12 posts tagged “saxyderms”
Ashia came by yesterday to help me get packing because I can't part with even the most worthless of items. Exhibits A,B,& C: three 10-gallon bags full of clothes for donation. A have a few bikes and set a of weights to liquidate, but other than my furniture should decompose Voltron style into a stack of lumber and from there it's smooth sailing.
The Saxyderms played a nursing home today, and of course they all loved us. Knowing that at any given time 90% of our audience will be Irish American we constantly keep Danny Boy ( Irish Tune from County Derry ) in our back pockets to tug at hearts and purse strings. Today we laid it on thick, and they along which is a first. Poor Tom was close to losing it. The song works wonders I tells ya.
The progress of the Saxyderms is very similar to career mode in Guitar Hero / Rock Band, except that we play for old people instead of dive bars. Close enough. Tom is trying to land us a gig playing the National Anthem for a Lowell Spinners game. Straight to the top folks!
Saxyderms
Holst: Jupiter: Bringer of Jollity
At ~3 minutes you can actually see me arpeggiating with all my might. The instrument is huge cut me some slack. This came out awesome, though Jupiter is far from my favorite movement of this suite. Some spots need woodshopping, but I really think we pulled this off well.
Niehaus: Lucky Seven
This was a particularly live room, all the surfaces were one form of rock or another. I'm surprised we didn't saturate the tiny mic on Peter's camera, nonetheless we really need to get some better recording EQ.
The evening of November 14th is the tentative date for our next current. It'll actually be inside, and free to boot. The set list will look something like this:
Rhapsody on Civil War Themes
Jupiter
First Suite in Eb
Second Suite in F
Mario
Folk Song Suite
Irish Tune/Shepherd's Hey
Bach Quartet
Carousel on the Sands
so figure about an hour or so.
I'm on alto, near the center. This was an ok weekend for money, but a great one for music. Forgot sun tan lotion, ouch!
Waltzing Matilda
This
one was really early in the set ( maybe first ) and we've played it a
million times. What a difference that makes! I think Peter's
girlfriend is taping this one, hence the close-ups. <3. We force
Jaime to play as loud as possible on the soprano on this one and it
actually balances out.
Mario Medley
This was the 2nd full time through the piece. This thing goes on forever.... You can tell because as time progresses the intonation gets progressively flatter. In our defense this shit is scored as densely as Pachebel's Canon or the Bach quintet who's name I forget, but is like 30x faster. Several weak transitions, such as right before Mario GB theme and the transition to out-of-time music. Needs work, but it'll be awesome once it gets there!
Tritsch Tratsch Polka
I'm on second on this one and kinda had no clue what the f-. Jordan, you wish you could bend that shit like me.
Labor day might be the next performance, not sure.
None of them are perfect, but I'm glad that I have the videos so I can listen to them and analyze what happened. Bless the internet!
is what you hear with 1 soprano, 4 altos, a tenor and baritone instrumentation. The bari player is leaving this fall which means I'm back on the shitty bari unless I buy one. :[
"Stars and Striped Forever"
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6460561771938976509
Jamie is playing a curved soprano which gets style points. I think it came out nicely. This was taken from this past Saturday on the common. We made about 112 over 2 hours. Overall the playing was definitely a little shaky because the kid on Tenor was sight reading, as was one of the altos. Take for example "Brisk but Unhurried":
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1404641048527064553&q=Saxyderms&total=20&start=10&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=6
which starts off with an alto dropping a bomb ( 0:02 ), and a reeaaaaally sloppy set of sextuplets ( 0:55 ). Oh well, it was a good time anyway.
We're playing again on the 4th, 2 -4 at an as of yet undecided location.
Seriously, I'm in a really good mood. Good ride today: short, sweet and fast. Work went by quickly and I'm really on top of things. I got one of my screws replaced today, that was a downer, but the Doctor claims its working. I'm going to see an oral surgeon anyway, but right now I'm not worried about that. Monday night I had a really fun rehearsal with the Saxyderms, and we're playing outside on July 4th someplace. Tommorow is my 24th birthday, and I was planning on taking the day off but instead I'm taking off the 5th so my vacation will be from July 4th - July 23rd inclusive. I'm going home this weekend to see my family, and probably bike Wompatuck State Park if I can find some fresh tubes lying around my apartment. Barring that I'll cruise around the South Shore which is a scenic area. Maybe I'll stay an extra day and do both? I tell you: life is good!
Saxyderms had an impromptu concert today on top of the Tufts library, U2 style. Afterwards we went to Redbones in Davis Sq. I had the Jamaican jerk beef and it was the oral equivalent on crucifixion. Ive never claimed to be particularly resilient w.r.t. spicy food but I've been able to roll with the punches thus far. But this beef was just... beyond. And it was sold in such an understated manner, no b.s. warnings about 3 ALARM CHILI WUH OH. I think it might have said "spicy beef" under the description. I was in so much pain I couldnt finish it, and neither could anyone else. I am defeated : [
This weekend I'll be playing with the Saxyderms at Qunicy Market, Sunday from 1 - 2 and then some place else until 4:30. I'm playing lead alto this time around because all the other alto players disapeared for spring break. Sight read all of the music tonight, we'll see how it goes.
Another video from the kids concert got uploaded:
Saxyderms Polka
There are 12 baritone saxes on eBay right now. I've never seen it like this. The Mark VI expires tommorow. Guergerheuger.
Apparently google video isn't Communist 2.0 enough to be supported by Vox
That having been said here are links to videos of the saxyderms performing at the Children's Concert Last week:
Lion King Medley (I'm on the far right playing the bari and fidgeting a LOT for some reason )
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2029763508764658435&q=saxyderms
You totally can't hear me playing a minor second accidental in this one aside :X. Actually you can barely hear me at all, I was under the impression that I played out way too much. At 1:14 I have nice pronounced section, along with any other time in which I blast that low A. There are two sopranos in this one and they are so close to actually being in tune its damn amazing ( at the beginning for example ). There were two little girls dancing vigoursly in front and banging on my stand the entire time. Pretty good for having just received the piece 30 minutes before the concert started.
Root Beer Rag ( I'm second from the right still playing the bari )
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7576104821161240301&q=saxyderms
This selection includes some non saxyderms saxes and the Tufts Wind Ensemble as the piece is a sax "feature". They, and the rest of the band, kinda got in the way. The start is somewhat ( ok very ) chaotic, as tends to happen in a piece like this. Once again we had actually only rehearsed with the full band once prior to this. Not all that exciting, we have the same phrase repeated about 10 times and its a wrap. This dynamics in this piece are a lot worse than when we had practiced, oh well.
Fuck I miss that bari so much. The next time we perform I'm going to be
There are a bunch of other saxyderms videos on google video, but these are the only two that include me.
I played on a new-ish Yanigasawa bari today. Man what a difference quality makes!
