After attending the NAMM 2012 trade show and being blown away by the amount of artists, vendors, and enthusiasts who showed up, I knew I had to go back next year. NAMM 2013 was another great year full of new equipment, great artists, and more vendors showing off their latest products to help musicians make [read more…]
For those of you who’ve never heard of it, the NAMM (which stands for “National Association of Music Merchants”) show is a ginormous convention held each year in Anaheim, California. It’s a true play land (bad pun intended) for musicians in every genre, as musical instrument and equipment manufacturers are set up in booths containing [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
Over the course of my playing career I have tried countless saxophone accessories and reeds from many manufacturers. The first box of reeds I ever played on was a Rico orange box. I later moved on to the Rico Royals and then continued to try more and more reeds from different manufacturers to see how [read more…]
For some time Forestone filed reeds have been my reed of choice. I actually reviewed their original line of reeds this past January in my post-NAMM 2012 article. For those of you unfamiliar with Forestone, to recap from my article: The Forestone reed is made up of a combination of polypropylene resin and cellulose wood fiber. Over [read more…]
UPDATE: Sadly, it has come to my attention that there are many saxophonists who have apparently purchased products from Lebayle, only to never receive what they paid for, nor did they receive any responses to multiple attempts at communication. So although I will leave this article up on the site for reference, please beware before [read more…]
The SaxyScarfStrap is one of the most original products I have received since my first review came out on this web site. This neck-strap was designed to offer professional musicians support that distributes the pressure equally between their neck and shoulders. This support will allow saxophonists to practice and play longer than before without having [read more…]
Reed preparation rituals – everyone’s got one. We may find ourselves doing things like soaking our reeds in Listerine, or shaving them down with a nail file, or burying them in the ground for 6 months, or just slapping them on the mouthpiece and playing. The goal is to end up with a reed that sounds, and [read more…]
Almost all of us know the feeling. It’s been a long practice or rehearsal session, and the inside of our lower lip is so sore that we can barely go on playing, thanks to our flesh-piercing lower teeth. (Ouch! Sounds painful when I put it that way, no?) This article was my response to an [read more…]
I recently received a Theo Wanne “AMMA” model metal mouthpiece with a 7 * tip opening for my tenor saxophone. Over the years, I have heard from many saxophonists that Theo Wanne is one of the leading mouthpiece refacers in the world. This past January, I had the opportunity to visit his booth at the [read more…]
As a saxophonist, performer, educator, and scholar, New York City’s Steve Lehman has travelled a truly original musical journey. Taking into consideration Lehman’s stints with barrier-busters such as Anthony Braxton, Dave Burrell, Mark Dresser, Vijay Iyer, Oliver Lake, Meshell Ndegeocello, David Wessel, and High Priest of Anti-Pop Consortium, one can see that Steve is anything [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!
