tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13630144.post115636191470780594..comments2023-12-04T09:29:06.375-08:00Comments on Casa Valdez Studios: Bis key and saxophone hellDavid Carlos Valdezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02338319345488366328noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13630144.post-31381442520850296492010-01-28T22:40:12.912-08:002010-01-28T22:40:12.912-08:00I learned on side Bb just like everybody else. Th...I learned on side Bb just like everybody else. Then Jackie McLean told us all to use the bis. I don't remember his exact words, but it was more or less that the side Bb would slow you down.<br /><br />Two decades later, I still use bis for Bb in all situations and all keys, except the occasional trill. Lots of altissimo with side-Bb, of course.<br /><br />I don't think bis has to be anybody's dark secret. It's right there at your fingertip. The side-Bb is just a little bit out of the way. Rolling Bb to B you just get the hang of. I could never go back to side-Bb. But in the end, I suppose personal preference prevails.Kevin Danenberghttp://www.kevindanenberg.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13630144.post-69545538021122773482007-01-04T01:26:00.000-08:002007-01-04T01:26:00.000-08:00Gandalf,
In the end your instructors are correct....Gandalf, <br />In the end your instructors are correct. Ideally there should be a balance there, more bis useage than classical players use and more side Bb than me and Lee Konitz. I keep hitting the side Bb on my tenor and actually considered corking it closed. I decided to just bend the key down a little.David Carlos Valdezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02338319345488366328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13630144.post-63525721279149914822007-01-03T20:35:00.000-08:002007-01-03T20:35:00.000-08:00Gawd, this I'm gonna show to my sax instructors! I...Gawd, this I'm gonna show to my sax instructors! I'm a late bloomer that went to all the wrong schools in high school. I only used the 1 + 1 fingering. Thirty years later I start up again and I am luvin' the bis key trick. I still try to make the side Bb flat work, but only because it makes my instructors happy. ;o)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13630144.post-1157842321111276842006-09-09T15:52:00.000-07:002006-09-09T15:52:00.000-07:00Now, that was another great posting!! I struggled...Now, that was another great posting!! I struggled for years playing the side Bb, always sounding kind of awkward going from Bb to C. A saxophone teacher was watching me play something in Db or Ab and asked me if I wanted to try doing things differently. It seems that he had gotten in a big argument with Lee Konitz about the bis-key and Lee Konitz proceeded to ask him to show him any technically difficult passages that he thought didn't work on the bis-key. <BR/><BR/>For a half hour he said that Lee Konitz just played circles around him while he tried to prove that all of these chromatic type passages could only be played with side-A. At the end, Lee Konitz just started playing rapid fire chromatic stuff from G on up through D and Eb and back.<BR/><BR/>He told me to go away and practice all of my flat keys with the bis-key, even though he didn't use it. I came back and have never looked back.MonksDreamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01925609181536862036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13630144.post-1157249674761353612006-09-02T19:14:00.000-07:002006-09-02T19:14:00.000-07:00David, I'm another bis-only player. Occasionally,...David, I'm another bis-only player. Occasionally, and only very occasionally, I use the 1 & 1 fingering. Now that I am wearing an orthopedic brace on my right hand, this bad bis habit is saving my bacon! I bet there are others out there like us...Jason DuMarshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09455165055123974751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13630144.post-1156989615798884132006-08-30T19:00:00.000-07:002006-08-30T19:00:00.000-07:00Aaaaaaaaddddaaaaammmmmmmmm!!!!trekkorAaaaaaaaddddaaaaammmmmmmmm!!!!<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>trekkorAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13630144.post-1156804968362461982006-08-28T15:42:00.000-07:002006-08-28T15:42:00.000-07:00Dave!Thanks for posting my question. I'm glad to h...Dave!<BR/>Thanks for posting my question. I'm glad to hear you're a bis-key rebel! - AdamAdamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02713769114820627121noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13630144.post-1156727345245082352006-08-27T18:09:00.000-07:002006-08-27T18:09:00.000-07:00Hi David - As I read this post I had to laugh to m...Hi David - <BR/>As I read this post I had to laugh to myself because for one, I AM a flute player; two, I know what you mean about the side-Bb and the one-and-one Bb (it's similar on flute - more on that in a bit); and three, as a sax doubler I actually do usually use the one-and-one Bb on the sax (I know, I know... don't even say it...)<BR/>Flute students are told NEVER to slide from B to thumb Bb for the same obvious reason as the B-bis key slide problem we have with the sax. But tell that to Prokofiev, Piazzolla, or Poulenc! I have learned that it is WELL worth it to learn the one-and-one, the side Bb, and then use the thumb. I still use the side Bb for a chromatic scale, but I almost never use the one-and-one for anything, always the thumb. <BR/>And you'd think I'd put two and two together and apply the same thinking to the sax. Duh! So, thanks for putting it out there.<BR/>-SusanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com