Now we're going to meet our saxophonist on our Symphonic Safari Adventure.

Let's go.

Hi.

Hi.

Hello, I'm Violetta Vibrato, but you can call me Vi.

Nice to meet you Vi.

Hi.

Hi, you're Geoff.

I am.

I'm Geoff Deibel.

Hi Geoff Deibel.

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

Sure.

I'm a saxophonist and I spend most of my time teaching my wonderful students at Florida State University.

Oh, do you know that I think the saxophone is one of the most beautiful sounding music sounding instruments that I have ever heard, and I want to know more about it.

If you'll let me let you ask some questions.

I would love to.

OK, so the first question I have is how does it make a sound?

Well, it vibrates when you when you blow through the mouthpiece here it vibrates this reed right here.

And the saxophone was actually invented as what you might call a hybrid instrument.

So you have a brass body here with keys like a clarinet and a clarinet mouthpiece, really, And then the whole instrument itself is shaped like a cone like the oboe is, so it gets bigger as it goes down.

So I have a question.

It's brass, but it's part of the woodwind family.

That's right.

That's right.

Why is that and how is that?

Well, he wanted to use brass for the body so that it would give the instrument more power than what the woodwinds have.

Generally speaking.

So it could play louder.

So is it a reed or a double reed?

It's a single reed instrument.

That's notable.

How old were you when you started to play the saxophone?

I was about nine years old, so probably about fourth grade.

Wow.

You were in the fourth grade.

So what made you decide to play the saxophone out of all the other instruments?

Well, we had a day where they brought us all into the all purpose room, where we had lunch and where we had gym class, and they introduced the instruments to us.

They held them up and showed us, Hey, you know, these are the ones that you could play if you're interested in playing music.

And then when the saxophone was held up, it was just like a shining beacon to me and I was like, That's the coolest one.

I have to play that one, if really looked so beautiful.

Is it as complicated to play as it looks.

It's pretty easy to play.

Actually, it's a good instrument and an easy instrument to start out with for any beginners.

Yeah.

Wow.

But it does take a lot of practice to get very good at it, of course.

So what was the first song that you learned to play on the saxophone?

The first song that you'd probably want to hear me play is probably the first song that I played for what is called solo and ensemble, which is where you play music in a contest for judges and you get comments and a rating back.

So it's a piece by George Frederick Handel, transcription.

Were you nervous when you played it?

Oh, absolutely.

Very nervous.

Yeah.

Are you going to be nervous now if you play it?

Probably not.

Can I ask you to play it?

Sure.

Sure.

Just play a little bit of the beginning for you.

That really is beautiful.

So I don't know if many at home know, but the saxophone is one of the most versatile instruments that are out there.

It doesn't just play jazz and rock.

I mean, you can play African music, you can play Indian music, you can play Asian music.

Yes, all kinds, it's been used in all different music cultures around the world.

Yes.

What is your favorite genre of music to play?

To play for myself?

I enjoy playing contemporary classical music, so it's music that is written by today's composers.

And I also enjoy all those different music cultures around the world in which the saxophone has been used.

It has been used, as you said, in West Africa, extensively in Ethiopia.

Ethiopian jazz is its own genre and a just a wonderful genre to listen to.

Do you have a favorite piece that you like to play?

Yeah, I think a good piece would be.

I have a lot of favorite pieces, but one of the ones I'd like to play is by a French composer named Darius Milhaud.

It's called Scaramouche, thats a fun name, and it was written when Mio was in Brazil, actually working as a cultural attache for the government of France.

And so it has a bit of samba influence to it.

Oh, I'd love to hear so.

That was so good.

You sound like you have to hold your breath for a really long time to push all of that air out into that.

I do.

How long can you hold your breath and push it out into that?

Well, How long do you want me to play for?

I don't know how long can you do it?

I'm going to count.

OK. OK. That's amazeballs!

How do you do that?

Well, I was cheating a little bit, actually.

I am doing a technique called circular breathing, which is where you can actually breathe in through your nose as you're playing out through the instrument.

Oh, see, I can't do that when I'm swimming in the water and holding my breath like that.

That was amazing.

Thank you.

So what would you tell somebody who wanted to learn to play the saxophone and they were in the fourth grade?

It's a great instrument to play in general because as we talked about, it's so versatile.

You can play all kinds of different music, but it's also an easy instrument to start off with, too, because it's pretty easy to make a sound at first.

You know, it's easy to hold.

It's, you know, pretty ergonomic, so it's easy to put your hands on and you can sit in a pretty natural position or stand in a natural position.

It's pretty easy to play.

Do you have to practice a lot to get that good?

You do have to, like any instrument, you have to practice a lot to get good.

So what inspires you to practice every day?

Well, lots of things inspire me, actually, when it comes to music, things like visual art.

When I when I see great paintings or great pieces of art hearing new pieces, new pieces of music, I'm always searching out different things that I haven't heard before, and that always gives me ideas and inspiration to play.

And probably the most inspirational thing that I that I do on a daily basis is actually work with my students and teach my students, and they give a lot back to me, too.

And so that's very inspirational.

Oh, they must be very lucky to have you as a teacher.

It's a great it's a great thing.

How do you get to travel a lot as a musician?

I do.

I do.

I've been very lucky to travel all over the world playing saxophone.

I teach at a summer festival in Italy every summer, and most recently I was playing in Thailand and Singapore and I was in Indonesia.

So yeah, it was.

It's been.

It's been a wonderful thing to be able to travel.

So was that the farthest place that you've ever traveled?

Probably from, from home?

It is.

Yeah, that's really so exciting.

There are so many students I know that would love to play that instrument because it is so beautiful and does make the most beautiful sounds it does.

And when I listen to an orchestra, I wonder, is a saxophone usually a part of an orchestra?

It was conceived of as an instrument that would fit into the orchestra and become a regular part of the orchestra.

But its inventor, Adolph Sax, unfortunately died sooner than he should have.

And then there was no one to champion the instrument in the orchestra, so it's actually not a regular part of the orchestra for most, most pieces.

So when you hear it in an orchestra, is it just as a solo piece?

Then it is typically treated as a solo instrument, so you'll hear a saxophone solo.

But generally speaking, it's not part of the regular orchestra.

Do you, You must love listening to orchestra music as much as I do.

I do.

What is your favorite orchestral piece that you would like to play with the saxophone?

One of my favorites is a piece from a larger work called Pictures at an Exhibition, and the particular movement is called the Old Castle, and it's supposed to be evocative of walking around an art gallery and looking at all these different scenes.

And so this is called the Old Castle.

It's very sort of haunting and dark and beautiful solo.

Oh, that sounds beautiful.

Will you play some for sure?

Sure.

Oh, that really is beautiful.

It's been fascinating getting to know you.

I've got a few really quick questions I want to ask that just might give me a little bit more detail about you.

Sure.

They're called rapid fire questions really, really fast.

Will you answer them for me?

Let's do it.

OK. Country music or classical?

Classical.

Morning or night?

night.

Coffee or tea?

Got to go with coffee.

OK. Paris or London?

I love Paris.

Mm hmm.

Spring or fall?

I'm going to go with fall.

Me too.

I love it very much, and I have loved getting to know you here.

Thank you so much, Geoff, for spending time with me.

My pleasure.

And thank you, everyone.

Bye.