4 Step Saxophone Practice Routine saxschoolonline

It doesn’t matter how fancy your sax is, how many mouthpieces you have, if you don't have an effective saxophone practice routine, then you will always struggle to make good consistent progress.

In this video you'll learn how to practice sax the RIGHT way whether you are a beginner sax player or have been playing for years. AND this system works for alto saxophone, tenor, bari or soprano too!
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Chapters:
0:00 - About this lesson
1:41 - Section 1
3:13 - Types of Warm-up
4:25 - Section 2
7:40 - Section 3
9:12 - The 4th Section

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[johncb]

For warm-up I often enjoy using Chorales as suggested in a method book by James Ployhar. They're like beautiful tunes made out of longtones. Break Forth, Heavenly Light or Tallis' Cannon are a couple faves. I've actually challenged myself from time to time to see how slow I can set my metronome and still play each note through with even tone. Most important thing is that I really listen to myself while I play.

[banelausevic]

Hvala vam prijatelju, podelili ste čisto znanje neskromno u 12 minuta, malo je ovako iskrenih i dobrih videa na you tubu o sviranju saxophona... svirao sam trubu a i saxophone and piano i znam o čemu govorite.May God bless you and good luck, thank you greetings from Balkan

[amybrumbaugh]

This is such a helpful video! Not knowing what to practice is what killed my motivation in the past, and eventually led to me giving up playing for a long time. This explanation makes so much sense and I can’t wait to try the free exercises!

[saxocoustic]

Nigel you have a natural way of making sax studies enjoyable & explain in a clear manor been following you for over 5 years love your channel

[genebeaudin]

I like your style of teaching. I watch you often

[haroldokoro]

Recently joined Sax school a month ago. Been playing the Alto Sax for a year and a half now( Started June 2020) and got my Tenor Christmas Eve. This particular video has given me a lot to go on and I cant wait to start my practice session later today. Once again great video

[wimpletzers]

Hello Nigel, I do a warm up by playing long tones for 20 minutes.
Beautiful video´s.
Greetings from Belgium.

[errolssozi]

Thank you for this information. It has helped me redefine my practice routine. Thank you so much.

[Mîss_tífe]

How many times should I do my practice routine

[MikeSmith-gowk]

Nigel, which saxophone did you buy in the end?

[RockRabot]

It's quite satisfying to take a scale. Let's say a G melodic minor scale and just play with it for a while. Get to know it. Play patterns with it.
Improvise with it. But always be musical with it.

[jeffarcher]

I've been doing it all wrong and having a blast.
No long tones, scales or playing in tune for me.
Instead every morning early I go to a secret spot where I can blow and no one will know.
Lack of warmups did lead to sore neck and left thumb so I do some stretching, breathing and waving my arms about.
Then I start playing songs out of various ez play big note music books. It is ez. It says the note right there. Play it and out comes the song. I don't count or tap my foot, just sort of sing. It's so much fun I can't stop for an hour or so.
If I'm lucky something clicks and I don't need the music anymore. It's in me now.
It took over a year for the first one to stick as I only play each song once that day and have several books. Now I have a dozen memorized another dozen close and a whole bunch of Christmas songs too.
The downside is I lack all the depth of understanding that frees us from memorized songs.
While you were speaking I was thinking how all that hard boring work is liberating and I will never fly if I don't leave the comfort of really cool song melodies.
Put in the work and I could actually understand what I am doing and be free to add fills, solo coherently and play my own music.
Maybe tomorrow 😉.

[dwightrussell]

This video definitely help me with my routine

[РифхатТуктаров-пй]

Hello, sad master, I watch your videos with great pleasure I wonder can we communicating in person?I've got a lot of questions

[michaelcharles]

I am happy to learn from you I am learning without a tutor

[emilyholgate]

Thank you for such a helpful video and activities! I’ve been using them for 2 days now and have already noticed such a difference.
I have noticed that when I am playing I’m very sharp on the chromatic tuner. Do you have any hints or tips to keep me on track?

[carenbarnet]

Thankyou Nigel for your ideas.
Slow warm up for me is playing Misty and My Funny Valentine with the CD backing track, then breaking into the scales, albeit slowly.

Stepping out of my comfort zone...
1. Playing and Recording Happy Birthday for everyone i knew having birthdays in December. Im meeting the recording challenge, then remembering how to post it on FB.
2. A couple of days back, i had front and back doors open, a draft of wind blew my Pink Panther page 2 onto the floor. When i replaced the sheet of music on the stand, it was upside down. I have a warped sense of humour, and thought, i wonder if i could play page 2 "as is", starting at the end (visually the first note is top left on the bar line), as though playing it normally. Yes it sounded funny, however, it stretched my confidence by recognising the names of the notes in the upside down positions, as though bar lines were right way up. So bottom bar line E now becomes top bar line F. I played it slowly and found I was successful. Both Pink Panther and In The Mood are pieces i have been working on for about 6 months PP to a year ITM. I end up running out of breath by the bottom of page 1. So i am still playing the notes, and some sections i am GETTING the rhythm. That feels great. Vanessa, my local tutor/music therapist has seen the progress being made, and she praises, helps, and challenges me. To help me remember names of notes on sheet music, Vanessa has bought 2 music programs; 1 to write the music notes onto bar lines in tge appropriate key signature, and 2 to write the NAMES of the notes above each note as prompts. It is working. However, playing Page 2 Pink Panther there were no note names, in the upside down position. I had Fun.

[РифхатТуктаров]

Hello can you tell me frankly please: is plastic reed harmful or dangerous for health..?

[kujitolive]

Hi! I love the channel! I've been thinking about starting to play the saxophone for a while, but unfortunately can't because of budget. I recently saw that I could buy on amazon a Jsax, it's way cheaper, I heard it on YT and it seems fine, what do you think about it? Is it ok for beginners with low budgets? I'm thinking of just playing it in the free time so nothing really serious, and I know my dad would love to learn with me as well. I'd love to know what you think about it, idk if you've ever heard about jsaxes. Thank you in advance! Keep up the good work

[briangraham]

Good morning. Do you have a standard song that I can take to a jam that wont confuse the guitar players? Good luck, right? Thank you for your hard work. Be safe all.