Hello fellow saxophonists :-)

[ProSaxTips]

Hello everyone Zach here, I've been playing saxophone for 32+ years, teaching privately for 22+ years, high school band director for 9 years, and playing professionally for the last 15 years.

In December of 2019, I decided to start a YouTube channel to pass on the knowledge I have gained over the last 20 years. My goal is make each video better then the last, just like when you practice a piece of music...the more you do it, the better it should, hopefully, get Mt goal for the channel is to be helpful to any that are in need of it.

If anyone is interested, here is the link to my channel: Pro Sax Tips

If you have any ideas on how I can make my channel better for you, please let me know.
Thank you and have a great day!

-Zach
ProSaxTips

 

[nigeld]

Welcome to the Café.

 

[Jeanette]

Welcome to the café

Jx

 

[ProSaxTips]

Thank you Happy to be here.

 

[Rob Pealing]

Welcome. I have just watched your video on preparation for solos etc. and found it helpful, thank you. I am looking forward to hearing more from you.

 

[ProSaxTips]

Welcome. I have just watched your video on preparation for solos etc. and found it helpful, thank you. I am looking forward to hearing more from you.

Thank you so much for your kind words and taking time to watch my video. I am looking forward to putting up more helpful videos each week. If there are any topics you, or anyone else, woulg like to see, please let me know.

 

[6441]

Hi Zack and welcome to the café. It's obvious that you have a lot of great knowledge to share from experience. I watched the "Control phrases" video and thought it was excellent. A simple, easy to follow, easy to do exercise. I especially liked two things about that one:
1. No intro licks, a common thing on sax tip videos that I find unnecessary and distracting. Usually it's a blast of shredding riffs to show they can play fast.
2. Even though I'm not a classical player at all, your use of a classical example was the most appropriate demonstration of the concept. It's obvious how that can be used in jazz, funk, rock or any music that has a wind instrument. Probably a good idea for flute and trumpet, as well.

If you have any ideas on how I can make my channel better for you, please let me know.

I also watched the reed video, and my suggestion would be to improve the resolution of the camera and/or find a way to do closeups, because I didn't find it easy to see what you were talking about on my 11" laptop screen, but on a phone, it would be even harder. This may be a senior vision issue, but many of us aren't in the first bloom here.

 

[ProSaxTips]

Hi Zack and welcome to the café. It's obvious that you have a lot of great knowledge to share from experience. I watched the "Control phrases" video and thought it was excellent. A simple, easy to follow, easy to do exercise. I especially liked two things about that one:
1. No intro licks, a common thing on sax tip videos that I find unnecessary and distracting. Usually it's a blast of shredding riffs to show they can play fast.
2. Even though I'm not a classical player at all, your use of a classical example was the most appropriate demonstration of the concept. It's obvious how that can be used in jazz, funk, rock or any music that has a wind instrument. Probably a good idea for flute and trumpet, as well.

Thank you, Randulo, for your kind words, greatly appreciated. I'm not here/there to show off, I'll leave that to the experts. I'm just a educator wanting to help anyone that is open to my style of teaching

I also watched the reed video, and my suggestion would be to improve the resolution of the camera and/or find a way to do closeups, because I didn't find it easy to see what you were talking about on my 11" laptop screen, but on a phone, it would be even harder. This may be a senior vision issue, but many of us aren't in the first bloom here.

Understandable. I'm in the infancy of my videos and will take your great suggestion(s) and continue to make my videos better, visually and content-wise.

If you feel like putting a comment on the video(s), that helps others and my channel.

Cheers!

-Zach

 

[GCinCT]

Hi Zach. I am subscribed to your channel and I like your videos very much. I find them helpful. Welcome to the Cafe. It’s great to have you here!

 

[ProSaxTips]

Hi Zach. I am subscribed to your channel and I like your videos very much. I find them helpful. Welcome to the Cafe. It’s great to have you here!

Thank you so very much, GCinCT, I'm glad you found them helpful. That encourages me to keep putting up more helpful videos.

 

[6441]

I am Mr. "I don't do exercises" but I did play the Control one after watching that video. I always get distracted in performing any routine, and this was no exception, but I did play several long tones starting from as soft as I could to as loud as I could before the note begins to sound, as Zack describes, "gross". I believe there are similar ideas expressed in @Pete Thomas' Taming the Saxophone. I seem to recall something about visualising the note as a tube in a specific color, and crescendos and decrescendos. Anyway, the fact that I did this yesterday, even a little, made me remember how difficult it is to play very soft. I probably will not do a ten-minute exercise daily, but I will get some benefit from doing a few of such notes as part of the day's work.

 

[ProSaxTips]

I am Mr. "I don't do exercises" but I did play the Control one after watching that video. I always get distracted in performing any routine, and this was no exception, but I did play several long tones starting from as soft as I could to as loud as I could before the note begins to sound, as Zack describes, "gross".

Very honored that you took the time to try the exercise.

I believe there are similar ideas expressed in @Pete Thomas' Taming the Saxophone. I seem to recall something about visualising the note as a tube in a specific color, and crescendos and decrescendos.

I'll have to check that out

Anyway, the fact that I did this yesterday, even a little, made me remember how difficult it is to play very soft. I probably will not do a ten-minute exercise daily, but I will get some benefit from doing a few of such notes as part of the day's work.

It takes time to work up to doing the full 2 octaves. Slow and steady, as I tell me students, as Rome wasn't built in a day...let alone, a year.

Thank you so much for seeing the value in the exercise to at least try it and even adding it to your practice regiment.

-Zach

 

[6441]

Ooops, sorry to have misspelled your name each time!

 

[ProSaxTips]

Ooops, sorry to have misspelled your name each time!

LOL....I didn't even realize

 

[Ivan]

Just had a look at your embouchure vid which has ideas about tongue position I shall try out

In your signature, on this website, that appears below each of your posts you could (probably) link the URL to your YouTube vids so they are a click away for interested punters, rather than a cut and paste away

 

[ProSaxTips]

Just had a look at your embouchure vid which has ideas about tongue position I shall try out

Thank you for watching my video, I'm glad that you found it informative. If you need more direction on tongue position, or anything else saxophone related, I'm more than happy to help.

In your signature, on this website, that appears below each of your posts you could (probably) link the URL to your YouTube vids so they are a click away for interested punters, rather than a cut and paste away

Fixed. Thanks for pointing that out...greatly appreciated