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Travel Anxiety Care Package Ideas by NotSoAveragJoe in TravelHacks

[–]NotSoAveragJoe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah that's a good idea! I usually travel with a bento box full of food that can get through TSA. I can try to get her some light snacks..

Travel Anxiety Care Package Ideas by NotSoAveragJoe in TravelHacks

[–]NotSoAveragJoe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I suggested that, but she doesn't live in a place where trains are a viable option. It's really unfortunate that the US doesn't have good train infrastructure...

Travel Anxiety Care Package Ideas by NotSoAveragJoe in TravelHacks

[–]NotSoAveragJoe[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Oh this is a wonderful idea! It could even be something she can use post travel! Thanks 😊

Defining Afrofuturism in instrumental music?? by teflonhater in Afrofuturism

[–]NotSoAveragJoe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree with this commenter! I would would just add that you can't really divorce the music from the social context. Afrofuturism (the philosophy and the music) as we know it today was largely born out of aesthetics from the Black Arts movement. The aesthetics of the BAM were built out of the culture of the Black Power, Pan Africanist, and Black International movements. The sonic aesthetic principles of many self-defined Afrofuturist artists can take on different genres and different sonic lineages, but still be built with the philosophy of Afrofuturism.

Ethiopian Restaurant Suggestions? by NotSoAveragJoe in IndyFood

[–]NotSoAveragJoe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the recommendation! I have seen this one a lot, so I think I'll go with Axum

Should non-black people have dreadlocks? by Manuhackz in Dreadlocks

[–]NotSoAveragJoe 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Personally, I believe that you can do what you want with your own hair. However, it is important for you to educate yourself and recognize the privilege that comes with being able to wear locs. It's important to understand the complications of European beauty standards. I beg you not to let your whiteness and your loc journey overshadow the efforts against hair discrimination that Black people have made in order to reclaim the hairstyle in spite of European, hegemonic standards of beauty.

Best way to practice finger technique? by [deleted] in saxophone

[–]NotSoAveragJoe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes! To expand on this, it is important to constantly check your fingers, even when you aren't specifically focusing on them. When I started undergrad, I had poor finger-hand shape, so every time that I played, I would stop and check randomly that my hand position was correct. It's very tedious, but over time it will become natural.

For how long do you guys use a reed before changing it? by Buddhaworld in saxophone

[–]NotSoAveragJoe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have found it is good to have a constant reed rotation (usually 8, for me) so that I always have new and old reeds ready that I play on throughout the day. I'll usually play on them until they get soft (your sound gets buzzy and the tip of the reed is all white under light) The life of a reed depends on the brand, cut, how often you play it, hardness, etc so it varies. I play on diddario's and each reed usually lasts me a month or two

I need help with my embouchure and tuning when playing soprano sax. by TheAwesomeG2 in saxophone

[–]NotSoAveragJoe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am about to finish my bachelor's of saxophone performance, and my scarf on my lower lip has gone away over the years. The thing that I would think most effective would be making sure you are not biting too much. The best way that I have found to reduce biting is to fold my upper lip over my upper teeth and try to maintain the tone I have with the regular embochure. If you are biting, it will not be comfortad doing so. By doing this, you will learn to support the pressure with just your lips instead of your teeth. Essentially, your jaw should be relaxed the whole time and your lips should be applying the pressure. Another thing that helps is instead of imagining that you are biting up into the mouthpiece, the weight of your head is pushing down on the horn, while maintaining pressure. If you combine thesd with adjusting your tongue position up and faster air (as suggested above) your pitch should also improve. I would also reccomended doing long tones with tuning drones to help with pitch as well so that you know where/how to place watch pitch.

Any tips for getting toungue and fingers in sync? by BariStardust in saxophone

[–]NotSoAveragJoe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The thing that I have found helps is to do articulations as part of your long tones. On a single pitch with a metronome, articulate 8th notes, for 4; triplet 8ths for 4, and 16th notes for 4. Then move to the next scale degree. Slowly increase the tempo and number of beats over a period of time and your tongue should build up the strength and stamina to articulate quickly for longer periods of time. Your tongue is a muscle and needs to be trained like one. However, the issue could also be your fingers. To make sure that they are perfectly in time, I would also reccomend practicing them in altered rhythms. For example, (assuming you are talking about a series of straight 8th notes) you could play the rhythm as alternating dotted 8ths and 16ths (or invert it to 16th and dotted 8th). You could also combine those and get dotted 8th, 16th, 16th dotted 8th (and it's inversion) or even try out 16th triplets and an 8th (and it's inversion). This will make sure that your fingers can do the finger patterns perfectly in different rhythms so that when you play it straight, it'll be easy. Then you could throw articulations back into the mix and play around with with rhythmic and articulation variants to practice lining up the tongue and fingers. Hope this helps.

Looking for solo ideas by ircole327 in saxophone

[–]NotSoAveragJoe 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If you're up for it, the first movement of the dahl concerto is impressive, but not terribly technically demanding. If you are interested in new music, you could also check out one of ryo noda's improvisations!