Customer Reviews

Universal Method for Saxophone

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Over the years many thousands of saxophone players, great and small, have learned to play using this book. The book is a comprehensive guide to playing the saxophone. It begins with how to put a saxophone together and how to play your first note and ends with some very sophisticated excercises. Anyone who begins on page one and follows the excercises through to the last page will be a proficient musician. If you just want to learn a couple of tunes to impress your friends, this may not be the right book for you. If you, however, really want to learn to play the saxophone, this is the only book.

This is a great method book that takes you from absolute beginners to moderately advanced levels. Great for someone who is really willing to put in the extra time and effort. This isn't a book to just flip through. It is really worth taking the time to get into this book and truly study the art of playing the sax.

Some interesting exercises and etudes. However the book is very dated. This book has not changed since 1929. I have an original 1929 version and the new book is an exact copy. The saxophone has evolved since 1929, and so should this book.

There is no mention of any of modern saxophone technique. For example the book still refers to an archaic saxophone with right hand low Bb,B and C#keys, there are even has exercises based on this ancient key system. No modern saxophone have these keys. I have never seen a sax with these keys, although the idea is interesting.

The book covers only your basic scales, major, and melodic minor. There is no mention of pentatonics, altered scales, whole tone, harmonics, multiphonics, altissimo etc.

This is not a bad book to have in your collection, but you will need more than this Universal Method to become the next Michael Brecker.

The title Universal Saxophone method may have been appropriate in 1929, it is certainly not appropriate for the year 2006.

This is an excellent book for the serious saxophone student. It covers all the major technical aspects of playing the saxophone in the normal range of Bb below to F above the staff: scales and arpeggios, breath control (if you follow the breath marks in the early exercises), phrasing, mastering the low range, mastering the high range, intervals, trills and embellishments, difficult fingering combinations, alternate fingerings, time signatures and syncopation, and all the keys(although the majority of exercises are in the common keys,especially C). The problem is the book is made up of mostly dry technical studies. No popular or folk tunes. No simplified classical themes or classic etudes. Just a few operatic arias, classical airs, and concert pieces for the intermediate/advanced player and beyond (maybe 60 out of 290 pages of music). That's why I think it's only for the serious student. Also, it's probably too difficult for most beginners with no experience learning on their own without a teacher.

Back when I was playing every night, we referred to this as "The Bible." Anyone who aspires to play the sax should have a copy, even if it is "old school" by today's standards. This and a couple of "cheat books", with a good album collection, is all you need to learn to play the right way. Join a band and listen to everyone else, and hit a few licks when the time is right.

First, this is really not a teaching method on it's own, it should be used along with one and with a good teacher. This was a state of the art book a few generations ago, and though it's out of date it still has a lot to offer the serious student. Aimed at the serious classical musician- if you master the material in this book you can play just about anything. Not perfect, but it hasn't been replaced.

This is a great thing for students who have a hard time finding something to practice site reading with. As a student myself, I find myself excelling at improvisation only because I have all of the recourses at hand to do so. I used to faulter a little with my sight reading a while ago, but this new book has really helped me. I have already recommended it to many friends; I also recommend it to you!

outstanding learning method for beginner and intermediate students. i highly recommend this text and i also recommend this book to be a part of every saxophonist library

Well the only problem I see is the graphic quality in the fingering chart it's so bad printed that sometimes you become confused,but the method is a good one.

I bought this book for my son. It was highly rated by his very talented and wonderful saxopohone teacher. According to the teacher, he still refers to it after many many years. My son also loves
it because it has a broad spectrum of pieces, ranging from beginner and moving on to extremely challenging that he hopes to play one day!