Is it possible to become a decent sax player after smoking for 3.5 years?
Michael Wang
I'm interested in taking up the soprano sax (yes, I like Kenny G.),
but was wondering if having smoked for 3.5 years would prohibit me in
doing so. I'm not aiming to be a virtuoso, but a fairly decent
player. Thanks for the help!
Wade Johnson
Gary L. Smith wrote:
>
> mlw...@midway.uchicago.edu (Michael Wang) wrote:
>
> :I'm interested in taking up the soprano sax (yes, I like Kenny G.),
> :but was wondering if having smoked for 3.5 years would prohibit me in
> :doing so. I'm not aiming to be a virtuoso, but a fairly decent
> :player. Thanks for the help!
Oh, I think you can smoke and play any wind instrument until
it starts to destroy your system. You sound like you may be
young (?), so you can smoke for a long time before it kills
you. Paul Desmond lived 53 years before succumbing to lung
cancer.
Wade
Gary L. Smith
mlw...@midway.uchicago.edu (Michael Wang) wrote:
:I'm interested in taking up the soprano sax (yes, I like Kenny G.),
:but was wondering if having smoked for 3.5 years would prohibit me in
:doing so. I'm not aiming to be a virtuoso, but a fairly decent
:player. Thanks for the help!
Please don't anyone take this as endorsement of the habit, but the
fact is many fine musicians past and present not only *have* smoked,
but kept right on smoking, and played beautifully. Given the percent
of the male population in the US during WWII who smoked, odds are good
that more famous jazzmen of the big band era smoked than not.
Now, I'm not sure from what you're saying if you're a current smoker,
so I will give you a brief sermon on smoking and playing the sax:
- smoking probably shortens your pad life to some extent.
- smoking almost certainly shortens *your* life to a greater or lesser
extent, depending on whether you get lung cancer when you're in your
late 40s, like my high school band director did, or wait and get
emphesema(sp?) when you're in your 60s. Either way, it leaves you
less time to get good.
- most smokers have this lovely hacking sound they make that goes real
well with stage deportment.
- you *will* have diminished lung capacity if you smoke, which means
you can't do as long a phrase without taking a breath.
- you *will* have more problems with irritated airways, colds, etc.
which will interfere with practicing.
In short, if you've quit, you should do fine. 3.5 years is not all
that long, and your lungs are quite resilient and adaptive. A friend
of mine plays french horn, and he has one lung (lost one early in life
to a disease).
If you haven't quit, it's your choice, and I wouldn't discourage you
from taking up an instrument. In fact, depending on what part of the
smoking habit you're addicted to, it may help you by giving you
something to put in your mouth, fiddle with, etc.
Good luck!
-----------------------------------------------------------
e-mail to gary...@mindspring.com - SPAM will be reported!
Piotr Michalowski
>I'm interested in taking up the soprano sax (yes, I like Kenny G.),
>but was wondering if having smoked for 3.5 years would prohibit me in
>doing so. I'm not aiming to be a virtuoso, but a fairly decent
>player. Thanks for the help!
I gave up smoking years ago and am still a mediocre player, buy, quite
frankly. I think that listening to KG can be worse for your health than
smoking. It drives me out of stores!
bbb...@sheltonlink.com
In <32d5fd90...@uchinews.uchicago.edu>, mlw...@midway.uchicago.edu (Michael Wang) writes:
>I'm interested in taking up the soprano sax (yes, I like Kenny G.),
>but was wondering if having smoked for 3.5 years would prohibit me in
>doing so. I'm not aiming to be a virtuoso, but a fairly decent
>player. Thanks for the help!
While smoking won't per se keep you from playing, death certainly will.
However, rest assured that a host of sax greats managed to play
brilliantly before keeling over, so if you don't mind losing a few years
of your life, and you're willing to work harder to be able to breath,
take that sax in one hand, a smoke in the other and wail on, brother.
That attraction to Kenny G, though...THAT could be a real impediment.
BBB
B.B. Bean bbb...@sheltonlink.com
Peach Orchard, MO http://www.cris.com/~Bbbean
Music: http://www.cris.com/~Bbbean/Music.shtml
Ag: http://www.cris.com/~Bbbean/agri.shtml
Robert Steinberg
I just played with a guy that is 74, smokes 4 packs a day....
I don't think I could recommend it for everyone...it's even cutting his wind and this guy
is steel....lesser men would be dead by 40.
RS
Wade Johnson wrote:
>
> Gary L. Smith wrote:
> >
> > mlw...@midway.uchicago.edu (Michael Wang) wrote:
> >
> > :I'm interested in taking up the soprano sax (yes, I like Kenny G.),
> > :but was wondering if having smoked for 3.5 years would prohibit me in
> > :doing so. I'm not aiming to be a virtuoso, but a fairly decent
> > :player. Thanks for the help!
>
Roland Stigge
Hi!
I'm an 18-years-old german student and playing the alto sax for nearly one
year now. Before this I played the clarinet for 8 years and now I need
both for our little local jazz band. We are all young students (our
drummer is even only 11). [3 sax's + p,dr,b]
Now I'm lucky to join this group, because I had to wait for it for 3 weeks
in our amateur network here in Berlin. :-(
On 11 Jan 97, seesignature # nospam.com wrote to All:
GLS>Now, I'm not sure from what you're saying if you're a current smoker,
GLS>so I will give you a brief sermon on smoking and playing the sax:
GLS>[...]
An interesting statement. Thanks. You know - I'm new to this group and I
would like to know which sax players are in this group. Please write me
VIA EMAIL. I'm interested to know from all of you which sax you are
playing on, how long and if you are a smoker. :) If you want, I could post
statistics later. :-) Basically, I want to exchange experiences with other
sax players all over the world, and hope that you will help me.
Thanks.
Bye,
Martin & Roland Stigge / StiggeBrothers \ s...@mystic.berlin.fido.de
Tim Brown
Michael Wang wrote:
>
> I'm interested in taking up the soprano sax (yes, I like Kenny G.),
> but was wondering if having smoked for 3.5 years would prohibit me in
> doing so. I'm not aiming to be a virtuoso, but a fairly decent
> player. Thanks for the help!
When you review the lives of the great jazz sax players, you'll note
that most of them smoked like choo-choo trains! Dexter Gordon, Lester
Young, Coleman Hawkins, Joe Henderson, Charlie Parker, Tom Scott (I
threw him in for variety). Most of them drank too much as well. I think
it was an enjoyment of deep breathing. 3.5 years shouldn't much matter,
even better if you quit!
--
TB
email: brownt at ase.com