Committed to sharing clear educational saxophone videos for all levels!
Robert Young joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in the fall of 2016. Prior to his appointment at UNCSA, he held teaching positions at the Crane School of Music and Wichita State University. Dr. Young holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the University of South Carolina.
Robert Young is endorsed as a Conn-Selmer artist, and plays Selmer saxophones and mouthpieces exclusively. He is also endorsed as a D'Addario Woodwind artist and plays exclusively on D'Addario Reserve saxophone reeds.
I am going back to working on articulation rudiments. I'm an advanced jazz player but articulation is something I have badly overlooked. Doing the double tonguing clean and fast will take me some time as I'm just starting out seriously working on it. I've been working on speeding up my singly tonguing for a couple of months now and I've made amazing progress with that. Doing the double tonguing BACKWARDS with a goo-doo-goo-doo pattern never even occurred to me! Like I can't really do that at all. It boggles my mind and will work on that also. Thank you Robert.
Quality advice. Any words that move folks to move from goal definition to sussing out the mechanics (e.g., systems) of achieving that same goal, are words worth sharing!
Thanks for this advice . My fingers tend to tense up when I’m learning a new piece resulting in finger pain at night . Will definitely be doing what you recommend . Great clip 👍🏽
thanks! You gave me a good excuse to look silly in a meeting while helping to prevent my embouchure from falling apart during concerts. Also a good excuse to take a spin thru my Larry Teal sax instruction book to look for embouchure strengthening exercises that can be done when you don't have a mouthpiece handy
I just put one on my horn. It is very, very comfortable. I never thought of plying without resting the whole horn on my thumb before. It sounds like a joke, but i really was enlightened after playing my horn with this thumb pad.
Playing with the mpc and neck is definitely something I do on a regular basis. I dont think you can develop a good sound with that alone, but yes, it can be a great tool!
Timely, thank you for explaining this. I’d like to know more about the hidden gems behind the right hand, three of them. One has a pearl, two very flat, inaccessible ones also.
I'm a 74 year old with arthritis in my hands. Your advice regarding hand and thumb tension, and the Rulon thumb rest, has restored my ability to play comfortably. Thank you!
Hi Dr. Young. Thank you so much for this great explanation. What is your opinion on creating (or keeping) a flat chin? I've always prioritized this over the years but feel that maintaining this (especially when fatigued) has the potential to pull the corners backwards and create jaw/overall tension. Perhaps when the corners are in, the flat chin will simply be the result...maybe the only suggestion necessary (building on what you've already mentioned) would be to make sure the chin does not bunch upwards? This has been on my mind for a while and I would love your opinion!
Good morning bro the motion l use to play the octave key is called the rolling motion. The left thumb is actually rolling on the thumb rest with your thump at an angle pointing to the figure 2 on an imaginary clock and rolling up and down on and off the octave key So sorry l cannot demonstrate this visually to viewers. Great video. I learnt that technique from my late teacher in 1984. Bye bro.
Lots of great advice here - and a particular thank-you for urging young students to seek their teachers' recommendations. It doesn't help anyone when a kid shows up to a lesson with a "Christmas present" that wasn't informed by any input from the teacher.
The supplied thumb hook is like some medieval torture instrument! I long ago made my own, but RU-vid doesn’t allow photos in comments. I am a classical clarinetist who has been working on the sax in my dotage. My problem is that my lips quickly get tired and stiff, I have been working on embouchure & relaxation etc. but any advice would be welcome!
Happy New Year saxophone lovers. Hope to get my sax together and practice more in 2024. I'll surely watch some of your tips again to fix some mistakes. Keep up the great content that help us a lot. Thank You.
Thank you, Dr. Young! I just downloaded atomic habits from Audible. My favorite way to “read” new books. I am a fairly new subscriber to your channel, but I really enjoy your content. Happy new year, and best wishes for 2024! I picked up sax again in early 2023 after 25 years of not playing. I’ve made it a habit to practice for an hour every day on my lunch break from work. I just sit in the backseat of my truck and practice scales and intervals out of Joe violas’s excellent book Technique of the Saxophone. I’ve become proficient in all 12 major scales and am working my way through Triad intervals. It has helped my technique immensely and I am really enjoying it.
Very cool and helpful! Although I am learning to play the clarinet, these recommendations also do help. And on top: easily to understand for non native speakers, greetings from Germany w
What’re your thoughts on the Selmer Paris Supreme vs the series iii for classical? I’m looking to get a selmer but unsure how the supreme matches up with the series iii.
They are both good horns. I have only spent a little time on the supreme. They are amazing. All of my students and collegues that play on a supreme find it great! I think after some time I will be selling my Series III and purchasing a Supreme. I personally like the intonation in the middle of the instrument.
If I understand correctly (based on what the Selmer rep told me at the Navy Band Symposium last month), the Series III alto is no longer in production. For alto, the choices are Axos, Signature, Supreme, and Series II. A quick look at the Selmer web site seems to confirm this.
