Saxophone lesson report 9.9.

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The general impression the lesson left me was quite positive and eye opening. Most of the lesson was
spent talking about concepts relative to the mind set of a pro musician and some of it on technical and
fundamental aspects of playing.

Some of the ideas brought up had to do with the following:

Working with the tools you got to produce the best possible outcome at any given moment,"making it
work" in short by shaping each musical phrase while making adjustments to the speed,dynamics and
overall flow of the passage in order to tell a story though it and avoid mistakes at the same time. But
also, doing that through enjoying the process fully, being like a child that's having fun with a new toy.
That's how the audience gets to enjoy a concert most,seeing that the performer is the one having the
most fun and getting drawn in to that fun.

Some other points of the lesson had to do with self awareness,seeing your self on the mirror and
accepting what's there in the same way that's easier to accept some else's image, without judging every
little thing but beeing open and accepting to what's there and all this relating to performing and not
being judgemental of everything that happens during that time but instead recognising possible
variations in sound and making adjustments all the time. So, this also related to making mistakes and
learning the most through them which is part of the process.

On the technical side of thing ,some of the brief topics had to do with air flow and using the gut more to
add depth to the sound,standing with a balanced posture and not with one leg in front of the other,in a
sprinter looking position.

Some other point related more to the saxophone were about the well-tempered tuning system of the
piano and how the approach can be different for saxophone players (for instance practising scalles and
adjusting the 3rd 5th and 7th notes) and how the difference in tuning of each note on the sax aid you to
that as it is or increase the need to intervene on a specific note.

About the piece of music I played, Klonos, the main points were about the strong rythmical elements of
Swerts' music which also includes strong accents which need to be emphasized and also a hint of
minimalism in repeating patterns much like found in Stravinsky's works.

The chromatic minor 3rds were introduced.

Dimos Palamidas