Introduction Although I mainly play tenor saxophone, I still pick up the alto from time to time and like to listen to various alto players such as Kenny Garrett, Baptiste Herbin, Jaleel Shaw, Will Vinson, Immanuel Wilkins, Nick Biello, Braxton Cook, and the list goes on. Today, I was fortunate enough to meet up with saxophonist [read more…]
Introduction Getting caught in the YouTube rabbit hole can be a blessing and a curse. At times, you will be taken to videos of new players you’ve never heard of and are glad you checked out and at other times through countless random videos to where you ask yourself “what am I doing?” In this [read more…]
Introduction Many students learn to play a musical instrument by enrolling in an elective beginning band class as part of the middle and high school music curriculum. Instruction usually starts at the beginning of the 6th grade and students are taught in a group setting with all instruments combined into one class. These classes are [read more…]
If you ever witnessed the iconic “jazz flute” scene from the Will Ferrell comedy, Anchorman, then you’ve heard my flute playing. My improvised flute solo for that scene has since become a great calling card, which is interesting because I’m primarily a saxophone player. My Journey to the Flute I began playing the saxophone when [read more…]
“Transcribe”, our teachers said. “Transcribe”, we now say to ourselves and our students, but in a world where almost all of us have easy internet access, it isn’t hard to find sheet music for nearly any great solo. So why continue to transcribe, and how can we make sure it’s a useful exercise for our [read more…]
My previous article for this website explored transposition as a method of generating new ideas for improvising. With the imminent release of my book Patterns for Creative Improvisation, Volume 2, I am exploring another source of improvisational material: transcriptions. By combining transcriptions of our favorite improvised solos with some simple applications of music theory, we [read more…]
Introduction Before traveling to perform at a concert venue, there are steps that all saxophonists should take to adequately prepare themselves for a performance. These steps include practice strategies to prepare music for the concert and also warmup routines to be followed at the time of the concert. Being properly prepared and warmed up will [read more…]
Introduction I had the opportunity to review Marc Jean’s original ligatures , (see picture below) back in 2014 for alto and tenor saxophone. Although I have play tested many ligatures over the years for alto and tenor saxophone and tend to switch from time to time, I have stayed with the original Marc Jean ligature [read more…]
Introduction It’s been over two years since I last attended the NAMM (aka National Association of Music Merchants). As we all know, a lot of changes have happened with Covid and the resulting economic challenges, but that’s not the focus here. In this article, we are focused on what’s new with the saxophone. I was [read more…]
Last week, the conductor of a pro concert band in Sydney that I play the flute in, said to me at the rehearsal: “Hey Jane – I arranged a new piece for the band and I especially wrote you out a ripper of a jazz flute solo!!” I braced myself. For I am not a [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!
