Memorisation, whether it’s totally committing something to memory, or used to help with (sight) reading tricky music, can be seen as two almost separate techniques: Randomness and patterns. Memorising random bits of information is the hardest, for example if you
Pete’s video lessons To leave comments on the Youtube channel please click on the Youtube icon at the bottom RH corner of each video. Or visit the TamingTheSaxophone Youtube Channel for more. Video Overview of Beginners Instruction DVD: This should give you
Scared To Go On Stage? There’s Nothing Wrong with a Bit of Fear We’ve all had stage fright at some time. Some of the very best performers have it all the time, but learn to cope with it or even
Best Practice! As a teacher I used to devise a different practice schedule for each student as different people have different requirements when practising the saxophone, so the following is quite general and may not suit everyone. However there is
How to Play a Great Rockin’ Solo Many jazz saxophonists think that it’s easy to knock off a rock and roll solo, and then wonder why nobody likes it: neither a jazz audience nor a rock audience. However the concept
Defining Rhythm & Blues As with so many genres, R & B was originally a 1940s marketing term and referred to dance music marketed ostensibly to a black audience. Before the term was coined, this music was referred to as
The best one for you Is the teacher a great player? A good teacher is not necessarily a great player, and conversely a great player could be a lousy teacher. The important thing is not just that the teacher can
Basic Fingering charts (no sharps or flats) First we have a couple of very basic fingering charts which show you the saxophone fingerings for the lower and upper register in the key of C. These are ideal for absolute beginners
Why am I in a different key to the rest of the band?
This is a very common question, especially from anyone who has just bought a saxophone, taught themselves a little bit and then decides to play along with some other musicians. It can be a big shock to discover that the piano player, guitarist, bass player are all playing in the key of C, but when you join in on your alto or tenor, YOU ARE IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT KEY AND EVERYONE IS GIVING YOU DIRTY LOOKS. Welcome to the world of saxophone transposition.
For Absolute Beginners In this section on beginners saxophone we look specifically at useful stuff for beginners, but don’t be scared of delving into the other pages. Some may be a bit advanced but others can be very useful –
