This post is part of a special column titled “Ask a Saxophone Repairman” with answers supplied by our resident repair whiz, Matt Stohrer of Stohrer Music. Disclaimer: Saxophone repair is a complicated business, depending not only on the skill of the repairer but on the reality of the situation at hand. The advice given here [read more…]
This guest post is from saxophone and multi-reed player, composer, recording artist, and educator Sam Sadigursky of SamSadigursky.com As both a saxophone player and educator, one of the most bothersome things that I regularly see are instruments in poor working condition and regulation. Oftentimes, students, and even some fairly advanced players, consider buying fancy, name-brand equipment a [read more…]
Regardless of your horn, mouthpiece, or reed, the truth is, to the outside listener, you sound pretty much like...you. It's not that gear doesn't affect your sound at all, but your biggest and richest sound will only come by developing the skills within both your body and mind to sound great on any setup.
So if you're willing to move beyond having your day ruined by a lousy reed, then sax legend David Liebman's course, Ultimate Guide to Saxophone Sound Production is where you're going to want to go next.
Broken down into bite-sized lessons, this streaming video program covers just about every single aspect of saxophone sound production. It represents his entire life's work teaching the techniques and concepts that were handed down to masters such as Michael Brecker, Bob Berg, and Harvey Pittel (among many others), and then refined over the course of decades teaching countless lessons and masterclasses worldwide. Click below to see for yourself why so many professional saxophonists consider David's thorough, methodical, and practical approach the "real deal" for players at any level.
SAXOPHONETONE.COM
The Ultimate Guide to Saxophone Sound Production
There are more and more musical instrument manufacturers who have decided to produce their own line of saxophones manufactured exclusively to their specs, from student to professional levels. In the last couple of years, many new lines of saxophones have come over to the United States from Taiwan, China, and Vietnam. Initially, many of these [read more…]
This guest post is from saxophone and multi-reed player, composer, recording artist, and educator Sam Sadigursky of SamSadigursky.com Whether you ever plan to improvise or not, to develop as a musician you have to be comfortable playing in all 12 major and minor keys. I know we’ve all heard this before, but this not only means that you [read more…]
Choosing a new saxophone mouthpiece is no easy task. Since there are now so many mouthpieces on the market, it’s more difficult than ever for saxophone players to figure out which one will offer them the sound and comfort they have been looking for. When you do decide it’s time to look for a new [read more…]
Is that once-burning desire to burn on the horn starting to flicker? Are the hours you used to devote to practicing now in jeopardy of being traded in for hours in front of a TV set and a bag of Ruffles? Or maybe you’re still practicing your tush off, but progressing at a snail’s pace [read more…]
For jazz saxophonists, transcriptions play a vital role in our musical development. Many of us have bought transcriptions books featuring solos by various players such as Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, Bob Mintzer, Hank Mobley, John Coltrane, and Sonny Rollins to name just a few. Since transcribing is one of the best ways to improve one’s playing, [read more…]
This article comes courtesy of guest contributor, Todd Feldman of RS Berkeley Musical Instruments. Posi-Tone Records recording artist Travis Sullivan has earned a worldwide reputation as an alto saxophonist, pianist, composer, and arranger. He has been hailed by Jazz Times as being “…a gifted alto saxophonist and improviser who has also developed a strong and [read more…]
The Buddhists call the practice of applying calm awareness to one’s activities as “Mindfulness.” And no matter what it is you’re doing, mindfulness will allow you to do it better. Zen and the Art of Sax Of course, practicing the saxophone is no exception. In fact, I would venture to guess that over 90% of the [read more…]
Editor’s Note: This article was inspired by a question I recently received from a reader. It’s actually a great question, and I thought that it would be a fantastic opportunity to tap into the wisdom of Bill Plake. Some of you may recognize Bill as one of the contributors to the Bulletproof Saxophone Playing program. [read more…]
Tips and Techniques from the pros PLUS free access to the Sax Lessons with the Stars archive - 10 years worth of interviews and exercises featuring the likes of David Liebman, Bob Mintzer, Ben Wendel, Bob Reynolds, and many more!
