Working with one of my students, Matthew, on Wednesday, I hit upon one of my tips for keeping saxophone practice fresh and stimulating: switch up your music patterns.
Too often we get into a rut with our practice. It can be easy to just do what we did yesterday and the day before that and the day before that. As saxophonists, scale practice is essential…a daily ritual for most. As a result of this daily repetition, our scale studies can often be the primary victim of this monotony.
One secret to keeping your scale study fresh is to begin your scales at the top of the horn, play them down and then back up. Typically scales are taught and learned by starting at the bottom, playing them up and then back down again to the starting note. By starting the scale at the top, saxophonists of every skill level can easily keep themselves challenged and their practice sessions fresh. Matthew was surprised by how new his chromatic scale felt by playing it down from the high F# rather than up from the low Bb.
A tip for advanced saxophonists is to play each of your major scales full range starting on a different scale degree until you rotate through all seven modes. This ensures that each note is placed on a different part of the beat with each rotation. This approach provides for a thorough understanding of each major scale and ensures an evenness of technique throughout the entire range of the horn.
So if you find your practice is getting stale, change your patterns. Even the slightest pattern variation can provide for a new element of fun and discovery.
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Further Reading
Saxophone Lessons Online: South Carolina All State Band
How To Make Your Saxophone Practice More Fun & Rewarding
Click here to read Wilton’s other online saxophone lessons.
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