Here, I'm stuffing small jingle bells into the bell of the instrument and sealing them in with aluminum foil. Of course, this particular sound has its limitations. And this is OK. One of the mistakes that some make with certain experimentations, is that they only imagine using them in the macro sense. Meaning only thinking of them as sounds that one can potentially exploit for the full duration of a piece, or perhaps and the entire set.
Here's something else to consider: Imagine developing something that's only intended to be used in the micro sense--meaning a short duration of time.
At this point, I think I can say with certainty that I've done more solo saxophone concerts than most. One issue that I'm constantly confronted with is how to keep my sets interesting.
This gets back to my most recent experimentation.
As a stand-alone entity, blowing through a soprano saxophone filled with small jingle bells, and using shaking the soprano saxophone as a sound option, may not necessarily hold one's attention for an entire tune, and certainly not an entire set. However, in the context of a 45-minute solo set, this could be a 120-second sonic interlude that could breath new life into a set.
Numerous times, I've thought about removing balloons from my arsenal of sound options, but whenever I pull them out during a concert, they always seem to be just what was needed at the time. So I'm inclined to believe this new experimentation will prove equally invaluable.
So this piece is called "Conical Shaker."
Materials needed:
(a) As many small jingle bells that will fit into your instrument.
Exhibit 1:
(b) Medium size piece of aluminum foil.
Exhibit 2:
"CONICAL SHAKER"
And if you get a chance, check the new recording Chaos Theory: Song Cycles for Prepared Saxophone. It's been getting a lot a cool press.
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