Saxophone Warm-Up. Remember - When you practice at home START WITH A GOOD WARM-UP TO WORK ON YOUR TONE!!!

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1 Saxophone Warm-Up Remember - When you practice at home START WITH A GOOD WARM-UP TO WORK ON YOUR TONE!!! In band, nothing is more important than playing with a beautiful sound. Low/High/Low Game (Long Tones): (3-5 minutes) start on low D hold a GOOD tone for 5 seconds then slur up to higher D (ROCK to the octave key) hold the higher D for 5 seconds, let the octave key off and drop back down for 5 seconds practice tonguing low D (LEGATO!!!!) Then...E, F, G, A, B, C Scales! (use your handout): 3-5 minutes C Major G Major D Major F Major Once you ve done a good warm-up play MUSIC!!! Saxophone students must have a reed case stocked with FOUR un-chipped, working reeds in good condition at all times. Please use Hemke size 2.5 reeds.

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3 Advanced Band Fall Project (SAXOPHONES) The first Advanced Band rehearsal will be on Friday, December 9th. This project music be completed in order to attend! If you make sure to attend every band lesson and practice well enough to complete several items each time, you will make it! #1. Demonstrate your saxophone tricks for warming up: low/high/low (start on low C and take away one finger each time to high C ) #2. C Major Scale (starting on LOW C) use your handout to practice! you must be able to sing and finger an ascending scale from memory you must be able to play smoothly up and down at 72 BPM (that s not very fast!). You may have up to three free attempts to perform it perfectly per lesson...more than three and we ll try another time! #3. Page 14: ALL LINES (all prior required pages must be checked off first!) clap and count out loud - practice with a 72 BPM! PLAY at the same tempo (slow and steady) use SMARTMUSIC or the CD to have fun practicing at faster speeds!!! you may skip #48 #4. G Major Scale use your handout to practice! you must be able to sing and finger an ascending scale from memory you must be able to play smoothly up and down at 72 BPM (that s not very fast!). You may have up to three free attempts to perform it perfectly per lesson...more than three and we ll try another time! #5. Page 15: ALL LINES clap and count out loud - practice with a 72 BPM! PLAY at the same tempo (slow and steady) use SMARTMUSIC or the CD to have fun practicing at faster speeds!!! you may skip #53

4 #6. D Major Scale use your handout to practice! you must be able to sing and finger an ascending scale from memory you must be able to play smoothly up and down at 72 BPM (that s not very fast!). You may have up to three free attempts to perform it perfectly per lesson...more than three and we ll try another time! #7. Page 16: ALL LINES (Mr. Beall or a private teacher can explain pickup notes ) clap and count out loud - practice with a 72 BPM! PLAY at the same tempo (slow and steady) use SMARTMUSIC or the CD to have fun practicing at faster speeds!!! do not skip #59 #8 Ascending Chromatic Scale: use the handout in this packet sing and finger play smoothly in one breath #9. Rhythm Exercise #8 (included in this handout - Mr. Beall or a private teacher will need to give you a lesson on these rhythms) clap and count out loud! play in slow steady rhythm on your instrument (pick an easy note) practice to a metronome! (72 BPM is good) #10. Page 18: #60, 61, & 62 clap and count out loud - practice with a 72 BPM! PLAY at the same tempo (slow and steady) use SMARTMUSIC or the CD to have fun practicing at faster speeds!!! If you d like to qualify for JAZZ BAND read on to the next page.

5 HERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT JAZZ BAND Jazz Band is a really exciting and fun place to play saxophone. The saxophone is a featured instrument in the jazz ensemble! The jazz band music requires that you are achieving at a higher level than what is just enough to get by in saxophone class. If playing in Jazz Band is one of your goals, you ll need to start working towards that right away! Don t wait until September it may be too late. The first JAZZ BAND rehearsal will be on Wednesday morning, November 8th! The deadline to qualify for JAZZ BAND will be Wednesday, November 8th. To qualify for JAZZ BAND you ll need to complete all of the regular band assignments (on the pervious pages) PLUS these by November 8th: D Major Scale (from memory) - Mr. Beall will help you add it to your scale sheet if you don t already have it. Accent on Achievement Pg. 20 (pg. 18 & 19 NOT required) Descending Chromatic Scale (starting on low C) - use the handout from Mr. Beall not the one in your book!

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7 Now that you are in Advanced Band, we ll be getting to play some much more interesting and exciting music! One thing that makes this music more interesting is this useful note value... THE DOTTED QUARTER NOTE!!!! NOTE!!! This is NOT the same as a dot placed UNDER a note. You remember what that means...don t you? Hopefully you remember from beginning band that dot AFTER a note adds half the value to the note. So, a dotted quarter note is one and a half beats long! Ok, that s great Mr. Beall but WHAT DOES THAT SOUND LIKE?!?!? Well, let s start with an easy rhythm you already know and work from there. Clap and count this: Now, how would it sound if we tied the first three eighth notes together like this?: THAT is how to correctly count a dotted quarter note because... is exactly the same as this So...A dotted quarter note sounds the same as three 8th notes tied together. If a composer wants you to play this: They will most likely write it like this: Try it a few more times. The timing of THIS 8th NOTE is very important!! When do you think you should play (or clap) it?

8 Have you got it? Let s try adding a note on the next downbeat. How do you think this will sound?: and this... Once you can clap and count, and then play those on your instrument, you are ready for some examples. Here they are! Being able to perform these is absolutely required in order to: Please do the following to get this handout checked off on your projects: Label in the beats with a pencil (remember that?) Clap and count out loud (slowly!) Play on your instrument in a steady tempo (try practicing with a metronome!)

9 Clarinet/Trumpet/Saxophone Chromatic Scale Ascending (going up) Chromatic Scale: as Eb as Bb B not Bb! Remember, the instrument doesn t know what it is doing. It can only reproduce what is in your head. If you can t sing and finger then YOU don t know what you are doing (just mindlessly guessing) and the instrument itself has no chance! Descending (going down) Chromatic Scale: as G# as F# as C# Have you noticed that some fingerings can have two different note names? These are called enharmonic spellings. Examples are: A# is the same as Bb G# is the same as Ab F# is the same as Gb Eb is the same as D# Can you think of one more? (Hint: its the only one that uses the left pinky! )