It’s only a few years ago, that it would be impossible for a sax player in England to collaborate with someone across the world – in Singapore, for example.
Now, playing saxophone with other musicians anywhere in the world is easier than you might think.
In Sax School, we’re helping thousands of saxophone players every day. But the thing that blows my mind is how our members are connecting and doing exciting projects together. Janet, From England, and Alice from Singapore are doing amazing things inside our Sax School membership right now.
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So today I’m chatting Janet and Alice to find out about their new YouTube project, the Saxsation Duo. I want to know how they’re using the community within Sax School to boost their playing and their progress, and also have a whole lot of fun.
So let’s dig into this interview and I’ll catch you up at the end.
Finding Sax School
Janet was initially self-taught on saxophone, until a friend recommended Sax School 5 years ago. “It was just great to have all the different styles of song choices to work on,” says Janet. “And nobody had taught me properly about vibrato, so I looked up the lesson, and worked from there. It’s just good that you can pick and choose what you want to do… at your own pace.”
Although she’s an accomplished sax player, Alice has been playing for just a few years, and joined Sax School in 2019. “I often browse YouTube and try to learn new techniques…. I came across Sax School and then I joined”.
Playing saxophone together
Alice and Janet have both made amazing progress with Sax School. And they’ve really embraced our Sax School Community, getting involved in loads of collaboration projects. I wanted to know how they got started with playing saxophone together, across the world.
“Alice approached me, and asked if I’d like to do a duet.,” says Janet.
“Janet put a fantastic video playing ‘Golden Hours’ by Dave Koz,” explains Alice. “I love Dave Koz, so I reached out to Janet and asked if she would share the score with me. Then I suggested we do a duet of a Chinese song. And that was the first song we did.”
That was the first of many collaborations between Janet and Alice, both together and with other Sax School members. They’ve been involved in really big projects, playing saxophone with loads of other members.
The saxophone collaboration process
For most people this might sound a bit mind-blowing. How do you get started playing saxophone with someone on the other side of the world? I asked Janet and Alice to break down the process of creating a collaboration project like this.
“First we decide which song we’re going to do,” explains Janet. “Usually it’s for a single saxophone player, so we’ll work through the music and I’ll try and add a harmony – because I’m enjoying that side – trying to develop arrangements.”
The next stage is to begin recording the song. “We take it in turns to do the first recording, and send it to the other person to add their part.”
Once the audio is mixed, Janet and Alice create a video to accompany their track, to share in our Sax School Community and on their YouTube Channel. ” We usually video ourselves in front of a green screen nowadays, and then edit it together.”
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Learning process
Listening to Janet and Alice talk about this process – green screen, audio recording, making a video – they make it sound like it’s a piece of cake! But these are all new skills they’ve learned, playing saxophone together.
“During Lockdown, when I started to put the videos together, I shouted so much at my computer!” says Janet. “I was learning, watching YouTube videos, and figuring out how to do it. I’m quite basic in what I can do. Alice can do more effects than I can.”
“I started the same time during a lockdown time in 2020,” says Alice. “I didn’t know how to do video editing, or audio editing. So I start learning bit by bit. And coincidentally, Janet and I use the same software – Wondershare Filmora.“
If you’re new to video editing, Alice recommends Filmora as a good place to start. “It’s pretty easy for newbies like us,” she says.
Alice and Janet have learned a lot of production skills, which was never really the intention, but it’s wonderful how that’s blossomed. It’s something that loads of our Sax School members are doing now.
Arranging and harmony
It’s great to see Janet and Alice experimenting with arranging as well. I asked Janet about the process for creating a harmony part.
“I’ll normally record the whole thing and then I’ll play that back as I’m playing,” says Janet. “Thirds are a good start, so either a third above or a third below. And then I play along and then see what works and what doesn’t. Depending on the chord structure, the thirds don’t always works. So then it’s just a case of playing around, and seeing what fits”.
After Janet has refined her harmony part, she writes it out, which is another great learning process.
Alice is also getting involved with creating harmony parts, supported by Janet. “I did part of the harmony for a recent song – ‘The Shadow of Your Smile’…. I consulted Janet, and she gave me lots of constructive advice., and then I could improve it It’s acceptable, I think!”
I love the whole process of learning when it’s of a project, the way that Janet and Alice are collaborating on playing saxophone together. It’s much more fun to learn in this way, when there’s a purpose, and I think you learn faster too.
Creating a YouTube Channel
Alice and Janet have started collecting their collaboration videos together in their new Saxsation Duo YouTube channel.
Recently they’ve posted a video which includes the music as well, creating a tutorial video. I asked Janet and Alice about their plans for their channel.
“Janet and I had done a couple of videos, and we didn’t want them to go to waste,” says Alice. “So we started the YouTube channel to collect all these videos together…and then we had the idea to make an interactive score so other people can play saxophone along with us.”
“If you can’t join a band or a group, it can be quite lonely just playing saxophone on your own,” explains Janet. “And with these interactive videos, they can have a go at playing with other people. And it sounds fuller than just playing the piece on your own.”
“One thing I find when we’re playing saxophone in a duet, our timing must be absolutely accurate,” says Alice. “So that’s why I suggested making an interactive score so people can follow, and get the timing right.”
It’s really exciting that Alice and Janet are not just producing a video for themselves, but creating something that other people can benefit from too. I’m excited to see their new content and how their channel grows. We’ll certainly be sharing it inside Sax School, and we’ve got thousands of people in there who I know will enjoy seeing their videos.
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Being a Sax School Member
As a teacher, I love seeing Sax School members like Janet and Alice developing their playing, their musicality and their connections. So I wanted to know the best thing about being part of Sax School, from their perspective.
“It’s communicating with the whole Community,” says Janet, “and putting the videos on the Facebook group certainly builds up your confidence.”
“I’m fortunate to play with other bands, so that does help as well,… right now I’m trying to focus in improvisation. And last night I had a gig with the band, and I just stood up and I played a blue scale improv solo. And the band leader said ‘oh, you’re coming along now’. Little things like that just boost your confidence. And once you start it makes you want to progress.”
Like Janet, Alice also enjoys being part of the Sax School Community. “Of course, I enjoy the wide variety of songs in the Sax school library, and I particularly enjoy the communication and connection with the Sax School members in the Community. And that gives me the motivation to keep on going because I’m alone here. It motivates me to play better.”
Alice finds playing saxophone with other members really helps with motivation.I want to play better…. especially when I collaborate with other members. I have to make sure I play better, and I live up to their expectations. So that’s a drive there!”
Although Alice is an accomplished player in her own right, she learns a lot from playing saxophone with Janet. And that’s one of the great things about our Sax School Community – the way that players can learn from each other.
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Achieving your saxophone goal
It’s inspiring to hear what Janet and Alice are doing.
But there are so many other students in Sax School who are doing similar things -and this could be your story too.
Because I’m sure you’ve got a goal on your saxophone. Maybe you want to start a YouTube channel like Janet and Alice. Maybe you just want to learn some songs to play for yourself or for your family and friends.
Whatever your goals are, to get there, you need to have the right lessons, the right support from tutors, and that Community around you that Janet and Alice were talking about – to get that goal going.
And if you want to check out how Sax School can help you with all of that, right now we are running a 14-day free trial.
It’s a brilliant way to see what we’re doing inside Sax School and to start to get some help from our tutors.
You can connect with the Community and see what amazing things you could do with your saxophone playing too.
I’d love to start helping you inside Sax School. Click here to start your 14 day trial.