Alistair Parnell Workshop, 17th June 2007

Buttock-clenching?

No, not a judgement on Alistair Parnell's June workshop for the National Saxophone Choir - far from it - but just one of the means he advocated for getting in touch with the elusive diaphragm. No doubt most Choir members thought they knew all that was necessary about this essential wind-players' muscle but any help at all in activating something which can't be consciously controlled is always good, and in a few, concentrated minutes that combined anatomy lecture with practical demonstration, Alistair had the choir sticking their thumbs in their navels, cracking imaginary walnuts under their armpits and tottering on the spot as they braced their legs in an attempt to become 'anchored'. (Particularly useful this last one, however remote it may sound from sax playing.)

This type of focussed, no-nonsense workshop advice is one of the many benefits of NSC membership, useful to participants not only as players but as teachers, and my pupils have certainly spent the week since straining alarmingly and flapping their arms like demented chickens as they attempt to put Alistair's wisdom to practical use.

Breathing, as is probably obvious, was Alistair's priority, but he had fresh things to say about all aspects of saxophone playing. For intonation he suggested using a tuner to plot every note on your instrument against a 'standard' F# in order to establish its idiosyncrasies and using a note sustained on an electronic keyboard to train the ear when tuning.

His message on mouthpieces was essentially 'experiment': your mouth position should vary with the reed and set-up used. Reeds, in fact, brought the only, momentary hiatus in a very relaxed and good-humoured session, when Alistair allowed himself a fleeting look of withering disbelief as a sizeable proportion of the Choir admitted to using reeds on a 'whatever's-next-in-the-packet' basis. He did not advocate the lengths taken by one well-known saxophonist (surely sponsored by a reed manufacturer) who, pre-performance, rejected 240 reeds before reverting to his default 'special' reed, but he did suggest that all reeds in a box should played and graded for quality/preference at the outset.

But actions speak so much louder than words to saxophonists, and Alistair's demonstration of the latest Akai EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) was undoubtedly the afternoon's highlight, holding members in the kind of unanimous enthrallment that can only make conductors breathless with envy. Alistair was frank about the time it had taken him to come to terms with the instrument, but he made handling the set-up (EWI, amp, wireless receiver and loop pedal) look so easy and sound so eloquent (from canonic baroque sonata to Weather Report vibe) that the collective "WOW" hung almost tangibly in the air, followed very closely by a "I really want one of those". Is Akai ready for the concept of an EWI choir...?

It is Alistair & EWI that star in Nigel Wood's latest work Partial Eclipse, commissioned by Equinox, the Nottingham-based saxophone ensemble that Alistair directs. Members of Equinox attended the rehearsal for a run-through of the work and all parties declared themselves thoroughly satisfied with the first airing of this memorably melodic piece.

All this took place within the welter of activity that NSC and now National Saxophone Ensemble players too, have come to accept as a 'normal' Sunday rehearsal. Players were warmed up by first bari Michael Brogan, fleetingly in director mode, and then thoroughly worked out by soprano player Claire Tomsett in her own arrangement of Charles Mingus' Moanin'.

Even after his workshop and demo, Alistair found energy for a rigorous and effective rehearsal of Ulrich Schultheiss' Metropolitains. Eddie Parker's dramatic and relentless Status Quo requires a formidable amount of concentration but it wasn't until the close of Gershwin's fiery Cuban Overture, another Claire Tomsett special, that collective energy began to sag slightly. Not for long though; hardly an hour later and revived by drinks and food at Nigel's delightful garden party, those saxes were being dragged out of their cases yet again...

CM

Return to past event reviews