A Mighty Wind (Saxophone)
After three years playing the clarinet in the Luck Public School Band, I decided to change to saxophone. I played in concert band, marching band, pep band, and jazz band. I participated in solo and ensemble contests with other schools. This was much more enjoyable to me than the clarinet. It was easier to play and my parts were better. The saxophone section loved it when we got to play “In The Mood” or “Pick Up The Pieces” because they had recognizable sax parts.
Around 1978, my friend and fellow sax player, Tom, and I were out car partying on the local dirt roads. We brought our instruments with us. We got drunk. While he got sick in the backseat of my car, I was playing my sax to sheet music spread out on trunk. A local farmer drove up and asked if we were ok. I said yes, then went back to playing music.
I found out that my mother and uncle used to play the saxophone, too. My mother just played it during high school, but my uncle was a musician in a Navy band and also played the flute and clarinet.
My band teacher, John Nygren, tried to get me to learn how to do circular breathing. I don’t think I tried it because I didn’t think it was possible! He gave me some sax solos to play during concerts. I remember we played “The Cantina Scene” from Star Wars Episode Four that had a solo sax riff. I screwed it up royally during the performance. The problem was I never took the responsibility seriously enough and did not practice. The bigger problem is that I never took the time to learn how to improvise. I played the note as it was written on the score and that was that. To this day, I regret not being able to ‘feeling the music in my soul’.
I held onto the sax for a few years after graduating high school. I only played it a few more times. I took it with me when I lived in Detroit, Michigan for five years. I found a group who would meet and do music sheet sight-reading. I eventually gave it back to my mom and told her to sell it. She was disappointed that I no longer wanted to keep it.
Click an image to open lightbox viewer
