How to amuse yourself while your wife is away! Hey Jason, I think you have done really well for such a short amount of practice. Don't put yourself down. You have a very good sound and sense of rhythm. Don't worry about not reading music. Just use your ears, and listen to lots of sax music. Some of the old jazz from the 1960s: Stan Getz, for example. I hope you have managed to increase your repertoire since you posted this video. Good luck!
Nice update. yes the xaphoon is loud and sort of embarassing. I started playing ocarina in august 2012 then picked up one of these a month or two later, then discovered ukulele which pretty much sucked up my 2013. Now that my daughter has been taking piano lessons I'm finding it very useful to have her play simple accompaniment while I play the solo line with ocarina. That instrument pitch bends almost as much as the xaphoon, having accompaniment makes it way easier to play in tune. I think I'll have to de-mothball the xaphoon and try it again with accompaniment this time! A little jazzed "skip to my lou" coming!
I have got a bamboo Maui Xaphoon in Si bemolle. I believe to do something wrong because: my cheeks explode, I lack air at the 4-5 note and sometimes the instrument squeaks.
While I'm far from an expert, it sounds to me like you're not putting your lips far enough down the mouthpiece (yes, they're enormous compared to sax or clarinet) so you have to bite too hard to manage the reed. I'd check in with the folks who built it though - the bamboo ones are handmade & individually tested I believe.
Curious, what about overblowing? Does it unexpectedly jump a few tones or even an octave up if you blow harder? Although this feature is great for masters, it is annoying for beginners because intuitively I want to control volume with air pressure but get tone jump instead.
pressure affects pitch more than volume. but if it tends to squeak, when you want to hit deep notes, the reed is too hard, or too dry. and because of the very wide tip rail you have to pull the reed way back, to where only ~0.7mm contact the tip rail, to get it to respone well. especially cheap reeds usually need a bit of shaving to get them to play right. (that makes the difference betwen 60 cent, 3-5$ and 6-15$ reeds .. and with cheap china reeds, about 30% are unusable) it should overblow easily when opening the octave hole, but if that happens on accident, the reed isnt right.
Are you still playing the xaphoon and have you played in a place like a stairwell? I use to practice after hours where I worked inside an empty shipping container at the back of the warehouse. The sound was amazing. You look like you are enjoying it and you sound great. Hope you keep it up.
a bit of an improvement there mate. you shouldnt hide from your wife you should follow her around playing it when shes shopping out with freinds at work on the toilet and in bed and so on she will love you for it.(Not) lol
I just got my first Xaphoon, I love it.
You've given me a goal! Thanks for putting this up!
How to amuse yourself while your wife is away! Hey Jason, I think you have done really well for such a short amount of practice. Don't put yourself down. You have a very good sound and sense of rhythm. Don't worry about not reading music. Just use your ears, and listen to lots of sax music. Some of the old jazz from the 1960s: Stan Getz, for example.
I hope you have managed to increase your repertoire since you posted this video. Good luck!
Learning to read music is something else again. 😎
You are getting distinct and clear notes which is great. I think it's time to play with other people for fun to start with. 👍
Hey keep practicing. Its hard to squeeze practice time into a busy schedule. Hang in there.
just in case anybody wonders... the first song was Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard by Paul Simon
Indeed it is a loud instrument that i find it difficult to find a good time to practice because i usually got home from work in the evening.
Good job, sounds pretty good. Thnks mate.
Nice update. yes the xaphoon is loud and sort of embarassing.
I started playing ocarina in august 2012 then picked up one of these a month or two later, then discovered ukulele which pretty much sucked up my 2013. Now that my daughter has been taking piano lessons I'm finding it very useful to have her play simple accompaniment while I play the solo line with ocarina. That instrument pitch bends almost as much as the xaphoon, having accompaniment makes it way easier to play in tune. I think I'll have to de-mothball the xaphoon and try it again with accompaniment this time! A little jazzed "skip to my lou" coming!
I have got a bamboo Maui Xaphoon in Si bemolle. I believe to do something wrong because: my cheeks explode, I lack air at the 4-5 note and sometimes the instrument squeaks.
While I'm far from an expert, it sounds to me like you're not putting your lips far enough down the mouthpiece (yes, they're enormous compared to sax or clarinet) so you have to bite too hard to manage the reed. I'd check in with the folks who built it though - the bamboo ones are handmade & individually tested I believe.
Curious, what about overblowing? Does it unexpectedly jump a few tones or even an octave up if you blow harder? Although this feature is great for masters, it is annoying for beginners because intuitively I want to control volume with air pressure but get tone jump instead.
pressure affects pitch more than volume. but if it tends to squeak, when you want to hit deep notes, the reed is too hard, or too dry. and because of the very wide tip rail you have to pull the reed way back, to where only ~0.7mm contact the tip rail, to get it to respone well. especially cheap reeds usually need a bit of shaving to get them to play right. (that makes the difference betwen 60 cent, 3-5$ and 6-15$ reeds .. and with cheap china reeds, about 30% are unusable)
it should overblow easily when opening the octave hole, but if that happens on accident, the reed isnt right.
Iam very hard of practicing sapoon ever since idont get the note or tone
Nice ! Keep trying , friend.
Are you still playing the xaphoon and have you played in a place like a stairwell? I use to practice after hours where I worked inside an empty shipping container at the back of the warehouse. The sound was amazing. You look like you are enjoying it and you sound great. Hope you keep it up.
+Kim Olsen toilets are pritty good and readly availble if they have tiles its a bonus
a bit of an improvement there mate. you shouldnt hide from your wife you should follow her around playing it when shes shopping out with freinds at work on the toilet and in bed and so on she will love you for it.(Not) lol
Wheres the vibrato?
hows it going? :D
i just started playing Xaphoon, so I know that its kinda complicated and not as easy as a recorder ;) Trying to play Summertime - George Gershwin