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Quote by Eleanor Catton

“The saxophone is the cocaine of the woodwind family, the sax teacher continues. Saxophonists are admired because they are dangerous, because they have explored a darker, more sinister side of themselves.”

Quote by Eleanor Catton

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Author

Eleanor Catton
Eleanor Catton

Eleanor Catton is a New Zealand author born on September 24, 1985, in Wellington. She gained international recognition when her second novel "The Luminaries" won the Man Booker Prize in 2013, making her one of the youngest winners in the prize's history at age 28. Known for her intricate narrative structures and historical settings, Catton's writing combines mystery, history, and literary experimentation, establishing her as one of contemporary literature's most innovative voices. more

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“After a few sips, he picked up his sax and started jamming with the storm. Most days, Rivers meditated twice, when he awoke and again in the evening before writing or reading. But he still found a special relaxation and renewal in solitary playing. Contemplation through music was different from other reflective experiences, in part, because his visual associations were set free to mutate, morph, and meander; while the other senses were occupied in fierce concentraction on breathing, blowing, fingering, and listening. Within the flow of this activity, his awareness would land in different states of consciousness, different phases of time, and easily moved between revisualization of experience and its creation. The playing dislodged hidden feelings, primed him for recognizing the habitually denied, sheathed the sword of lnaguage, and loosened the shield and armor of his character. His contemplative playing purged him of worrisome realities, smelted off from his center the dross of eperience, and on those rare and cherished days, left only the refinement of flickering fire. Although he was more aware of his emotions, the music and dance of thought kept them at arm’s length, Wordsworth’s “emotion recollected in tranquility.” . . . As he played, his mind’s eye became the fisher’s bobber, guided by a line of sound around the driftwood of thought, the residue of his life, which materialized from nowhere and sank back into nothingness without his weaving them into any insistent pattern of order and understanding. He was momentarily freed of logical sequencing, the press of premises, the psycho-logic of primary process, the throb of Thought pulsing in and through him, and in billions of mind/bodies, now and throughout time, belonging each to each, to none, to no one, to Everyone, rocking back and forward in an ebb and flow of wishes, fears, and goals. He fished free of desire, illusion, or multiplicity; distant from the hook, the fisher, the fish; but tethered still on the long line of music, until it snagged on an immovable object, some unquestioned assumption, or perhaps a stray consummation, a catch in the flow of creation and wonder.”

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“A memory of her father flitted through her consciousness. The time he played a slow, melodic tune on the saxophone in the misty rain of the yard on a summer’s night, surrounded by the patio’s twinkling lights. She remembered peering out the window and feeling like she was catching a glimpse of another world. One that was timeless and majestic. She touched his saxophone after that as if she were touching the hand of God, wishing to hold onto that feeling forever.”

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“Physical Attributes Are there physical attributes that make one person more successful at playing the saxophone than another? In a word, no. A fuller bottom lip may need to be tucked farther over the bottom teeth, and an underbite or overbite will require some adjustment of the top teeth on the mouthpiece, but I have never felt a student was further ahead or behind based upon physical attributes. . . .”

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“Is It Easy to Play? Weeelll. Yes. And No. It is easy to produce a sound on a saxophone. That is part of its popularity. Seldom does a student not produce a sound in the first lesson. . . . And therein lies part of the challenge for the saxophone. It plays too easily. . . . The saxophone will respond to a wimpy puff of air—and will sound like it. Developing a good tone means developing a good ear that demands the necessary air speed to create that sound. . . .”

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“Pads Leaking If students are having trouble with notes not speaking, especially as they go down the horn, chances are they have one or more leaky pads. A leak light will confirm this, and the work I’m going to describe here really can’t be done without a leak light. If one side of the pad is sealing and the other side is leaking, the key is slightly bent. First check the bases of the posts these keys are connected to, making sure there are no bends or dents causing the keys to be out of alignment. I also like to take the neckpiece off and look down the inside wall of the body. If the horn has been dropped or knocked off a chair, there may not be visible dents, but by looking down the inside you may see that the body is bending to one side or the other. In either case, the horn will need to be sent to a qualified repairman for some major work. If no damage is visible, you can adjust the key back to being flat with a couple of simple tools.”

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“Did you reflect on Cook's arrival and rue the day we were discovered and curse the coming of foreign sailors with bodies soaked in the blights of London sewers? Giving this cruel treasure to our unblemished women? Did you think of this and rage and want to kill? Did you remember all the insults down the years from French, British and American alike Did you remember the threat of their guns? I was not there during those dark days of anguish and confusion when the palace shook with intrigue and rumor that the greedy determined men downtown were plotting your ruin and demise of our nation. --from "Manawaʻino”

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