Customer Reviews

Practice Like The Pros (Sax Warmups) 2 Cd's (Saxophone)

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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is basically a book of written and recorded masterclasses by top saxophone players based in New York City. There are a number of excellent discussions and exercises on varied topics pertaining to saxophone playing: dexterity and speed, articulation, learning scales, changes, tone production, breathing, the overtone series and much, much more.

While I have seen snippets of a few of the exercises elsewhere, nearly all the exercises have a unique spin to them.

There are twenty different practice routines or masterclasses, if you will. Each has a written summary of the topic and exercise and then the CD has the player explaning the concept in his or her own voice, sometimes followed by some phrases played by the player. The nice thing about the book and the CD is that they are not an exact copy of each other, so each becomes even more valuable.

I disagree with the other viewer, in that this is not a sequential method book, but a book of various unsequenced methods. Players could benefit by reviewing the entire book, choosing a concept to start on, explore it long enough to master it and move on to the next one.

This would be useful for sax players who have played long enough to have a sound concept, some knowledge of construction of major and minor scales, and some interest in improvising jazz. I think it's best directed to high school students, although there may be a few advanced middle school students who could benefit from it.

I got a number of useful practice ideas out of this, and I plan to use this with my high school and advanced middle school students.

The book is a collection of exercises proposed by different sax players. Although interesting, they have no connection one with the next and so on. There is only one big fault on the CD that comes with the book: each sax line is played only once at full speed so it is difficult for the beginner (my case) to follow the music sheet on the book. If it had, like most guitar books have, one line at slow speed and the next at full speed, it would be perfect, saving us beginners a lot of trouble rewinding the CD lots of times in order to get each lick right.

Sorry I waisted my time and money on this book. After reading some of the reviews on this book, I thought I'd give it a try. Now, after receiving this piece of garbage, I think the reviewers must have all been friends of Miss Sue Terry. I'm sure she's a good Saxophonist, but she should stay away from writing (if you want to call it that) books. Sue's contribution to this book was less than one page. The whole book its self is very thin, not much to it at all. It may have been a better book if she had of written most of the content herself. Most of the featured artists wrote more about themselves as to who they've played with and studied with, than giving us something we can use. Most of the Artists only wrote about 5 lines on a single page and showed us some simple scale or patterns, we've all seen before. Nothing is talked about here in any great detail. You can find much more and far better info on the Internet for free than in this book.

If you want a good book on tips for playing and practising the saxophone, check out: 101 Saxophone Tips...Stuff All The Pros Know And Use. By Eric J. Morones
101 Saxophone Tips: Stuff All the Pros Know and Use (Sax Instruction)
It was of some value and had a lot of good tips. Something we sax players are always looking for. He also has a good list of "high-note fingerings" some that I had never seen before and worked very well.
Hope I can save some fellow sax players out there of some disappointment.

I also found Greg Fishman's Etude books 1-3 and his Jazz Phrasing books by far the most useful out there to get you playing real jazz from your horn in no time.
Jazz Phrasing for Saxophone, Volume 1 (previously titled Jazz Phrasing for Beginners)
Jazz Saxophone Etudes, Vol. 3 (Book & CDs)

I found the book very informative and well organized....gives very useful hints regarding everyday practice....The CD's are good...Service ,also good...

I like the CDs with this book. I use them regularly. This will keep your chops in shape, and you will enjoy it, as I have if you are any kind of sax player. Of course, if you are a consumate pro, you make these CDs, not buy them.

Sue Terry has not only impressed the jazz world with her artistry, but has now graced us with a book for saxophonists, by saxophonists. She interviews various known saxophonists and asks for their personal tips on practicing, improvising and the such. Unfortunately, I don't the book progressive in its order and some exercises are moot. But, I applaud the efforts to bring more information out the sea of saxophonists starving for tips.