During the summer of 1995, while I was on break from attending the Humber College Music Programme, I decided to learn my chords and scales using Patterns For Jazz. I managed to get through about 75% of the book before I hit a wall with the chromatic intervals and never finished it.
A few months ago, I returned to the book fresh and started over, not with the ambition of finishing it, but with the intent to use it as a tool to simply stay in shape and to keep my mind fresh. I did have a lapse for two months but I got back on the horse again a couple of weeks ago. I am finding the iPad app Music Journal quite useful in helping me stay focused and achieving my tempo goals. I limit my time on the saxophone to about 30 minutes a day unless I have an approaching gig.
I am now on the diatonic 4th exercises which is giving me my first real challenge. I have been forced to reduce my tempo to 80 bpm so I can play them cleanly think ahead. However, it's a good exercise for the mind to learn new things, or in my case, solidify what I tried to learn 17 years ago. Gradually, my tempo on the diatonic 4th exerecises will increase so the time it will take me to finish it will reduce. I will then be able to add new exercises and delete older ones. That has been my approach to the book and it seems to be working for me.
As a result of doing these maintenance exercises, I have found that my fingers have been more fluid at my weekly rehearsal with the Big City Big Band. My embouchure also benefits because I am able to get through long, tiring infrequent rock gigs.
