Thoughts for my Saxo-buddies (Relevant for other folks, too)

I got a message yesterday.

  The youngster in question asked me what music I recommended for developing saxophonists. As I was listing some, he messaged something like "Ugh, etudes? I was hoping you'd give me some solos!'..

  Well, my young Padawan, what do you think etudes are?


   Is this a failing on the part of the student? Absolutely not! I think that, as educators, we are too quick to not put etudes into the same category as the most popular sonatas and concertos. It's MUSIC. In fact, how many pieces of our standard lit (and even lit that most cannot play.....Thanks, Mr. Lauba!) began as etudes? One of the most standard pieces in our literature, Bozza's Improvisation and Caprice, began life in an etude book!

  Who here would pay money for a recording of, say, Taimur Sullivan playing through all 48 of the Ferling Etudes? Were that recording to happen my response would be "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!".

  It's MUSIC! A lot of is is actually really well written music! These composers wrote things for saxophone. We need to show them the same respect and reverence as Ibert, Glazunov, Albright, and the rest!

  Conversely, there is nothing whatsoever wrong with taking a piece of music and using it as an etude. My professor, Mark McArthur, currently has me using Berio Sequenza IX as a 'study piece'. Why? Well, one example would be about five measures in. Mr. Berio expects the player to hold a low B at PP for 10 seconds (yes, he lists the note held for that time frame). You think mastering that won't help my control? My air? Make me a better player?


So, back to the original point, what music did I recommend for the youngster?

Ferling 48 Famous Studies - This is the 'standard' edition of this text. There is an edition done by the esteemed saxophone virtuoso, Marcel Mule, which features an enharmonic variant on the etudes. It's pricey but excellent. One really cannot go wrong with either, though.

Trent Kynaston Daily Studies for Saxophone- This is basically fundamentals 'boot camp' for saxophonists. It covers scales, scale variants, arpeggios, long tones, intervals, articulation, and other aspects of playing. It's my go to recommendation for scales until Doug Owens gets his scale book published (hint hint DOUG!)

Marcel Mule Etudes - I'm just listing an example here. ANY of his studies are useful.

Larry Teal- The Art of Saxophone Playing - This is, I believe, the first book anyone should get when they begin playing the saxophone. This is THE how to.

Klose 25 Daily Exercises (ed. McAllister) - Another great set of etudes, edited by one of THE guys in the field right now.

Don Sinta Voicing: An Approach to the Saxophone's Third Octave  - I considered Racher's Top Tones here as well. I just find the Sinta's book more direct and to the point....kinda like Mr. Sinta...

U.S. Army Field Band - The Saxophone Standard - Boys and girls, this is the greatest value in saxophone education. It's FREE. There is hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of information here.

These are just a small sampling. There are tons of others. I didn't even list any of the myriad of jazz studies which are available.


Just remember, treat etudes and fundamentals with the same reverence as the biggest concerto and listen to yourself grow! Get after it!

Old Dog, New Tricks- Bringing Your Practice Routine into the 21st Century.

This is an entry which probably should begin with 'Back in my day'...

This is a statement which, to me, is akin to 'You kids get off my lawn!'.


Having said that, years ago, when I was a young performance major at Memphis, a metronome was this thing with a big pendulum style arm and a dial in the back for winding it up. A tuner? Usually the old 'Strobe-O-Conn' , which was about 25 lbs and had a 1940s style microphone. If your program was lucky they MIGHT have a 'Doctor Beat' metronome somewhere. Oh, computers? Yeah, unless you had a Commodore 64 plugged into your TV,  the average computer ran about $2500.


Times have changed a bit, huh? Shouldn't the way we use technology in the practice room change as well?

Now, I am in NO WAY suggesting that effective practice routines should be changed. My favorite pedagogical statement is 'Fundamentals never stop being cool'. Long tones are long tones. Scales, arpeggios, and patterns are still just as important now as they were when Mozart was composing. Articulation studies have as much merit as they always have. What I'm talking about, however, is using the current level of technology to better understand needs and how we progress in the practice room.

Many of my readers don't really remember the days before cell phones and even smart phones have been around for a decade or so now (WOW!). That is some serious world changing technology, isn't it? Yes, they're great for showing the dumb thing you just did on Snapchat but can also be a great tool in the practice room. To this end, most (I think) music students have some form of metronome/tuner installed on their phone. Fabulous. Let's discuss one in particular and the instant feedback it can provide.

It was just about this time last year that I had a grad school audition here at UNLV and my professor, Mark McArthur (Has it been a year?! WOW!) At the time I was using an app called 'Tunable'. It's a really well done metronome/tuner app. However, Mark turned me on to one called Tonal Energy. Tonal Energy did everything Tunable could do plus one BIG feature. It has a a spectrum analyzer where you can actually see what's happening when you play. Ok, first things first. I'm a big believer in the fact that you shouldn't use the visual aspect of a tuner very much. As the esteemed former sax professor at Michigan, Don Sinta, was fond of saying - "You don't tune with your eyes". Therefore, I believe in doing long tones, and even scales, with a drone. One cool feature of tonal energy is that it allows you to not only play against a drone, but do so with multiple pitches. For example, were you to use a C scale as a long tone exercise, you could set the tuner to drone a C and G; therefore giving you not only the tonic (C) but the dominant (G, the 5th scale degree) to tune against. It makes those ears work a bit harder.

Ok, back to the spectrum analyzer. This part gets a bit more involved, as it will require two phones, or a phone and a tablet. I use both a small iphone as well as an Ipad mini. I know the Ipad is a bit pricy for a lot of students. For this purpose, I recommend you look at the Kindle Fire. The Fire HD starts at $50 and will allow use of the Tonal Energy App.

Ok, plug some headphones in to the tablet and have it play the drone. Set the phone's Tonal Energy app to the spectrum analyzer feature. Watch what's happening? How quickly did you find the pitch? How steady was your sound? These are things the spectrum analyzer will show you. It shows progress but it also makes it impossible to ignore any potential issues.

Last night I took three screen shots of my use of the Tonal Energy app. The first was my alto mouthpiece pitch of a concert A. The second, articulation work. The third, I did a vibrato study as someone who was just beginning to learn vibrato might do. Here's what they look like.

First, the mouthpiece pitch:

As you can see, keeping the pitch steady and the air steady wasn't easy. It's a work in progress for even advanced players. (I know someone will notice that the pitch listed is F#. I had the tuner set for alto. It's another cool feature). I had a concert a droning through headphones.

Next, the articulation work:

Four quarters, eight eighths, sixteen sixteenths. Not bad, but I could make it more even. The visual really shows the detail of what I did, doesn't it? Note, I had the metronome on my phone playing through headphones so it wouldn't affect the analysis. The one downside of the app is that the spectrum analyzer picks up every sound; even that coming from the app itself.

Finally, a youngster learning vibrato:

The overall tone appears nice and full. However, the green line in the middle should be a steady pulse going from slightly below the pitch and back up to the pitch. In other words, it should resemble a sine wave. Something like this:

Now, I have no affiliation whatsoever with Tonal Energy. I just find that the more I use it in the practice room, the better some of the fine details of my playing become. It's $3.99 at the moment and if you get it for one device, you actually can download it on all of your devices.

Take your fundamental work and use technology for instant feedback on where you are and what you need to address....

Now...
GET OFF MY LAWN!

Perception, Reality, and the Practice Room: Why Your Practice Routine Stinks.

Ok.....


.....so to be honest, I have no idea if your practice routine stinks or not; nor will I be able to impart some magical practice schedule to suddenly make you a virtuoso. In fact, this blog will address a certain crowd. It's a club to which I used to be a member.


To which club do I refer?


It's the 'I stink, everything's terrible, why can't I play this, everything is horrible, I'm never going to get any better club'.


I freely admit, when I returned to school to restart my music degree, I was a terror in the practice room....terror to myself that is. I grunted, signed, yelled, cussed, and....on one occasion, kicked my case across a rehearsal hall so hard that it scared several people.

What on earth did I hope to accomplish with this? What possible good was I doing myself? Unfortunately, I'll bet several of you reading this blog have acted in the past or continue to act in a similar manner. Look, let's be real here. This behavior is just plain dumb.

Banging your head against the wall only gives one a headache. It does nothing to the wall and besides, the whole 'tortured artist' thing is played out. If you're doing this because you believe that this is part of how an 'artist' should act with some misplaced passion, just stop. Seriously. Stop.


It's simple- YOU DETERMINE YOUR SUCCESS OR FAILURE IN THE PRACTICE ROOM BEFORE YOU STEP FOOT IN THE DOOR.

Is that clear enough?

If you walk in the practice room with the attitude of 'I'm never going to get that passage right' or 'This isn't going to be very good' then your best course of action is to turn around, go have your pity party somewhere, and come back when you have the right mindset.

What IS the right mindset?

Gee, I'm glad you asked, loyal reader.  The right mindset involves a combination of science lab and child's playtime.

HUH?!

Ok, let me fill the gaps in that statement. Remember being a kid and playing. Let's say you were swimming. Child you decides "I'm going to swim from this point to that point underwater. Ohhhh, I didn't quite make it. Let me try to take a bigger breath and push off harder with my legs! YAY!!! I made it!"

What we often did as kids when we were playing was, in a zero pressure environment, figure out how stuff worked and, just as importantly, what doesn't work. We just need to transfer that mindset to the practice room.

"So you mentioned something about a science lab?"

Oh yeah, thanks again loyal reader. Here's what I mean about the science lab. What you were doing when 'figuring stuff out' as a kid was simply a rudimentary form of experimentation. What do the folks in science labs do? Exactly. Here's why I mentioned both-

You take the child like curiosity and enthusiasm and add the documentation of scientific experimentation. Write things down. What works? What doesn't? How did something feel? Most importantly, though, make practice into playtime. "Ok, I hit that low C at piano...I wonder if I tweaked my airstream this way if I could play it at pianissimo?" Make it a fun activity....BECAUSE IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE ONE!


"Well what happens when nothing is working?"

There are those days, huh? You're tired, you can't focus, or things just aren't coming together for some reason. There are a few options. 1: Put that activity aside and work on something else. Hit it again when your mind is fresh. 2: Go get some water and walk around for a few minutes to reset your brain a bit. 3: If it's a REALLY bad day, pack up your instrument and walk away. Explain why to your teacher, if need be, and assure them that you're hitting it again later (and then actually do!).


All fields of study have frustrations. You should absolutely try to limit yours. What we do is a joyous thing. We are part of a long and very prestigious tradition. Have fun. Explore. Figure things out!


Ok, so the next part here has nothing to do with the previous subject. Full disclosure, I'm making a small change to the blog and becoming an Amazon Affiliate. What does this mean to you? Not a darned thing, really. There will be an Amazon Banner on the blog from now on and if I mention a product that's on Amazon, I'll link to their site. This does NOT mean I'm simply going to put products on the blog to make money. However, if I'm talking about reeds, music, etc and Amazon happens to carry them, I'll make a few bucks if someone clicks on the link and buys them. Otherwise, please continue to read and comment. It won't cost you a thing.

The Curious Case of Mozart's Magic Beans

What a beautiful time of the year in sunny Las Vegas!

    I'm discovering more and more how fortunate I am to be here and working on my masters degree. More than that, I'm fortunate to be studying (as are you) at a time when there are so many opportunities to share information and discuss ideas. One such idea has presented itself several times recently and I thought I'd share it. It's an old idea which, like good ideas do, gets recycled from time to time.
 

    It's the concept of Mozart's Magic Beans.


  This is a concept that was first presented to me a few years ago by my major undergrad professor, Dr. Doug Owens. It popped back up this week in an article published by Sean Hurlburt on his Saxophone Performance website. Finally, Mark McArthur (my current professor) detailed it in UNLV's saxophone studio class at the end of the week during a discussion on effective practice techniques.

  Ok, so it's being talked about and now you're asking...'Great, what are Mozart's Magic Beans?!'


  Look, one of the legends of Mozart is that he somehow popped out of the womb as a virtuoso performer and composer. While it's true that the guy was almost laughably talented, legend and hyperbole do tend to often go hand in hand. The truth is often a little different.
  The truth is, Mozart's dad was a very accomplished and skilled musician as well. He was the his son's earliest mentor and as most celeb dads seem to be, was extra hard on junior (obviously, it worked but also tended to make ole Wolfgang a bit nutty). One of the technique used by Daddy Mozart involved beans......


Mozart's dad would give Jr ten beans and have him place the beans in his left pocket. He would then play a passage, scale, whatever. Every time he played it without flaw, he'd move a bean to his right pocket. The goal was that he would eventually play the passage flawlessly ten times in a row and have all the beans in his right pocket. If he played it less than flawlessly, he would have to move all the beans back to his left pocket and start over.


Tough, huh?


I tried this tonight using pennies. My goal? Play a C major scale in thirds in sixteenth notce at quarter note equals 80bpm ; articulated. Do you know how many pennies I moved? Do you want to know my record?

FOUR!!!!!!

It could have been worse! I could have had a tuner playing the Tonic as a drone and I would have had intonation staring me in the face too.

Let me offer this caveat. I'm no virtuoso but I can play. I have a degree in this and was good enough to have interest from several graduate programs.

Why, then, was my record less than half the goal?

The rule, per Mr. Mozart- FLAWLESS.

You see, there were no instances when I simply couldn't play the scale. What went wrong was an inaccurate articulation...or slight misfire on palm keys...or running out of air at the end......thus the difference between playing something and playing it flawlessly.


So what do I think about this technique?

I believe the technique can be very effective but has two distinct dangers-


1: You MUST be honest with yourself about what's happening (recording yourself might be helpful here). It's easy to rationalize and say 'close enough'. That isn't the goal. The goal here, to steal a sports addage, is 'nothing but net' or it doesn't count.
2: It would become very easy to turn this into a negative experience and start beating oneself up over not being able to get to ten (or even four, five, or six). One must keep this as a growth experience. If , for instance, your're working on a passage from a Bach Cello Suite and you work your way up to the point where you are playing it five times in a row, flawlessly....well, you've improved as a musician and gained valuable technique on your instrument, have you not? Yes, the goal remains ten. HOWEVER, the more important goal here is GROWTH. If you got three in a row last time and four in a row this time....you're getting better!

Give it a try!

Drop the Tylenol- Headache Prevention for Music Students and Musicians.

Wow,

 Sorry folks, it's been way too long since I penned one of these (Penned? It's a computer, genius!). School gets busy. That said, I had some observations about things which can make your experience in school......and life....much better. If you read one of the comments and get insulted, well, good. You probably need to be.

Ok, let's start with some simple stuff....

• The brand of instrument is less important than how it's set up and maintained. Musical instruments by and large have moving parts which can wear down and get out of adjustment. They do need to be properly maintained by a QUALIFIED technician; one who hopefully isn't in a 'big box' music store and expected to 'repair' 200 instruments per week. Find a good one. Ask around. Who do professionals in the area use? Develop a rapport with the technician and ask questions. They need to know what you're looking for and can better explain things to you if they have more information.
• If you buy a brand spanking new instrument, take it to a tech to get it properly 'set up'. I guarantee that even the best brand/model of your instrument could use a final tweak or two. Some need much more. Even if it was well set up at the factory, it was shipped, loaded, unloaded, packed, unpacked...in short, knocked around a bit. 
• Read the above and know that the difference can be night and day and actually clean up problems in your playing.
• Make sure you have supplies to keep the instrument clean and dry when not in use. It will save you thousands over your life time....if you use them regularly....
• If you're a woodwind player, no, two or three reeds isn't enough. Keep a box or two around. I know they're expensive. You picked the field.
• Have your mouthpiece checked out to make sure it's in good shape. You'd be surprised. It can make a HUGE difference.
• Similarly, have someone look at your instrument's barrel, lead pipe, neck, or bocal. Those can also make a huge difference.
• If you are on a student instrument and that's all you can afford, then rock it. Make sure it's in good working condition and make the most of it. 

Ok, Life Lesson Time:

• There is a difference between confidence and arrogance. As musicians, we NEED confidence. As musicians, arrogance will usually find you in the unemployment line. You might be really good. However, unless your name is Heifitz or Yo Yo Ma, there is likely someone better. Tone down that ego so you can learn something.
• If you're the best player in the room, you're in the wrong room.
• I said this in my 'Rules for Music Majors' post but once you step foot on a college campus, your accomplishments in high school mean exactly JACK.
• 'Once you reach the top of one level, you find yourself at the bottom of the next' - Janos Starker
• Show up on time and ready to play.
• Let people know that you want the gig and then SHOW THEM that you want the gig.
• No, you aren't 'too good' to be at whatever school you attend. 
• Practice rooms have the same use at Eastman and a community college. 
• Hard work is more important than raw talent.
• Hard work and a great attitude absolutely crush raw talent. 
• Chair placements are often not due simply to playing ability but needs in the ensemble. If, for example, you're auditioning for your school's ensemble for the principal trombone chair but everyone knows you are a KILLER bass trombonist, guess where you're likely to end up?
• Don't be a jerk. Everyone knows everyone now. If you act like an arrogant jackass in your department, good luck with grad school or jobs. 
• Don't be afraid to put yourself out there and reach out to teachers and professionals all over the world. You'll be surprised what good can come of it. 
• Just because you aren't the one playing in studio class or a masterclass doesn't mean you can't learn something. Less mouth, more ears.
• Help others in your studio, even if they're competition. It helps you in the long run.
• Be the person people want to succeed.

A Few Rules for Music Majors

Man, summer always flies by.....


 I'm in the last few days of Interlochen Arts Camp and then it's home and time for my second semester of graduate study. Watching what goes on here, surrounded by some of the best young artists, instructors, and conductors in the world, I can't help but notice things and how they relate to my undergraduate colleagues around the country. Hence, I compiled a few thoughts.

• Even if you are going to be conducting a band or working with elementary/middle school students, you should have a STRONG working knowledge of orchestral lit. I mean lit actually performed by an orchestra; not the band arrangement and certainly not whatever drum corps adapted it into a field show. This isn't to bash bands or drum corps. You just need to experience the piece as it was originally intended to be played. That way you understand how it's supposed to sound if you choose to program an adaptation down the road. Besides, listening to orchestral recordings likely means that you're hearing YOUR chosen instrument being played at a high level. More about that in a moment.
• You need to know (be aware of) a ton of solo lit for not only your instrument but a strong working knowledge of major works for other instruments. Your students need to listen to masters perform on their instrument. You need to tell, for example, a clarinetist about Marcellus performing the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra. Ask your classmates. Ask professors. What's been written? 
• On that same vein, what's on YOUR playlist? You need to know every big time player on your instrument going back several decades. Moreover, you need to know at least 1-2 heavyweights on every instrument. Listen to masters on everything so you'll have a working knowledge of what GOOD is. 
• (This is also not a bash against drum corps)- If you are a junior or senior in college and the majority of your listening is drum corps, you are doing yourself and your future students a disservice. I'm not saying don't listen. I'm saying Santa Clara Vanguard performing Scheherazade should prompt you to listen to, say, the Vienna Philharmonic performing the work. If you can name the show the Blue Devils played in 2013 but can't list ten major recordings on your instrument, you're simply doing it wrong. 
• Your professors do know more than you. They might not be right 100% of the time but yes, they are trying to make you better and unless you are finishing a DMA and are a total virtuoso, they are likely much better than you at the instrument. You might disagree with what they say but try it out before you simply dismiss it.
• You sometimes have to do things which you find to be a waste of time. Welcome to life. 
• Don't be afraid to say 'no'. You are there to improve and be a student. If professors/administrators are constantly hounding you to recruit, work events, or do things which are taking away from practice or study, 'no' is a perfectly acceptable answer. Be a team player but not to your own detriment. 
• If you are a music ed major and say 'I don't have to get that good at my instrument. I'm just going to be a band director.' then you are doing it wrong. No, you don't have to reach anywhere near a virtuosic level on your instrument to teach others. You do, however, have to TRY. How can you understand your students' struggle unless you go through it? How can you expect your students to work when you refuse to? No, an hour a week before lessons isn't enough. You have to put in lots of work on your instrument. It helps your ear. It helps your theory skills. It helps your musicality. It's why you are there. Suck it up, buttercup.

Feel free to add your thoughts.

Seeing the Forest for the Trees- A Look at the Big Picture.

So I really dislike my playing right now and you know what?


I'm totally ok with that.


  You see, as I went through my first semester of graduate school, my professor worked to change and streamline a lot of things about my playing. This put me in a position where I was having to relearn how to do a lot of things. In many ways, I was having to take a few steps back to correct subtle but very bad habits and help push me through to the next level.
  I've spent the past few years trying to break through the proverbial wall to no avail. I'd made strides, the wall has divots, cracks, and holes, but it still stands. This is why I dislike my playing right now.

  Ultimately, when it takes a long time to break down that proverbial wall the aspiring musician has to spend a great deal of time staring at a really ugly, cracked, dented, beaten up wall; wondering how to finally break through.


So, how do we do that?


  First things first, you have to believe in yourself and your ability. You do have the ability to improve your skill on whatever instrument you play and your ceiling is likely far higher than you believe. This is a rite of passage that all musicians must endure; usually several times in their life....several, dozens, hundreds, THOUSANDS. There are world class players who still sit with their metronome and pencil on their stand saying 'Why can't I freaking get that passage?!'.

   When you love something enough to fully commit to it you are going to be frustrated by it constantly.  We all set impossible standards for ourselves and are still shocked when we can't ever seem...to....quite...dang...almost...no....DANG....get....no....WHY WHY WHY?!?!?!? Believing in yourself allows you to do this but still step back and say 'Ok, I didn't quite get it today but I will tomorrow!'. If you don't believe in yourself, learn how. Find books on self confidence. Work with people who might be able help. You HAVE TO believe in yourself to succeed in this.


   Second, you have to trust in your teacher. If you don't, you need to figure out the disconnect or find one you do trust. If you don't believe they can really help you, then why are you there?

   Lastly, you must keep faith in the fact that the wall will come down. Keep steady consistent work in the fundamentals of your instrument. If you aren't performing scales, long tones, articulation work, etc every day then you are doing yourself a disservice. Get some studies on rhythm and work the heck out of them (I like Robert Starer's Rhythmic Training). Get music theory texts and work that. Most importantly, work to recognize 'holes' in your technique and work diligently to shore them up. What's holding you back? Is it air? Your tongue? Fingers? Is there a hitch in your technique in certain ranges? Identify those 'holes' and spend a little extra time focusing on them. As an example, one of the holes in my technique is a deficiency getting around the palm keys. As such, I'm going to spend a few weeks working major and minor (harmonic and melodic) scales, scales in 3rds, and scales in 4ths, just going into, through, and out of the palm keys.


So, why am I ok with disliking my playing right now? Simple, I have a plan and know that if I persist, the wall will come down eventually and I'll be one step closer to virtuosity. The only thing standing in between me and the literature I truly want to play is.....me. With that knowledge, I can make it work.


Believe in yourself.
Get to work.
Blast through walls!