WOODWINDS
Dr. Daniel Schnee is a multi-instrumentalist who has performed worldwide with 21 different JUNO and
Grammy Award-winning musicians. He has been internationally recognized as a graphic score composer
and is a former student of Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz musician Ornette Coleman.
By Dan Schnee
Rocking the Horn Section:
The Art of the Chart
O
ne of the great pleasures of saxo-
phone performance is playing in
an R&B, soul, funk, or rock horn
section. Hitting syncopated uni-
son horn shots at high volume with a driving
rhythm section feels so incredibly fantastic
for both players and audiences alike.
But this kind of work is becoming both
increasingly rare and highly competitive, so
the following tips about what is essentially
the art of the chart will help you maximize
your preparation and skills for horn section
playing, as well as for musical theatre orches-
tras and jazz big bands.
The Steps
You will often have to learn a full set of 35 to
40 songs in keys like C# major at fast tempos,
so to be a skilled horn sectionist, you must
first practice the hardest keys three times
more than the others. Singers very rarely do
songs in their original keys, so it is important
to be extremely comfortable playing a wide
variety of scales in the key of B, F#, C#, D , G ,
and C . This also helps you get used to see-
ing a giant pile of sharps or flats in the key
signature, while also not getting thrown off
when accidentals appear in the arrangement.
Once you have gained key fluency, you
must then learn the rhythmic language of the
songs, slowly clapping through the charts
with a metronome to get a foundational
sense of the flow. It is a good idea to use a
metronome that has a rhythm feature where
you can set the tempo to sound sixteenth
notes to be as exact as possible, as most soul
music charts will have segments of mixed
eighth and sixteenth note flourishes, which
need to be razor sharp for maximum impact.
Charlie Parker once said, “If you don’t live
W W W. C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N . CO M
it, it won’t come out of your horn.” This is
very true with being able to sing your horn
parts, which is the next skill you need. Sing-
ing through the charts is an essential way to
discover just how well you really know the
flow and feel of music. If you can’t sing it,
you can’t play it, so to get started, use sung
syllables for different rhythmic values.
For example, as I study a chart, I will sing
the rhythms using syllables like “diddle-did-
dle” for sixteenth notes, “da” for unaccented
eighth notes, “dat” for accented eighth notes,
“bap” for unaccented quarter notes, and so
on. This kind of prep is useful for any chart,
from the classics by James Brown or Earth,
Wind & Fire all the way to The Brecker Broth-
ers’ fusion anthem “Some Skunk Funk,” or
Frank Zappa’s powerful 1988 horn arrange-
ment of “Oh No.”
Then, when you actually pick up your
horn and practice, begin by halving the writ-
ten tempo (minus a metronome marking or
two), practicing very slowly to really get the
flow and feel down.
For example, practice a chart marked at
120 bpm all the way down at 58 bpm or low-
er for at least 30 minutes straight before mov-
ing to 60, 63, and 66 bpm for 10 minutes each
before finally shifting up to 120. When you
get to the faster tempos, you will find that
even the most insane sixteenth note runs
flow like butter and you won’t have practiced
flubbing it over and over at higher speeds
until it somehow became correct. Playing it
slow and perfect for 30 minutes means you
won’t play it fast and wrong for an hour trying
to just make it work. Remember, the goal is
to make every chart inspiring, musical, and
dynamic, no matter how slow or fast.
Also, to have total mastery of a chart you
must specifically isolate each individual bar
that is even moderately challenging and
specifically repeat them over and over, even
though they are written to continue on as
part of a phrase. This kind of practice also
guarantees we don’t become complacent
and fall into a semi-conscious comfort zone
when we are playing a longer pattern that
repeats itself for most of the chart. This is be-
cause these kinds of patterns often contain
clever variations in the latter half of the song
that will have you stumbling if you are not
paying attention. Even one “surprise” altered
eight note in a pattern can throw off both
your playing and your mental control, caus-
ing you to have to stumble back into the
right pattern, which creates a very notice-
able mess in the music overall. A fumble in
a solo saxophone piece is minor, but even
a tiny fumble completely ruins the feel and
power of a horn line.
Another extremely important activity is
taking very exact notes on any changes to
the repeats, coda section, or dal segno mark-
ings made by the bandleader, as these will
often occur to accommodate the length of
a performance. These changes are most of-
ten made to solo sections to save time, or
to reflect who is soloing in what order, or to
signal that the solo now leads back to a differ-
ent part of the song than originally arranged.
Always have a soft pencil on hand to make
delible marks on the score.
No matter the style, horn section work is ex-
citing and challenging, and I really hope you
get the chance to play all the amazing, funky
music that is out there. Good luck!
C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N • 29