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You're saying you wouldn't make demands than listing all these demands you would have for your imaginary band.
It's very hard to find adults with the time to make music. I think it's better to work with who you can find then to dismiss them as an idiot because they need a sheet for a song you called.
If I know a song, I find it very easy to transpose on the fly. It's a fundamental skill with this kind of music.
OP and his friend aren't professionals, they just starting out, you can tell because of the question they asked.
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06-28-2024 11:32 AM
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Very nice of you. What's she doing for you?
Originally Posted by scout
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She's showing up to play. Originally Posted by ragman1
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Jesus, he's in love!
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If you’d ever played regularly with a group of other people, then you’d know that the answer to this question is an unequivocal yes. Originally Posted by ragman1
And again, we’re not talking about unprepared idiots. We’re talking about bringing a saxophone player the music that properly reflects the buttons they’re supposed to depress on their instruments at the correct time.
Should I be able to muddle through in bass clef? Sure. Should I be able to make sense of a piano score? Sure. Should I be able to transpose to the correct octave? Yes.
Will I roll my eyes and consider the leader unprofessional if they invite me to play and hand me the wrong part? Sure will.
So to the illustrious ragman, I would say … just because you didn’t hear their opinion of you doesn’t mean they didn’t form one.
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One long time working pro I know keeps a bunch of Ipads loaded with a zillion charts. On a gig, he hands you an Ipad.
He has Bb and Eb versions of everything. He only hires pros. Probably most of them can transpose on the fly -- but he doesn't ask them to do that. Rather, he gives them the proper charts for their instruments.
Why do that? One reason is that transposing creates an opportunity for errors. Not every chart is in Bb. What if you're asking a Bb instrument to transpose a concert chart in the key of E? Or one with a lot of oddball accidentals?
When I have horn players I discuss the transposition issue in the first phone call. I have Bb and Eb books, but only for a subset of my Concert charts. So, I want to know how they will fare with reading Concert charts. For most, but not all, they aren't quite as good when they have to transpose.
If the OP is organizing the session and wants to play with a horn player who isn't comfortable transposing, then I'd suggest that the OP get the needed charts in the needed keys. Unless it's RB, in which case the horn players should have their own copies -- and even then you have to talk about which edition.
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Yea I would also say... once you start playing more gigs ... not to mentioned with vocalist. Generally we are expected to be able to transpose changes.... most guitarist aren't expected to transpose melodic lines that are difficult to just sight read.
It's just getting into the practice of doing it. The earlier you start ... the easier it will become. I know I had to read from a Bb part or book before. Even way back in the 70's ...college days in Berklee ensembles.
I've had vocalist go into different songs after an intro etc.. this was like live at gigs. And most vocalist have their sweet ranges etc. Again the more you do it... the easier it gets.
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Thank God for things like MuseScore! When I used to write out charts before, It used to drive me buggers to transpose the sax section into the right key and also the right octave.
The brass was much easier to write for; same thing with the flute, piano and bass.
I just finished writing out a transcription of an alto player's recording of a tune, and he chose to play the tune in Ab rather than the standard sheet music I had for the tune, which was in F, so I still had to do some transposing of the changes .
But in the end, I had to transcribe all the parts from the record, because the sax player did his own arr. of the tune, with different changes, so the sheet music from the Real Book was totally useless.
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Seems as though I've started as discussion... a lively and well mannered one too .
Here's the situation regarding Julie and I
I've been in and out of bands for 40 years .. Rock,Punk,New Wave,Blues,Cover Bands,Irish Traditional,Pub Rock ,Original songs etc.
For the last 4 years or so,I've been learning to play and sing these great old Standards.Modern pop/radio/MTV music bores me to tears and I'm loving the challenge of the Standards.I don't do solos,just play the chords and sing.
Julie lives about 200 miles away and only comes up here about once a month.. she's been playing Sax for about a year and is very keen on it.
No-one around here likes Swing Jazz so it was good to meet someone else into this Music.. otherwise,it's just me and the Labrador in the shed.I'm OK with that,but to have a melody instrument onboard is really nice.That's why I'm keen to make her job a bit easier by saving her the labours of transposing.She's got some instruction on that from her music teacher ,enjoys the challenge and says it's good for her brain.I hope to have a couple of tunes ready for when we next meet.I really like 'The way you look Tonight' ,that'll be then next tune to access.
So that's our lot..thanks for all your inputs.
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Sounds like you both should get real books. It’s the perfect tool for casual once a month sessions.
Not great if you want to play NYC gigs 7 nights a week, but perfect to pick some tunes and have a little fun playing.
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I'm sure they'd be good for us Allan,but they're SO expensive ..$230.00 for both books here in Australia
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Our man here ,PCJAZZ ,sent me a link to two Fakebooks that I think will keep us happy for many a year .
Cheers mate ..
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Oh, I didn’t realize you were down under. I’m sure PCJAZZ has you covered.
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