To anyone who’s ever played a wind instrument, the advice to use proper air support is not exactly “insider information”. We’ve all heard it before, many times. Over the course of my years on the saxophone, I certainly have been advised to “support the air from the diaphragm” , but I have to admit – [read more…]
Introduction Back in May, I finally made the trip to visit my sister in Boston. While in Boston, I knew before I left I needed to check out the music scene as well as any music shops that focused on saxophones (problems of a gear head). Even though I was only visiting for a couple [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
It’s been a good 12 years since I published one of the all-time most popular articles on this website. That post being my most recent (and only) collection of terrible saxophone jokes to commemorate the birthday of Adolphe Sax, the inventor of our beloved instrument. November 6 (tomorrow, at the time of this writing in [read more…]
Introduction Steve Kortyka and newcomer on the scene, Ryan Devlin are two heavy players navigating the scene today at different points in their musical careers. Between the two of them, they’ve recorded multiple albums – Ryan with Thoughts on the Matter and The Shape of Light, and Steve with Steps Forward, Wedding Song, and Looking [read more…]
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that unless you a super-advanced and possibly professional improvising musician, you sometimes struggle to come up with new stuff to play in your solos. Next, I’m going to go out a bit farther out on that limb and guess that many of you look to resources [read more…]
Introduction One of the first saxophone-centered stores I ever visited was Roberto’s Winds. I remember when I first visited, the Vandoren V16 hard rubber line of mouthpieces for tenor and alto sax had just come out, in addition to Roberto’s Reeds and earlier versions of their wooden ligatures Quite recently, in addition to reeds, ligatures, [read more…]
The mouthpiece you use on your saxophone contributes a great deal to the sound you produce on the sax. It creates a link and bond between you and the saxophone. Because of how important the role of the mouthpiece is in shaping your “tone-signature” on the sax, it is one accessory you should always take [read more…]
Introduction Besides being one of the nicest people you will ever meet, Joel has a real passion for music and it clearly shows in his playing. I had the opportunity to meet Joel probably 8 or 9 years ago when he was based in Brooklyn to chat about music as well as gear. Joel had [read more…]
Introduction While attending TCNJ (The College of New Jersey), a music major named John Ketts told me that if I wanted to really get my jazz chops together, then I should study with one of his friends who just graduated from William Paterson University named Dave Pollack. I had never heard of Dave before, but [read more…]
I this article, I’d like to share some specifics on two regular fixtures from my practice routine – warm ups and creating lines. Warm Ups #1: Body Wake Up I first try to ‘wake up’ my body with this exercise. I put almost-exaggerated air and body support on the notes marked with articulation, which makes [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!
