Meyer mouthpiece (part II)

Finally received the Meyer 5M mouthpiece (medium facing), ordered online from USA and hand carried back to KL by my best friend. Its made of ebonite (a hard rubber material) and (as I understand it) is hand finished in USA. Comes in a very simple white box, encasing within it a mouthpiece, ligature and cover.

After giving a quick rinse and drying, tried to fix on the reed with the provided ligature. Then proceeded with greasing the cork on the neck, and pushed the mouthpiece into the cork. STUCK! Couldn't go in on the first try, had to add more grease and gently twist it in. Didn't have this issue with my existing Yamaha 4C mouthpiece, which fitted easily without any hassle.

Alrights, and on to the first blow. QUACK! Literally my first try sounded like a duck. My guess is my embouchure and tongue needs some time to adjust... A few more blows and I'm back to normal. On this first day of practicing a new mouthpiece, I would say there isn't any major difference to the Yamaha 4C plastic unit. Probably the Meyer is a little easier to obtain the notes, and mellower in tone. Will test it a few more times to get a better understanding.

Trinity Guildhall

Before I began learning the saxophone (exactly 1 year ago), I had the intention of a curious cat. Very inquisitive and awed at the way this shiny, sexy instrument 'sings'. And so I took it upon myself to learn, within the best of my ability (and precious time), to play all the keys, read the notes and have sufficient understanding to make this thing work they way I want it to.

Now, I'm wondering if I should set another higher bar for me to achieve. Sort of like having a mission that needs to be achieved. What I have in mind is to take a music grade examination.

My tutor believes I can get through Grade 4 easily and Grade 5 normally. So he would recommend me going for a Grade 6 examination instead, just to make it more challenging. The time frame would be to register for an exam around 6 months down the road.

The problem is, I've got no prior musical examination nor experience before this. So I'll have my work cut out for me if I need to get up to shape of a Grade 6 level. This means reading up a lot of materials and knowing Grade 5 level and below.

2 highly recognised (I think) institution of musical examination are the ABRSM and TRINITY GUILDHALL. Here are links to the saxophone syllabus for these schools;

ABRSM : http://www.abrsm.org/?page=exams/gradedMusicExams/latestSyllabuses.html

TRINITY GUILDHALL : http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/site/?id=1052

You can download the PDF files and understand more about their exam requirement, rules, marking, pieces, scope, etc in those pages. It makes quite an interesting read (for me at least) because it sounds more fun than a Form 5 examination and is an entirely new world to explore.

I'm still pondering...