 alto



Then a second-hand tenor, which I sold on eBay for more than I paid for it.

Then a new YTS 62 tenor.

This has all the "bells and whistles" like an Otto Link New York metal mouthpiece and a Rovner ligature (doesn't improve my playing).
Saxophones are usually sold with a cheap plastic mouthpiece. Some mouthpieces cost more than a cheap saxophone.

If I need to replace just the saxophone it would cost me £500 more than I paid for it now, the prices have escalated that much and Yamaha don't make them in Japan any more, they are made in the Phillipines and are considered by some, to be of poorer quality, but I wouldn't know.



I occasionally swop the mouthpiece for a Fred Lebayle Jazz mouthpiece, this has an alternative push on "ring" ligature which can be substituted for the one with screws. It has a harsher, less rounded sound.



I sold the alto (got more for it second-hand than I paid for it) as wanted to concentrate on the tenor.

I did buy this second-hand flute from a shop in a village in Cornwall for twenty quid ten years ago when we were on holiday. But only because I knew I could make a good profit selling it on eBay.





Music over, I'm off to do some gardening.

 

Sounds a good idea to me FC. We've got the other hobbies section haven't we

 

In response to "overwhelming demand," no scrub that, in response to a helpful suggestion, I've started this thread.

This was my latest musical toy. A Yamaha Tyros 5, complete with a sub-woofer (feel that bass man!) But I don't turn it up loud.



It's amazing how realistic other instruments can sound when I play it. A far cry from when leccy pianos sounded like an accordion.



Here's muted trumpet followed by "the rest of the band," in the second chorus. No double tracking, the right hand can play three instruments.
and you can have backing singers singing "Doo" Dah!" or dozens of other vocal effects.
I never tire of playing the old standards, so many nice chords.

Box


How's the weather?

Box

 

Thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately by mistake I've started a new thread in the Off Topic section rather than Hobbies.

By all means move the posts, thank you.

Making Music

 

[/QUOTE]

A Farfisa double manual (in a nice roll-top cabinet, but it didn't do much)

View attachment 116336

Which replaced a cheap second-hand one that I bought from a friend.

[/QUOTE]

That is lovely!

Ah I wish I could play a saxaphone but I've got no chance. I did learn the flute in my early teens but had problems....same problems I had when I tried to learn the bugle. I obviously couldn't get the breathing right as I'd go really really dizzy playing them. In hindsight it could have been my blood pressure making me dizzy as I strangely suffered high bp when I was in my early teens.

I'm ok now so maybe I should try again....would actually love to learn the bugle. I bought a ww1 miniature soldiers manual from 1914 recently and it had all the manuscript for the different bugle calls. Would love to learn to play the last post.

 

Saxophones were very ergonomically designed well over 100 years ago. An extra High F# key was added in the first part of the last century "Nobody uses it." Seriously, generally speaking the written D2 is the lowest note commonly used and E3 the highest.

The position of the keys means that your fingers fall naturally on the main ones as soon as you hold it.

There are 22 keys, worked by the four fingers, thumb and the base of the fingers or palm of the left hand and the four fingers and side of the index finger of the right hand.
The right thumb just helps support the weight of the instrument. Some ports are closed by pressing on the keys others are opened in the same way. It's a combination of closed and open ports that produce the different notes. The upper register is played when the left thumb depresses its key. Then there's the altisimo register, I won't go into that.

It's complicated by the fact that baritone and alto saxes are Eb instruments and tenor and soprano saxes are Bb


Then to play, "you blow in the small end and wiggle your fingers a bit."

And you will get this.......... I only wish.

The tune is "Where are you?"

 

He certainly was, sadly he died forty-five years ago, but such recordings of jazz ballads are timeless.
This is my all time favourite, John Coltraine and Johnny Hartman, a much underrated singer.





I like to play that using vibes. Some nice chords in that one. A few muted accompanying "Ooos!" in this one.

Box

 

When I'm gardening, I usually play my jukeboxes, "use is the best preventitive maintenance."
They are in our tea-house at the bottom of the garden. In the winter I cover them with insulation and keep a 60w lamp burning in the bottom of the cabinets to provide some heat, plus a box of re-chargeable dehumidifying crystals.

In the summer I have to leave a door open on sunny days and turn a fan on in the ceiling, it gets that hot in there.

Two Al Green recording take "pride of place" in this my "Motown & Soul Jukebox"
Well,,, As I arranged the carousel of records in alphabetical order of artist's or groups' name they are "A1 & A2" on the title cards.
I don't have them on loud, but I play an assortment of "A & B" sides to get all the mechanisms working. There's four electric motors and some gearboxes in there.

This was the original eBay photo of it in a woman's house, nearly ten years ago, looking very unloved. But I could see it had potential.
I had to hire a van and drive to Newcastle with our youngest son to collect it. It weighs in at over 2cwt.



But now since I did it up, it's all "bright and shiney" and in perfect working order. Probably worth now twice as much as I paid for it.




The titles may define me.





Anyway I decided to give the "A2" a go on the Tyros. It's not perfect, but then nor am I.
This leccy piano.. sorry "Work Station" as they are called now, is so sophisticated you can edit any recording, correcting mistakes, even if you can't play in time, it will sort that too.

I never bother with editing, what I play is what you get.

Box


For those who can remember vinyl jukeboxes in bars or pubs.

You remember when you put your money in and selected a record?

You remember when after a few other tracks, you went "Ooo! it's playing my record!"

It didn't matter if a dozen people before you had chosen the same one, if it hadn't yet been played, it would have only played it once!

To think all this has been replaced by an i-Pod and earphones. I've just noticed my video has now had nearly 10,000 hits. A simplified explanation is in the write-up below.

 

Back to my Tyros.

Some pop tunes can stand the test of time. This from my late teens.

No one has sung it better than the original artist.

I've always liked it. That's why I recorded two versions.

This

Box

and one with "all the bells and whistles." You can't beat substituting in a few Maj7ths


Box