Sax in the City

When I was in 5th grade the school band program began. My friends and I wanted to play the saxophone, and who wouldn't at age 9 with the shiny metal, beautiful curves, it had maximum "coolness" appeal. I remember begging my mom to get me one, not really understanding at the time what a huge expense and drain on our family's finances a brand new saxophone might be. Wanting to support my interest in music my mom began searching for an affordable option in the want adds of the local paper. She found a Conn Alto Sax for $350 and told me that she would get it for me if I promised to play it all the way through high school. I eagerly agreed and began practicing in earnest. Like most things with kids, band was just a fad and some began to quit after only one year. By the time sixth grade was through almost all the saxophones had quit and I wanted to join them. In two short years being in band had gone from being the coolest thing you could do to being the lamest thing you could do. No matter how many times I begged to be allowed to quit my mom would hold fast to the promise I had made.

When I got to junior high, band went from being dreadful to being my favorite activity. There were two reasons for this change of heart, making friends with another sax player named Todd (22 years later still my close friend), and getting the chance to play jazz for the first time. It had a transformative affect on me, causing me to practice hours and hours to improve my sound and ability. With my increased passion, my mom paid to have a professional give me lessons and I continued to grow. I went on to play in my high school jazz band, even winning a solist award at a festival in Oregon. When I went to Washington State University I played baritone sax for the jazz band and soon discovered that music was not my future. The truth is, I loved science too much and wanted to study veterinarian medicine. I could have continued down the music path, and most likely would have become a music teacher, but I was 18 and the thought of being a teacher didn't appeal to me. Little did I know that I would eventually choose to teach, this year being number 10. As a result of finally quitting band I played my sax less and less, eventually stopping all together....until yesterday.

In China, if you want a large variety of specialty items you need to go to the street where those items are sold. There is an award products street with every shop selling the exact same trophies and plaques. There are sporting goods streets, jewelry streets, fabric streets, etc etc... I went to musical instrument street yesterday with a music teacher from our school. He wanted to pick up several items he had ordered, and I wanted to see if they had a tenor or soprano sax I would want to buy. The shop we went to was only about three meters wide (~10ft) and seven meters deep (~20ft). The left side held all the wind and brass instruments and the right side was wall to wall guitars. There were a few recognizable brands, but most of the instruments were knockoffs with a random brand stamped on them. I asked to play a black painted tenor sax with the brand name "Ailflow". I'm guessing the brand was going for the name "Airflow" but somehow didn't spell it right. Regardless of the name, the saxophone was surprisingly responsive and full sounding. I have not played seriously for many years, but you couldn't tell by the sound of the horn. After ten minutes or so of scales and random songs from the past, I asked to play a couple other saxes but they couldn't even come close to how the black model felt. For years I have been telling my wife that I wanted to play music again. In that tiny shop, out in West Beijing on musical instrument street I decided that I would start by getting myself a brand new Ailflow tenor sax to practice on. The negotiations didn't take long, both of us finally agreeing to a price equivalent to $350, the same price my mom paid for my first sax 25 years ago. I can't wait to rediscover the passion I felt as a kid, getting caught up in the music.