Sixth Sax Lesson

I had my sixth sax lesson. We are now almost all the way through the book! One more lesson and we should be all the way through it. When we got to the lesson all the rooms were taken so we spent five minutes looking for a room. Then we finally went out side to do the lesson.

We went through the songs pretty easily. I squeaked on a few G's, but we fixed that up pretty well. He was amazed at the amount of practice again (about as much as last week).

Me and Dad went out today to buy the second book. When we got there we bought a Drag'n Swab. The person there said it was their best sax cleaning product. You put it through the sax and pull it back and forth through it. We also bought a stand.

Not writing much because nothing is happening. We have been approved by the apartments, but we still can't move in.

Fifth Sax Lesson

I haven't been writing much lately. In fact I don't think I wrote anything last week. Now I have something to write about. My fifth sax lesson.


When we got there my teacher was waiting inside the doorway. We went inside to start the lesson and when he saw how much I practiced, this is what he said "....................."
I practiced forty minutes one day, one hundred and forty the next, then one hundred, then twenty five. Can you believe that last day?

The practice went really well. The first few songs that I played had little or no error. Then a song with mostly G's. My bad note. He gave me the next level of reed and that cleared up the errors. He said he told a lot of other teachers about me and they were jealous.

My teacher finally got a tenor sax. He said his was in the shop and that he couldn't get it until they fixed it. So yesterday he finally got it. He said he hadn't played it for about ten years, but all saxes are the same, just in a different key.

More Music

I said yesterday I would try to get some songs onto my blog. They're a little late, but here they are.

This song is the one I said on an older post that I played for my teacher. It is the one on the last page. This is Grant Us Peace.



This song when I played it for my teacher said I played it way to fast. Now that I listen to the songs I think I might of played them all to fast. This is Ming Court.



This song I played almost perfect, but my dad was recording me. At the end of this one there is a rest. The song goes longer, but my dad stopped it after the rest. I wasn't able to get the second part and the first part, so here is the first. This is the song that I suggested I play to my teacher. I hope you like Sawmill Creek Part 1.



Packing has been stressful, but we finally got my room done. We have about 80% done I'd say. Today when we were finishing off my room my mom got angry, but I didn't get angry back. This has been a stressful time for us.

Fourth Sax Lesson

I had my fourth sax lesson. It went really well We started out by trying to find out where the back round squeaks were coming from. We adjusted my mouthpiece and the squeaks were gone. I played out of the assigned pages from the book and we worked on dynamics. That is how loud or soft you play.

We finished the first half of the book and at the middle is three songs. I asked if he wanted me to play them (I will try to post one of them tomorrow) and I played along with the computer. What the computer does is take in your notes then with a red or green color says if you made the notes right. I got most and I played a second one and got most again.

My teacher was going through the book and I said that I didn't know how to play the higher notes at first so I practiced out of the back where lower notes were. He said he wanted to hear it and I played him Grant Us Peace which my band teacher said was the hardest song in the book. I will try to bring that one up tomorrow on a post. When I was done he said "This is what happens when you practice forty minutes a day four days a week!"

I don't mean to brag, but he was very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very impressed with my playing. He said "If only some of me other student could hear you play!" Then I said "Well, you could record it." Then we started to laugh (I don't know why).


This practice went very well. I can tell (and so can my parents) that my teacher is very impressed. He said after I played the song from the back "I don't know what to say!"

My teacher went to one of the stores that sells music and he bought the Pink Panther which is from a movie we really like. We paid him $5 for it and today I am going to try and play it. We watched one of the movies last night so I could get a feel for the song.

Third Sax Lesson

I had my third sax lesson. We got there today about the time it was supposed to start (we left late). The room we were supposed to have the lesson in was under construction so it took us a few minutes to find a room. When we did we talked for about two minutes and my mom said I had got up and started walking around the house a little one day playing (which I did). The teacher said maybe we could play standing up so I had my lesson standing up.

I played flawless until the G's came around. The G is the only note I have trouble with. We did a little bit of tightening stuff and some trial and error. We finally got so I don't make as may mistakes.

My dad said that we wanted to buy sheet music and he said that he got a teacher discount so we could ask him to get our music.

Minnesota Zoo

We went to the Mn Zoo for my mom's birthday. In the morning when we all got up we gave my mom a unicorn statue. We saw it at a garage sale and Mom really liked it, but she didn't buy it. Me and my dad went back later and bought. She confessed she saw it when we were moving boxes, but the only harm in that was we didn't get to see the look of surprise on her face.

We got to the zoo around 10:30 and stayed until 5:00. The line to get in was the longest we have ever seen on this day (we come ever year on my mom's birthday). The wait was only about five minutes though. We paid $66 to get in!Most of that was because adult payment to get in is so high and we bought tickets to see a dinosaur movie. T-rex! We started by seeing monkeys and going to the Africa exhibit where they have the bears. We came to a bridge after a while and Mom noticed there were shower sprayers there. I spent about five minutes spraying my self with them. When I was done I was soaked!

When we got to a spot where we could either go to the farm, or the Minnesota Trail we picked the Minnesota Trail and that meant more walking. The wolf exhibit we don't get much excitement out of because the wolves are always hiding. This time though they running around less then a foot away from the glass! We got some pictures, but it was hard because they were moving so fast.

It was a nice day and we were having a nice time until, we got to the Minnesota Trail. That was a amazing. We had asked at the gift shop near the from if they had and wolverines. They didn't even know what a wolverine was! They said they had two after calling a few places and they said it was at the Minnesota Trail. We got there and the closest thing to a wolverine was a wolf. We got that and a huge Mere Cat that was half off with any purchase.

The Trail was cool! The raccoon in the beginning was hiding behind a pile of logs and running out. Then going back behind the logs. The first few animals after that were normal then cam the wolverines. At first I was disappointed because this was what I was looking forward to and the wolverine was sleeping. I walked back to Mom and Dad and when we came back he was running around. We got some good pictures then we rounded the corner there were more wolverines! There were three more and they were posing for us! We must of took twenty pictures of the wolverines. That was probably the most fun part of the trip.We can't see the pictures I took because the digital camera I was using card got full.

At 3:10 the movie was going to play so we left from where we were and got in line first. I went over to the third and final gift shop. Guess what I found. A wolverine! The people gave us the wrong gift shop. Mom was annoyed because we spent $45 on stuffed toys.

The movie was in 3-D. The movie was only forty minutes long so we didn't expect it to be great. It was good but there was not point. A girl was lost in a museum and she kept thinking she was going back in time to the dinosaur ages. My favorite character was a kitten that looked like our cat.

After seeing all the animals we headed home and overall I would say it was a good day. Don't think that was all that we did there though. I didn't put all the details in because that would take to long. I just put in the high lights.

I recorded a few more songs on my saxophone.

This song is called Grandfather's Whiskers. It took awhile, but I can now play it pretty close to perfect.




This song is called Ronde. This was one of the first i could play. Now I can play it really good.



With packing we almost have the basement done now. Mom is working fast because when she gets two jobs she won't be home as much.

Mom has now got two jobs! She will have a total of over twenty five hours which is all we need to get into an apartment. Mom hasn't actually got the twenty to thirty hour job yet, but the way they were acting she is pretty sure that by next week we can get an apartment.

Second Sax Lesson

I had my second saxophone lesson. As I said, I am writing about it right after we got home from it. It's a little late because the internet was running slow, but it is still up the same day.

We got there once again about twenty minutes early. The teacher had just finished his other lesson so we got to go in early. I started to play and after a while of trial and error, we got most if not all the squeaks out. He had me sit up straight. Position my mouth not so far on the reed, and tighten my mouth more. He also said that I could put electrical tape on the mouth piece, that would put less pain on my teeth.

After that it sounded beautiful. I didn't want to stop when the songs or lesson was over. I think tomorrow, or later, I will be putting up more of my songs from the book. At the lessons we're getting pretty far. Some of the songs I'm playing sound really cool.


He I don't think knows though that I have been playing the advanced songs with exceptional sound.

My dad says (my mom wasn't there, at work) that it sounds beautiful when I play.

We finished my play room today in packing. We finally got everything out. Now all we have to do is the ten other rooms. I think we're doing well. We have a few rooms with boxes all around. It looks like we have done a lot.

Polly Woolly Doodle and Country Dance

I have recorded some of my playing on the saxophone and brought it on to youtube.com.

The first tune is the melody to Polly Woolly Doodle. We took some of the pictures we got from zoos and used them for the backround. I sugested a saxophone, but dad put these in.



The next song is not very long. Shorter than the first. I hope you like Country Dance. The same goes for the pictures as for the first.



There are a few other songs I can play, but Dad said I had to play them as best as I could before bringing them to youtube. Some of the more advanced songs I can play, but with a mistake every now and then.

Today me, my dad, and Mom are all pooped out because we took a long bike ride in the morning. It was 80 degrees which wasn't problem, we were going fast enough we had a breeze blowing on us. The distance wasn't a problem either. The problem was that there were three huge hills. We were all tired after those hills. I had a good idea to put water from our water bottles all over our heads. That was a breeze!

First Sax Lesson

I had my first saxophone lesson last night at 6:30. We arrived early because the traffic wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. I got to ask the teacher how to play the higher notes. It turned out it was what I thought it was, I was just doing it wrong.

We were able to change the lessons to 3:00 so now I will be able to write about them when I get home (unless Dad won't let me).

He asked me first what i could do, and because I couldn't play the higher notes I told him I couldn't play the beginning pages. That was soon resolved. He told me what the button was I had to push, and it turns out I was sitting wrong. He told me that I had to practice tonging.

We went through the first few pages of the book I brought to help start out and he said "It's amazing how much you are ahead of the average student!" or something to that meaning. Then he said I should practice some of the pages with articulation over the week. I said "I try to practice twenty minutes a day." He laughed then said "It's like pulling teeth to get some of my other students to practice." We took the CD out of the book and out it into the CD player and I could play along to the song. The song was played very fast and I messed up and had to stop playing. He said "That's O.K. You shouldn't be able to play that fast yet. If you could, that would be great!" I found out what I did wrong though, I have a tendency to not arc my left hand. That pushes down on some buttons making it sound bad.

He left to get a practice sheet and I played the song again , but with no mistakes and as fast as the CD. It turns out I have to use a different reed because the one I'm using got chipped. He told me that I had my reed positioned wrong, well I got that from him. Because he told me the way to position the reed and I had it wrong.

There is a possibility that I will be going to that collage when I get old enough.

Very soon I think I will ask my dad if I can record my playing and put it on my blog.

We are still doing a lot of packing. We ran out of boxes so Dad had to go to the store to get more. My mom's a little angry and confused about why he has to spend $100 on boxes, but I told her we need all the boxes we can get. We have alot of stuff. So far we don't even have one room totally finished.

We're doing the family room now, but it's taking a while. One reason because nobody wants to do it. My dad says we have to do it, then everyso often he goes to his blog. My mom says we have to do it and when we do sometimes she does the laundry. Even I do it sometimes. I say "We have to do it! You guys keep saying we have to do it, now let's pack!" Then I go off and play war or watch T.V. Even bother the cat sometimes.

It's not fun, even depressing at times, but we have to get this packing done. My mom says "Well we have a month" It was two months not to long ago. Soon it will be time to move.

Como Again

We went to Como Zoo for Fathers Day. This trip I would say went better because the weather was nicer. It was kind of cool and there was a light rain. That felt really good after walking a long time. We got some pictures for Firestar's Virtual Image Zoo. One of them even has me in it (Mom too).

Today in about half and hour we will leave to go to my first sax lesson.

We are doing a lot of packing now that moving comes closer. We just finished taping a few boxes together and putting our movies in it. I got all my computer games for the Wii and Gamecube in a box, and Firestar has been having tons of fun exploring the new open space.

Not much to write now. Tomorrow I will write about my lesson.

Alone

My mom said that I could go to a huge grocery store by myself on Thursday June 18. I was at the store helping my mom and she noticed that the cash register had no change left in it. She said, "Would you be so kind to go over to the grocery store and buy two paper towels with twenties? Make sure you buy them separately so we get more change." The store was about one hundred yards away so it was no big deal.

I went to the store and went in search of the paper towels (they were also in need of paper towels). I forgot that they moved the towels to the other side of the football field length store. I walked to the wrong end and was confused looking through every aisle. I saw at the total end of the store the paper towels and got them in about ten minutes. It should of taken me five, but I forgot they moved them.

By chance there were people at both self checkouts so I waited casually. I was waiting with my back to the checkouts and I saw a bax of doughnuts for $1.99. My mom said I could get anything under three dollars, but had to pay with a twenty. So I got the doughnuts.

The self checkout took awhile because I was going to fast for it. After about ten minutes I was able to buy everything with three twenty dollar bills and get out.

My saxophone skills are coming along pretty good now. I can play almost any song that t go to high because I can't play the higher notes. In the book we bought I can play the hard songs, but not the easy. The easy ones use higher notes, and I'm not sure what one of the symbols mean. The hard ones use lower notes, and I consider myself to be pretty good at those.

I can play the melodie to this on the saxophone. This was the only version I could find that was good, and we just watched a movie with this person in it, so this is what I picked.

Saxophone Teacher

We found out that there are a lot of teachers for the sax. My band teacher said that he knows the one at Northwestern Colleage so we will be going there Monday June 22 for practice.

My playing has been coming along well. I am learning to play different notes and I can now play songs out of the book we got for the sax.

My mom is now quiting one of her jobs because they aren't giving her enough hours, but she has already got another job. This job does not pay as much, but as I say, would you rather have $9.00 an hour five hours a week. Or $7.00 an hour forty hours a week.

This is short of what my sax looks like.

Saxophone!

Saturday June 13th We went to music store to look at some saxophones. Our garage sale ended for the week and we thought we could get a saxophone. We got to the store and saw the brand we wanted, but for almost twice as much as expected.

It was $2899 for a good one it looked like. We only had about $2000. We rented one though. To rent one we have to pay $60 dollars a month for 12 months, but the payment goes to any sax. We got the brand we wanted, but a student line. The girl said a student line would be good to start.

So we now have a sax that the proffesional said was scary how fast I was picking it up.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!

Today (Thursday 6/4/09) was the last day of school! Me and my friends had great fun today.

In first hour (science) we went outside and had a snowball fight with wadded up pieces of paper.

In second hour (band) we watched our concert (which was on Tuesday 6/2/09 and I will ask my dad if we can put it up) and my and a friend were making finger shadows on a wall half the time.

At lunch I talked a lot to annoy a friend which took a lot of my breath away.

In third hour (art) we watched the short fills before animated movies (about two minutes long).

Fourth hour (language arts) we finished a speaking thing we were doing and wrote down with every letter of the alphabet something about it.

Social (fifth hour) we went outside and said things that we remembered about what we learned and played three corners (four corners but with three).

Sixth hour (math) we helped our teacher move stuff from his room to my language teacher's room. I carried big poster boards to her room, and with no help had to lift them up about ten feet. Each one had to weigh twenty pounds. Our math teacher in the middle of the year said he went to space camp. So today someone printed out an astronaut picture, and we put our teacher's face on it. All of us signed it and we gave it to him. I got the impression he didn't like it. At the end of the hour, we all started to chant summer, summer, summer, and when the bell rang we jumped in the air and screamed and yelled.

This school day was pretty good.

Our garage sale has been up for two days now, this is the third. We made about $150 the first day and $200 the second day! Today we haven't made very much, but that's how it goes. Overall we have made around $400. If you add my money, we have $831.75 about. That's getting close to halfway to the sax!

Garage Sale and a New Saxophone Are Linked

We are having a garage sale this month, and probably throughout the summer. If in this garage sale we make around $2000 my dad said we certainly would go out and buy a tenor saxophone from a music store we have been going to.

I have been wanting to get a sax for quite some time now. We just don't have very much money. I first got my interest in saxes at the end of 4th grade. Band didn't start until 5th grade, but at the end of 4th grade we got to try three instruments and pick the one we liked best. I tried the tuba, baritone, and sax. I picked the tuba. I don't mean to brag, but both my band instructor and his wife, who taught band at the elementary school, say I am very good, far ahead of my fellow students. When I asked my band teacher if I could get lessons from him for the sax, he got nervous. He got nervous because he thought I was changing from the tuba to the sax. The reason that made him nervous was that a good tuba player doesn't come around too often, and he said that the tuba is an important instrument in a band.

I got it straightened out that I only wanted to learn how to play the sax and was asking if I could get private lessons from him. He said when you want to play an instrument that your not going to play in band you have to get lessons elsewhere. So now we are going to try to get lessons from the music store.

My band teacher said to tell him what type of sax we were going to get before we got it, and the price, so he could say if it was a good deal. We gave him three types when we went so one of those should be good. When we went the guy there let me hold one of the saxes I was going to play, a tenor. It was really heavy, but not as much as the tuba.

So in a few weeks, maybe a few months, we will likely be buying a saxophone.