Blog Master G

I played the alto sax from fifth through twelfth grades. I was never very good at it, but I enjoyed it. I was in all kinds of bands, including orchestra (yes, on sax, playing cello parts) and marching band (my freshman year of high school). In college, I signed up for sax lessons and went to class for one day. I then decided that I was interested in too many other things (the newspaper, track, skiing, partying), so that was that.

Giving up the sax was never a decision I regretted because I realized somewhere along the way that I’m actually tone deaf. Yes, I honestly have no idea if an instrument is in tune or not. All those years of playing the sax when my music teachers would ask me if I thought my sax was sharp or flat, it’s not that I didn’t try; I simply didn’t know. So I guessed. It’s all I could do. Sometimes I was right. Sometimes I was wrong. But I was never in tune, so my odds of guessing right were fifty-fifty.

I always played from sheet music and think I may even have had a coveted solo from time to time. I seem to recall having tried out for jazz band at various points along the way, but was never good enough to get in. I was in pep band in high school, though, but you didn’t have to try out for that.

Jordan can attest to all this. He played alto sax alongside me in high school, but he was always much better at it than I was. I wonder if he still plays. Or if any of my old bandmates still do.

So last night we were out with some friends to hear Garland sing some awesome soul music at City Tavern and I met this guy Matt, who plays the drums. It came up that not only had I played the sax back in the day, but I still had my sax. There was talk of getting together to jam. I warned him that I suck and am tone deaf. He said that was cool. Tonight we might jam.

I grabbed my sax from the basement this afternoon and started to make some noise. The dogs came running at first, curious. Then they ran away, afraid. Had I not ambushed Jen in the kitchen amidst her cooking, she probably would have run away, too.

If you so dare, you can get a taste of my sax-playing skills (or lack thereof) by listening to my very own rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb, fresh out of the recording studio (and having not played the sax in nearly ten years).