This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Alto Saxophone Technique, is published on this website in a PDF format. It is very detailed and practical, and it will give you the physical tools you need to take the limits off of your ability to create the accurate saxophone technique you want without sacrificing your body.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)
My experience is that many alto saxophone players believe it is easier to make mistakes, than believe it is easier to play the right notes. What if these saxophone players are wrong, even if the evidence says that they’re all correct?
What I mean by the evidence proving them right, is that most alto saxophone players find making mistakes consistently easy, because they make mistakes easily.
As an Alexander Technique teacher, when I look at the way most people use their bodies on the alto saxophone, many saxophone players move poorly and wear out their bodies over time. Does this mean poor posture and poor use is easier than good posture and good use on the saxophone?
IT IS INCREDIBLY HARD ON YOU EMOTIONALLY TO PLAY THE ALTO SAXOPHONE BELIEVING IT IS DIFFICULT TO PLAY ACCURATELY, THAN TO BELIEVE IT IS EASY TO PLAY THE RIGHT NOTES. This means every time you play, at least at the deepest emotional level, you will approach the saxophone with fear, if you believe the saxophone is a difficult instrument.
So, it seems to me, it is actually incredibly hard to approach the alto saxophone hedging your bets. Hedging your bets means that when you begin to play, you DON’T assume you will play the notes easily and accurately.
I really like challenging alto saxophone players on what they believe. When you go with what the majority believes, you’re going to find the saxophone a struggle to play with ease and accuracy. But what about the alto saxophone prodigies that find the saxophone easy to play?
In a very perverse way many alto saxophone players find it easier NOT to trust themselves to play with extraordinary ease, so is this going with the flow? What do I mean?
IF IT IS EFFORTLESS TO BELIEVE THE ALTO SAXOPHONE IS DIFFICULT, AND THAT ITS BEST MUSIC IS HARD TO PLAY, THEN YOU ARE EFFORTLESSLY BELIEVING THE SAXOPHONE IS HARD.
Beliefs and habits based on what the majority of alto saxophone players believe about the saxophone are pretty unforgiving, when these beliefs and habits make the instrument something to be feared.
Again, what about the alto saxophone prodigies? They have found a way to make the saxophone easy, and accuracy and interpretation something they do with ease and facility.
So, what is the hardest part of making the alto saxophone a joy to play? Is the saxophone hard to play, or does it seem incredibly difficult to give up your belief that the instrument is hard to play, given that probably the majority of saxophone players frighten each other to death when talking about the finest alto saxophone repertoire?
Look, I understand. As a former concert guitarist, I believed the guitar was an incredibly difficult instrument to play with ease and accuracy. At a certain point in my twenties I realized I was wrong.
IT FINALLY BECAME EASIER FOR ME TO ACCEPT THAT THE CLASSICAL GUITAR COULD BE EASY, THAN TO GO WITH THE MAJORITY OF GUITARISTS I HAD KNOWN, WHO BELIEVED THE GUITAR WAS INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT TO PLAY WONDERFULLY, ACCURATELY, AND MUSICALLY.
