{"id":26068,"date":"2011-06-27T11:22:22","date_gmt":"2011-06-27T18:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=26068"},"modified":"2011-06-27T11:22:22","modified_gmt":"2011-06-27T18:22:22","slug":"the-importance-of-a-good-foundation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2011\/the-importance-of-a-good-foundation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance Of A Good Foundation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Very simply put, without a good foundation in the fundamentals, a player will be frustrated because they won’t be able to play what’s on the sheet music in front of them, or what’s\u00a0in their head\u2014if they’re playing an improvisation.<\/p>\n

I’ve always likened the fundamentals to the foundation of a house. Without a good, solid foundation,\u00a0the\u00a0studs, walls, trusses, roof,\u00a0or anything else\u00a0won’t be quite right. The house will end up looking something like this…<\/p>\n

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Source: forums.uktrainsim.com<\/h6>\n

For many generations now, the bible for serious saxophone students has been the Universal Method for Saxophone,<\/em> by Paul DeVille. The Universal Method<\/em> is the\u00a0resource that for many players\u2014myself included\u2014has given\u00a0them the tools necessary to build a good, solid foundation in the fundamentals.<\/p>\n

Regardless of what style of music\u00a0you\u00a0play, or want to play,\u00a0a saxophonist\u00a0still has to be able to play over the full range of\u00a0their horn. Sure, the book was first published in 1908, and the \u00e9tudes are classical in nature, but the exercises contained in this 320 page book, will make you\u00a0an incredibly competent __________ player. [Fill in the blank with jazz, ska, R&B, rock, classical, or whatever else you want.]<\/p>\n

And while there are references to the Evette and Schaeffer System, and exercises specifically for this new<\/em> system of saxophone fingering\u2014which unless you happen to own one of these rather rare,\u00a090-year-old saxophones, isn’t really applicable\u2014you can either skip those few exercises, or do them on your regular sax just as a finger buster… Hey, it’s really good practice. \ud83d\ude08<\/p>\n

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Source: Amazon.com<\/h6>\n

No one book will cover everything. For example, the Universal Method<\/em> doesn’t mention altissimo, but it is the most comprehensive resource for the saxophone’s conventional range. Besides, there are many very good resources that deal with the saxophone’s extended range. One I like, is Rosemary Lang’s, Beginning Studies in the Altissimo Register<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

If one of my students is serious about saxophone, and wants to improve their technique, the Universal Method<\/em> is the book that I recommend that we work with. Not only will the book be useful in the here and now, but it will be a handy tool for the rest of the player’s\u00a0musical career.<\/p>\n

After I had been playing about 5 years or so, my private instructor had me buy the book. I worked with him on these exercises for all the years I took lessons with him. My copy has pages falling out,\u00a0is written in\u00a0with\u00a0pencil marks to remind me when to use my bis Bb, or when to use my palm D during a turn AKA gruppetto.<\/p>\n

About 10 years ago I decided to buy a new copy of the\u00a0book. I wanted to start out with a clean slate<\/em> as it were, and start to work out of the book again and use the exercises\u00a0in my daily practice.<\/p>\n

That’s the thing about the Universal Method<\/em>, it is a valuable tool that you can use for your entire life. Very few other method books\u2014any ?\u2014can make that claim.<\/p>\n

The Universal Method for Saxophone<\/em> is available in most brick and mortar music stores, and through most online places\u00a0including Amazon.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you would like to download an electronic version, you can do so through the Internet Archive<\/a>. Be warned however, it is nearly 32 mgs, and trust me, you will want a hard copy for this.<\/p>\n

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…this is just my blog<\/em>. <\/span> My \u201creal\u201d <\/b> website is<\/span> www.bassic-sax.info.<\/a> If you\u2019re looking for <\/span> sax info<\/strong>,<\/span> you should check it out too.<\/span>There\u2019s lots<\/em> there! <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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Very simply put, without a good foundation in the fundamentals, a player will be frustrated because they won’t be able to play what’s on the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[82],"tags":[142,190,83,644,661,647],"class_list":["post-26068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-literature","tag-advanced-techniques","tag-altissimo","tag-books-literature","tag-photos","tag-styles-of-saxophone-playing","tag-teaching-saxophone"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t