Suzy and I were sitting in with the “In the Mood” big band last night. We have agreed to play in five of the six theater shows of a USO like production. She is playing the clarinet and tenor sax. I am playing the alto and bari sax and the bass clarinet. I do luv the sound of the low instruments.
The sax soloists in this band are top notch. Mark on tenor, Jamie on clarinet, and Bruce on alto sax would be welcome additions to any band. I struggle on the bass clarinet, but once I get the parts down, and I have very tasty parts, I should be able to create a couple of “ah ha” moments for the audience.
Part of the charm of this production is in the vintage music, many vocalists, and old-time humor. We really should set up a dance floor for the audience, but perhaps that wouldn’t be authentic. Our director plays the part of both the benevolent leader and and humorous military leader. The laughter during the practice session is both constant and appreciated.
We didn’t have a drummer the last two weeks, as he was on vacation. But the next seven practices before the run will be with drums. It’s interesting to practice without a drummer. One realizes very quickly at least two things. We really rely on the drummer to help us maintain the beat. And when the drummer isn’t there, every part can be heard by the director. I know what parts I have to work on if I want to nail them, night after night.
With the sax quartet, community band, and last MJB performance, I have seven gigs left this year. I am really trying to work on only the difficult parts, not just the ones I luv to hear, again and time again. ;0)
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving” ~ Albert Einstein
I penned the Downsizing post last week, but thought I’d add some hard won, best in class ideas for your consideration. If you are a collector like me, you have a huge job deciding what to keep. The new house will not hold everything. For example, there will not be a music studio in the place.
So we have instituted a three contain system. We put out a box for:
Goodwill includes freebees to the various Goodwill and other thrift shops so that the items can be reused. It also includes what my kids want from our big place that won’t make the cut to the new small place.
Trash is even harder. The Goodwill places won’t take things like 30 year old encyclopedias, exercise equipment, and the like. Putting them on Freecycle.org takes more time than we have to vacate the old house. So our recycle bin is always full.
Keep it if something is used a lot, has sentimental value, and would be nice to hang on the wall of the new place, we’ll keep it. Think out of the box here. Even if it is a vintage sax that never gets played, it might have value as a decorative piece.
The best advice I never followed was think really hard about acquiring something before you bring it into your house. Do you really need it, will you use it, or in other words will it bring you joy?
Many of the band teachers I know have found this comic series called Tone Deaf by John Bogenshutz. But of those who haven’t … enjoy.
John’s day job is with John Bogenschutz Music which provides affordable and quality custom arrangements and original compositions for your marching band that are built to entertain. The music he writes for your marching band highlights your strengths and hides your weaknesses. His goal is to make your music as effective as possible while working within the talents of your band. They will do this through complete interaction and communication with each other and the entire staff.
Suzy and I have been packing out the house getting it ready to show. Last night it went on the market and within hours we’d had the first reports back. The first couple were curious; they went upstairs and then left. Wow.
We weren’t there for the second viewing, but the report back was if there was new carpet in the house it would have sold right then. Since we replace our carpets every 5 years or so, we figure that meant they really weren’t interested.
We are downsizing. And in a big way. Every cabinet in the house represents hours of work dividing the books, games, clothing into trash, Goodwill donation, or move stacks. We bought 45 boxes and rented a shed to move items to. We know that you almost have make the house look not lived in to sell it. And we are almost through the first 45 boxes.
One of the tricks we use to determine whether we save an item or not, is this acid test, “Have we touched the item in the 11 years we’ve lived here. It’s amazing how many things we have that we have never used.
Then I had a reseller come in and purchase over 20 musical instruments, some that I was saving for grandchildren and others, like the English Horn, that we rarely used. Gone is the contrabass and contra alto clarinets. Gone is the Jazzophone, plateau-keyed clarinet, and silver throated clarinet.
The worst thing to pack out is my filing system. One file drawer can take hours. In two weeks we have thrown away 6 huge trash/recycle containers of stuff. I wish I had kept up with this all along rather than trying to do it in one month.
Saw this in email today and thought I’d share. Evil stuff. ;O)
I wonder if I can get my eye doctor to adopt this chart. But pointing which direction this young lady is in might be challenging.
Suzy and I have been talking about moving to a smaller place for some time now. We live in a very nice house that just is too much for us. So the first step is to divest ourselves of all the collections and holdings that we haven’t really used. The rule of thumb is, if you haven’t touched it in five years or more, do you really need it.
You wouldn’t think that it would be so hard to make our way through the stacks and winnow out the stuff that needs to go. But I have found it takes so much time. Every book case has hundreds of books, albums, CDs, and DVDs. For example I have data back up disks running back almost twenty years!
I don’t even want to think about what we will be moving into. I used to harbor hope that we could find or build a low-impact, Hobbit-like home. But when I looked 11 years ago, the permitting process in this part of the world made that all but impossible. I do know that there will be fewer rooms and they will be a *lot* smaller than what we currently have.
Then there is the boxing up of what we will keep that is a real chore. If you are going to sell a house it would appear that you need to make it look unlived in neat. So all those nick-nacks that you luv, music instruments out to make practicing easier, books and magazines 
turned to where you are in them have to go away. We sold houses before we understand this.
Last time we moved we put the boxes in the garage. That forced the cars out into the driveway and when it came time to move, after we moved the boxes, all the stuff along the garage walls had to be boxed up and/or disposed of. That took hours that I’d rather do over some time than in a few hours before the moving truck leaves. So we have rented a storage facility and started to fill it up.
I tried to like vintage instruments, the price was right and they are beautious to behold. I even saved some from the trash heap like my Conn C soprano that Sarge of Worldwide Sax was able to revive. Truth be known, I played a 50s ‘crat alto sax all the way through school.
But for me, every vintage instrument I played was eventually replaced by a modern instrument. The most common reason was the inherent intonation on the new horns was vastly superior to that of the vintage instrument. The second most common reason was the ergos on the vintage instrument bothered me in some way like the right-hand pinkie keys on that gorgeous Buffet SDA.
Maybe if I wasn’t a doubler, spent more time practicing, and really learned the instrument I could have gotten past these issues. But I found that every time I replaced the vintage instrument, the new instrument was so much better that I ended up selling the vintage. Here is my odyssey:
I got smarter as I went along too buying new and best in class vintage from the get go:
Bari: Yani 991
I am not a pro. If I were I could make any sax sound great; gawd knows my instructors can. But I luv playing in the community band, my big band, and my quartet. And I get paid gigs all the time. I think I have made the right decisions for me. If vintage works for you, great. But I *always* recommend getting the best instrument you can afford, for a student or hobbyist. At least then you have a chance.
Quinn the Eskimo Vintage Horns
The Bis Key Chronicles 