Santa’s Saxes. A group composed of
four musicians (a.k.a. a quartet). A group where I am 1 out of the 4. A group
not connected by school, but by our private lesson teacher. Every year, Lynne
Hart puts together a saxophone quartet (Alto 1, Alto 2, Tenor, Bari) which
performs all around Cedar Rapids. I have the honor of being the Bari player.
This group is one reason why I love this time of the year so much.
The amazing part about Santa’s Saxes
is that not all the musicians are from the same school. People often ask, “So
what school?” We all look at each other and stutter for a second before we
introduce ourselves individually. In the group this year, there are three
different schools represented: Kennedy, Washington, and Mount Vernon. It may be
hard to believe that students from different high schools could get along but
that is not the case at all. Through Santa’s Saxes I have made some friendships
with people from different schools and I have enjoyed every year so far.
Getting to the more interesting part
now, the music. All of our music is arranged by Lynne and it is all interesting
and fun to play and listen to. There are songs such as: I Saw Mommy Kissing Lawrence Welk, Rockin’ Around the Cheesy Medley,
Let it Snow/Santa, and many more. All these songs have a twist to them that
give them a fun atmosphere. In all the songs in our book, there isn’t one that
you would be able to sing along to. Many people start to sing along cautiously
thinking, “Yeah, I know this song.” And then, right as they start to sing more
confidently, that’s when a twist in the melody appears that you would not
expect; and suddenly, that person quickly looks around to see if anyone noticed
them. It is actually pretty hilarious, knowing the music, when someone tries to
sing along. We get to that part in the song where the melody changes and I hear
the person who was singing slowly fade away with a confused sound in their
voice. Some advice, if you are ever around to hear the Santa’s Saxes, just
don’t sing, it’ll be more embarrassing for you.
Anyway, I Saw Mommy Kissing Lawrence Welk. This song is an interesting song
it starts off with the traditional, I Saw
Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, and ends with some themes from the Lawrence Welk
Show. Living and growing up in the 21st century, most people these
days don’t understand the whole Lawrence Welk thing. The music for this show
was really cheesy with heavy vibrato and incredibly short articulations. Since
the show is rarely on anymore, most people just think it is a funny little
diversion of a song. This song is fun to play at nursing homes because mostly
everyone there has seen the Lawrence Welk Show and understands where the tune
is coming from. To help out understand this song better, here is the Lawrence
Welk show and the Santa’s Saxes rendition of I Saw Mommy Kissing Lawrence Welk.
One of my favorite songs to play is Rockin’ Around the Cheesy Medley. This
song is a compilation of 6 different “cheesy” Christmas tunes, including: Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, Holly
Jolly Christmas, Here Comes Santa Claus, Jingle Bell Rock, Blue Christmas, and
Santa Baby. It is a cool arrangement
of the 6 different songs. I like it because it is fun to play and interesting
all the time. You can form your own opinion, but this is one of my favorites
out of the whole book.
Another of my favorite, out of the
two hour book, is Ukrainian Carol.
This one has a cool base line that I get to play and it might just get stuck in
your head, I know it gets stuck in mine. It is a fun version of Carol of the Bells and I love to rock
out on it.
I hope you enjoyed this selection
out of the Santa’s Saxes book. To hear more fun songs, come out to Chick-Fil-A
on December 22nd, 2014 between 5 and 7pm.
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