I had to keep it short & sweet this morning, things are busy & I think my reed is on its last legs, so I'll be changing that out later today.
*Note* - it's best to make the reed fit as precisely on the mouthpiece as you can - it makes it far easier to play and the reeds last longer. Also, you get less reeds that are "unplayable" right off the bat. Reeds being organic plant material, they are of varying quality, and should be composted when used up.
I'll also be cleaning the mouthpiece later today when I change out the reed - this needs to be done every two or three reeds, or it can get quite nasty and smell like ammonia. Organics in the saliva, don't you know? Nasty subject, but all part of proper horn maintenance.
Without further ado, here's the first poem I ever wrote about playing the sax:
Simple Brass:
The feel of it smooth in my hands,
The taste of reed in my mouth,
Some piece of life I abandoned far too long,
Battered and old,
Touches of green on gold I'll spend days,
Stressing to find the natural flow,
Remembering infancy and desperation to speak,
It's right as rain and hard as hell,
Wavering cracking squeaking,
Like a teenager trying to sing,
But none of that matters,
Not if I can strike a true note at will,
Someday I'll have different words,
The kind that don't push pictures,
But will break your heart and leave you loving it,
Simple brass but it gleams in spots,
One more bit of polish,
In every hard-earned breath.
AquarianM
By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 10/16/2003
By: Daniel A. Stafford
Author's Comments
A touch on picking back up a saxophone after 29 years. *Grin* The sax in the pic is mine - webcam shot. I decided to call it Bello - Italian for handsome and a good play on what that word would mean if it were spelled differently (add a "w") and in English. *LOL* It also takes a bit of "brass" to play it in front of others...
Dan
Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.
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