Posted in Blog, tagged Dave Plummer Saxophonist, entertainment, folkfoundasian, IoW, isle of wight, music, saxophone, saxophonist, wedding music, wedding saxophonist on October 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »
You know what its like when you are sorting through some things trying to decide whether to keep them or throw them away, Well 2 weeks ago I was doing some spring cleaning on the computer and by chance came across this video clip.
A couple of years ago playing at the Leicester Samaritans Beer Festival with the guys from Folk Foundasian. We had a great night and the festival raised a lot of money for a great cause.
Hope you enjoy it.
Posted in Lessons, tagged Blues, blues scale, Dave Plummer Saxophonist, improvisation, jazz, Learning, music, saxophone, staxofsax, Ukulele, wedding on April 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Here’s a little something for the weekend.
Blues scales are a good way to start improvising. Based on the Major scale, the Blues Scale is made up of:
Root
Flattened 3rd
4th
Flattened 5th
5th
Flattened 7th
Octave
So following this formula, you can work out all the blues scales if you know the Major scales.
The attached sheet gives you the Blues scales up to 5 flats and 6 sharps, so there are still 3 to work out for yourselves.
Don’t try to enharmonically transpose them, because composers don’t!
At the end of each scale on the sheet is a phrase for you to learn. However, that phrase is only in 1 key. As you can see, I have numbered the first phrase so that you can easily try that phrase in different keys by using the same numbers.
Ideally, you should play the scale over the whole range if the instrument and also play the modes too. This will give you more ammunition for improvising.
Let me know how you get on.
Have a good weekend
Dave
Posted in Blog, tagged Dave Plummer Saxophonist, entertainment, IoW, isle of wight, live music, Medina, music, sax, saxophone, Shanklin, Ukulele, wedding, wedding music on January 30, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Sunday was a very good day at the 10th Wight Bridal Wedding Show in Newport IoW.
There was a change this time with the layout, as we had half of the small gym (where I exhibit) set up as a fully decorated marquee, showing what your wedding could look like if you hired one of these.
We had a live band too, so we took it in turns to play and it worked very well. They also had a jazz guitarist doing some very nice laid back tunes.
I was booked for 2 events on the day, and had some good conversations with loads of happy couples. A couple of the venues that where promoting the wedding services also spoke to me about other events they are looking for music for, Valentines night and corporate dinners.
It was also really nice to speak generally to the other suppliers and see how life is treating them.
From the feedback of other suppliers, I think a good day was had by one and all.
My next Wedding show is at the Ventnor Botanical Gardens on the 3rd of March 2019.
Posted in Blog, tagged Dave Plummer Saxophonist, IoW, isle of wight, Learning, Newport, Quay Arts Centre, saxophone, Ukulele on January 16, 2019| Leave a Comment »
As you know, if you have read my previous post, before Christmas, I bought myself a Ukulele and signed up to a night school course for beginners at the Quay Arts Centre in Newport.
I started to explore YouTube for lessons before going to the class, and as with most subjects on YouTube, there are some great videos and some not so great. They got me started with holding it, hand position and a couple of chords.
I have been to the night school for the last 2 weeks, and there are about 10 of us in the class. This is a good number, because if there where many more, the tutor would struggle to get round us all.
We have started off with learning to play ‘Yellow Bird’ and ‘Hush Little Baby’ and this week we have progressed to ‘Paint it Black’ and ‘Yellow Submarine’.
Its great fun and I have met some lovely people that are in the same boat as me.
I would definitely recommend either getting individual or group lessons like these, rather than going it alone.
Posted in Blog, tagged Dave Plummer Saxophonist, events, IoW, isle of wight, Learnig the saxophone, Learning the Clarinet, music, Music lessons, saxophonist, Shanklin, wedding music on December 12, 2018| Leave a Comment »
First of all let me apologise for the lack of recent posts on this site. The reason for it is that both Carole and I took the decision about 18 months to move house to the Isle of Wight. To some of you this is probably not a big surprise if you know us, as we have spent so much time over here that we where almost residents a year ago.
Well now we have moved to a small town called Shanklin and we live a whole 10 minute walk from the seafront and loving every minute of it.
Loads to do on the house, but that’s for the future. Now I must build the business back up and start getting my name out there, this side of the Solent.
I am playing next week at the Freshwater Resource Centre for their Christmas party, these are a great bunch of senior citizens who definitely know how to have a laugh. Plus they have invited me to join them for Christmas Dinner that day, how cool is that.
I have already met a few potential new students that are looking to learn or improve, and I am doing Skype/FaceTime lessons with some of my Leicester students too.
I have 8 Island weddings in the diary for 2019, but there is loads of room for more.
I will be aiming to put regular posts up here, so please feel free to comment or contact me if you are interested in my services.
I look forward to speaking to you soon.
Dave
Dave Plummer Saxophonist 