26 Comments

Absolutely terrific post, Terry - I'd been saving it up to read and it's been a real treat. Reflective, thought-provoking, funny, insightful and delightfully musical.

Hurrah for getting desqueaked - that must have been a relief!

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Thanks very much, Rebecca. Yes, being desqueaked has been a high point of my life. I'm really glad that it was a technical problem, rather than something I wasn't doing or doing.

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Nice to finally hear your sax playing and your voice. You might have posted both before but I'm trying to catch up with all your posts. We always think we know what someone sounds like until we actually hear them talk. Those overseas accents always throw me for a loop. 😁

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Thanks Matthew. I haven’t played on here before, but i linked to a recording of me giving a talk in a post called the girl with long hair

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As on other social media platforms, I just scroll on past, but I hear you on the whack-a-mole. Blowhard seems a fitting adjective here. Your sax practice recording was truly delightful. I identified the song and everything! Good you got the squeak fixed. I deeply appreciated the exploration of what any musician is trying to say with their instrument. Exactly that!

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Blowhard: 🤣 Thanks for kind words regarding saxophone, Elizabeth. Do you play then?

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Just curious—is there such an instrument as a floor sax??? Your prolific writing has momentus moments which I still feel after closing your post. Merci.

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I think you must be thinking of the contrabass saxophone, which is an octave lower than the baritone sax. It's huge. Thanks for the lovely comment, Jill.

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Loved this today, Terry. Great work on the sax. It was very interesting to hear the back and forth between you and the instructor. He seems likes just the right kind of teacher.

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Thanks very much, Jim. Yes, it feels almost like an apprenticeship.

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The floor piano clip was a real ‘performance’. Art takes many forms. A very musical post.

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It's wonderful, isn't it.

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Nice playing, Terry, and one of my favorite tunes! I was going to say “one of my favorite tunes and you managed not to screw it up,” but that would have been unkind.

Your saxophone work is encouraging as I squeak through clarinet practice, but I’m not going to touch “Valentine” for a long time. Diligence is all!

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Thanks very much. Well, I DID screw it up, but like everyone all i notice is the mistakes. I do sometimes squeak by accidentally playing overtones. I've found the only way to improve is to understand WHY it's happening and then just keep on dealing with it. Dead boring, but then it suddenly comes right. Forgive me: I'm probably telling you stuff you already know.

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I don’t know anything! I’m just beginning, so please tell me stuff. And I didn’t know about te Sonny Rollins book either. That is now near the top of my TBR.

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I'm a beginner too! I just look at a lot of YouTube videos and keep trying different suggestions. 😁

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At one year of age I designed a nasa rocket at two I learned how to pee in the toilet. At three I discovered the secrets of the universe. At four I fell down the stairs and hit my head. The world’s loss. Lovely to hear you play the sax! Hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

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🤣🤣 thanks very much, Jeanne. And you too 😁

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What a banquet you gave us this morning. I was so delighted to hear you play after all this procrastination and persiflage. I replayed it three times. Beautiful, Terry! I look forward to the next track.

"All I want to do is read good stuff, and have people read my stuff, without all this extraneous persiflage." It's a matter of making one decision, isn't it, Terry? And if we turn off notes, we have so much more time to write. And read.

"...perhaps giving people a reason to laugh in these troubled times is no bad thing." Understatement of the year!

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Oh, thanks, Sharron. You played it three times?? So you ARE a masochist then! Thanks. Chortle. I didn't know you can turn off Notes. I shall have to look into that. I read that you can avoid Notes by not using the app, but the app is so convenient.

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(I use the app but usually go straight to my inbox or comments section. I might just glance at the top note or two because that’s where the app opens, but I’m not interested in generic social media (and simply don’t have time) so I just focus on the posts.)

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Very sensible, Beth.

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Your honesty is greatly appreciated. I detest holiday parties, too. And the romance is more about a young woman (and the young man, too, a little) trying to figure out how to make her supposed dream job more enjoyable. And glad you enjoy my writing.

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Oh, that sounds OK. I hope the fact that I was upfront about not having read yours and not liking that genre (as a rule) means that people won't be deterred from buying it.

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Yeah, your comments were great and quite humorous. Thanks for the mention!

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My pleasure 😀

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