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Daily Pract Rout

1. The daily saxophone practice routine includes 2-3 minutes of breathing exercises to fill the lungs completely without raising the shoulders. 2. Long tones are practiced for 3-5 minutes, focusing on a steady tone without variation in pitch, tone, or volume. 3. Intonation and problem notes are checked for 3-5 minutes using a tuner and drone pitch. 4. Overtones are practiced for 10-15 minutes using exercises to develop altissimo register and embouchure/throat control.

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Col Boyce
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113 views

Daily Pract Rout

1. The daily saxophone practice routine includes 2-3 minutes of breathing exercises to fill the lungs completely without raising the shoulders. 2. Long tones are practiced for 3-5 minutes, focusing on a steady tone without variation in pitch, tone, or volume. 3. Intonation and problem notes are checked for 3-5 minutes using a tuner and drone pitch. 4. Overtones are practiced for 10-15 minutes using exercises to develop altissimo register and embouchure/throat control.

Uploaded by

Col Boyce
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DAILY PRACTICE ROUTINE FOR SAXOPHONE

by Dale Wolford San Jos State University [email protected] www.dalewolford.com


Time Activity 2-3 min. 1. Breathing work for a full tank. Fill lungs completely with the following routine:1-bottom lungs (gut), 2-lower back, 3-upper chest. Shoulders should not rise! 3-5 min. 2. Longtones there are two different types I recommend: a) a straight tone without vibrato and dynamic change b) Start with air, slowly bring in the tone, growing to the loudest you can play (with a good sound!), then slowly die away to nothing.

air ppp

8-10 sec.

fff

8-10 sec.

ppp air

Listen for a steady tone without wobbles, pitch change, or tone variation. Work on 3 or 4 different notes each day in different registers, striving for a rich, open, round sound. Use a tuner with a drone pitch or hold down a key on a electric keyboard to match pitch as you play. 3-5 min. 3. Intonationuse a tuner to check notes that are typically a problem on most saxophones daily! Play with a drone pitch to improve your ear whenever possible as well as checking the meter. Get SmartMusic at www.smartmusic.com 10-15 m. 4. Overtonesdaily practice on this very important and difcult skill is necessary to development of altissimo and control of the embouchure and throat. Begin with Sigurd Raschers Top Tones for the Saxophone overtone exercises on p. 12. 15-20 m. 5. Scales a very important part of your playing! a) Major: do as Circle of Fifths and also begin on low Bb, then B, C, C#, etc. Practice with eighth and sixteenth notes working on evenness, tonguing and speed with a metronome. Use different articulations and rhythms to keep them interesting!

. l . l . . l . . l l =========================
3x's perfect!

b) Minor: melodic one day, harmonic the next; practice the same way as major scales. c) Chromatic: begin with mini Five-Note Exercise patternstarting on low Bb, like so:

etc. Then work on chromatic scale from low Bb to high F. Again, always use a metronome for speed and accuracy. 3-5 min. 6. Vibrato Vuv,Vuv,Vuv,Vuv do half, then quarter note scales to develop a continuous, even vibrato in all ranges. Then work to develop different speeds. (See Larry Teals explanation in The Saxophonists Manual, p. 11-14) 5 min. 7. Tongueing Having warmed the tongue up with scales, practice an etude or short piece with continuous tonguing; i.e. Bachs Am Sonata for Solo Flute, the rst movement.

=========================== & { __ #_ _ n_ _ #_ b _ { _ n_ { b_ {_ _ l #_ _

30-90 m. 8. Etudes and study pieces work on phrasing, breathing, tongueing, vibrato; all the things youve practiced to this point to incorporate them into playing a piece of music. Break each piece into several sections, mark breaths, know where phrases begin and end, make exercises out of technical problems. Remember to always work for PERFECTION!

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