All State East Alto

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Lorena Sherman
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1 All State East Alto Lyrical Excerpt Practice Guide Dr. Allison Adams

2 Taken from 48 Famous Studies by W. Ferling, edited by famous saxophonist Marcel Mule The excerpt you are preparing is from Etude #1. There are many different edi<ons of the Ferling book that saxophonists use, including ones edited by other saxophonists such as Ronald Caravan and Eugene Rousseau (lyrical only) Because the ETSBOA excerpts are taken from Mule s edi<on, I have followed his marked ornamenta<on although it is different from ornamenta<on found in other sources. If you or your private teacher has played these etudes, you may find some of the ornamenta<on is different.

3 Before going any farther, please go through this excerpt and write in measure numbers.

4 The marked tempo is =72. This means you will count 8 beats in each measure. Other editions mark the tempo closer to =80, and I think it works best somewhere in between = Try not to let your tempo get slower than =72. It makes it very difficult to breathe! I always practice with a metronome on so I make sure my counting is correct and I am keeping a steady beat.

5 Measure 1 On the first note, use either a very light tongue, or only air to start the note. Add a crescendo through the E and F to help with the descending interval down to B. Measure 2 Measure 4

6 Measure 5 Release the half note E on beat 5 so that you have <me to breathe and are not late for the sixteenth notes. Prac<ce beat 7 without the grace notes a few <mes to get the right rhythm, then add them back in. The rhythm is fairly simple once you take the grace notes away. Have a friend play beat 7 without the grace notes while you play it with grace notes. Make sure the main notes line up!

7 Measure 7 The trill is tricky because it requires the right hand ring finger, which is usually difficult to move on its own. Try star<ng the trill a lisle slower and aiming for about seven notes in the trill. Prac<ce just the trill before adding the grace notes in. Try puung seven notes in each trill for this excerpt!

8 Measure 9 If you write out the ornamenta<on, it looks like this: Note: Ornamenta<on in Mule differs from original Ferling book and many other edi<ons Try to stay relaxed. The ornamenta<on should sound clean and flowing. The grace notes in measure 10 should come just before beat 1, but again should sound smooth and relaxed. They might not be as fast as you think.

9 Measure 11 If you write out the ornamenta<on, it looks like this: Note: Ornamenta<on in Mule differs from original Ferling book and many other edi<ons I recommend using the Side Bb fingering for this passage. Try to stay relaxed. The ornamenta<on should sound clean and flowing. The grace notes in measure 12 should come just before beat 1, but again should sound smooth and relaxed. They might not be as fast as you think.

10 Measure 16 The staccato marking here just means to end the note with a nice taper and a lisle li\. Be careful not to use the kind of staccato you would in marching band it does not fit this style of music. On the staccato 32 nd notes, use doo doo doo for your ar<cula<on instead of taht taht taht Measure 18 Lightly tongue both quarter notes and put just a lisle space in between them. Again, think doo, li\, doo rather than taht, li\, taht"

11 Measure 22 Check out the changing ar<cula<on in the sextuplets! Measure 23 Play the D using this fingering: (Middle palm key the one you usually add for high Eb) This will make the grace notes more graceful! Fade out the very last note make the B disappear into thin air!

12 Vibrato Listen to my recording of this excerpt and mark a V above every long note when you hear me use vibrato. Now try it yourself. Do these places work for you? Are there any other places you would add vibrato to enhance your expression?

13 UT All-East Senior Clinic Workshop Saturday, December 10 8:30-noon Register at: music.utk.edu/scw-instrumental Hope to see you there!!

Playing the Saxophone: Building a Technique

Playing the Saxophone: Building a Technique By Thomas Liley This article first appeared in Clarinet & Saxophone magazine (Spring 2007), the official publication of the Clarinet & Saxophone Society of Great