Category: Woodwind playing and pedagogy
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Sidney Bechet’s “Summertime”
View the transcription Sidney Bechet may be jazz’s most unfairly forgotten genius. Once the favorite son of his native New Orleans, as well as his many adopted European hometowns, Bechet’s recordings are now too often overlooked. Bechet, born in 1897, was a true virtuoso of the clarinet, and played a major part in establishing the …
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The modern saxophonist: The changing career climate of the concert saxophone artist
The neglected saxophone Despite the saxophone’s widespread acceptance in jazz and popular music styles, its acknowledgment as a viable solo instrument in classical music has been slow. Few composers have included it in orchestral scores. Only in recent years have conservatories and university music departments begun to recognize the saxophone on a somewhat equal footing …
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Saxophone vibrato
What is vibrato? Carl Seashore, in his In Search of Beauty in Music, defines “good” vibrato as “a pulsation of pitch usually accompanied by synchronous pulsations of loudness and timbre, of such extent and rate as to give a pleasing flexibility, tenderness, and richness to the tone.” Debate over saxophone vibrato Saxophone vibrato is a …
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Choosing instructional materials for beginning saxophone students
Importance of appropriate materials Choosing the right method books and materials—or choosing not to use them—can be a deciding factor in a beginning saxophone student’s success. A student assigned page after page of boring finger exercises will lose interest quickly, but a student given only “fun” assignments may fall behind in development of sound technique.