As a 78-year-old sax player, I thought I had heard it all. Your suggestion to set the pulse of the metronome on 2 and 4 has challenged me once again and returned joy to my practice routine. I would like to take this opportunity to tell you what great pleasure I get from your videos. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Fantastic tutorial, as always Jay :) BTW, 2 Android Apps that together can achieve something similar to the App you reviewed are 1) Tonal Energy (for drones and metronome) and 2) Chordbot (for chords). Hope your App gets ported to Android soon! :)
as an 85 yr old active sax player i just want to thank Jay Metcalf for teaching me so many things that none of my many sax teachers ever taught me ... You are the best Metcalf . cant thank you enough.. wish i had discovered a teacher like you 65 yrs ago.. bobby G..
What A great App, I only have an android phone. Would actually rather have this on my laptop. Will be watching comments to see if there is another similar app mentioned.
Yeah! Feeling the jacket man. Gawd, I need to smarten up my image, you and Wally Wallace are putting me to shame. 😂 That app looks great. Might have to five it a whirl. Love this content btw - super valuable. Listen to Jay everyone!!! 👍🏻
Wow fantastic, this app would bring my practise sessions to the next level. Is this App yet existing for Android as well? Or is there any way to run it on Android with some emulation software? Does anybody know? Greetings
The drone feature of this app impresses me more and more. If you set the pitch to change randomly every 12 seconds (say) you can match your pitch and play a good tone then, when the new pitch starts, without looking at the screen you can try to name the pitch or find it on your instrument. So it's good ear training as well. And 'theory': if you hear the pitch go down by say a major 3rd you have to know instantly what a major third below the note you are playing is. And if you keep playing the old note over the new pitch your get to hear what the interval sounds like played together.
*fun fact* : when doing drones, you can tell the exact frequency that you are off by, by listening for a so-called "beat frequency". Listen to 3:38, and you will hear a subtle pulsing sound caused by the interference of 2 waves of close but not exactly the same frequency. The frequency of this beat pattern is going to be the SAME frequency that you are off by in your note (slower pulsing sound means you're closer to the correct frequency)
You've really hit the spot with this one, Jay. Just playing over the drones is worth it for me. I can feel my embouchure improving just to stay in tune with the drones. The app is much better than finding a RU-vid drone that plays a single note for five minutes.
Thanks for the amazing recomend app for practice everday. But i can't get this apk because i'm using android. Please someone send me the link for android apk thankyou😭
So nice. How old am I? Remember that old Don Sinta vhs where he put a piece of paper behind the key on an electric keyboard to make a drone to play to. Technology can be nice.
I like the idea of playing long-tones along with a drone (but no visual tuner) and the metronome skipping some beats. Both good tips to internalize tone, pitch and rhythm. So nice that you were able to produce your own sax and mouthpiece!
Great video on a great App! I just got a mail from Steffen Weber: A version for Mac OS Catalina is already in the works. Thanks Jay and all the best from Germany.
Hi Jay, I know it's unlikely you'll see this comment, but just in case I wanted to thank you for your videos! Your presnetation, style and enthusiasm made me take the leap and I just got my first saxophone, along with all of your courses. Keep up the good work!
I've actually been messing with drones in my practice as well. I find it really fun to just pick a note on my keyboard and play it across all octaves with the sustain pedal while i improv over it. Since I don't necessarily have a tempo or time signature, most of what i play is slower, so it doubles as a tone exercise
I've got one, too - just bought it a few weeks ago...sure hope Jay reviews one. I've already seen his review of the Lade/Ammoon, and suppose that some of the things he said about it apply to the Mendini.
Hi Jay! Greetings from Argentina. I really love your videos and I wanted to ask you a question, I recently bought your pentatonic patterns course. How do you recommend studying it, knowing that I only have 2 hours a day to practice. Should I play all the patterns first in C major and only later in another key? Alternate keys per month? (without having completed it with one) Or one key per week? I feel like it would take me an eternity :) That's why I ask you, to make the most of the course. Thanks a lot!!!
Go through it all in one key first. When you are comfortable with the exercises then start playing them in other keys. It won’t take that long if you practice every day you’ll see.
Thank you Jay . I just installed the app . Looking forward to using it . Just a heads up . The I practice pro has a RU-vid channel with many tips . Jay you kick a$$ Sir ! I really needed the ear training, and this will be very helpful. Thank you again Sir !
Hey Jay, Your low concert Bb on Alto showed it’s true colors. As I’m sure you’re well aware, if the low G (on Alto) is played in tune too easily then there’s a good chance your high Gs are gonna be sharp. Another reason for band directors to not tune only to concert Bb. I like that app - I’m a Luddite but I’m gonna check it out anyway.....can I down-load it onto my rotary-dial telephone? ;^)
I pre-ordered the “burnin” mpc to help support you for your continued time and effort you put in on your videos to help others.👍🏽 On another little tid-bit: I’m still playing on the Bettersax alto I purchased when that first came out. I have number 10; and most recently I had the low Bb pinkey key-screw come out on me. I put a little locktite on it. I’ve also noticed a few sharpe edges(very sharp) that should be checked and possibly filed down before shipping to customer. And, on my Sax I have 3 screws that are not seated flush. This is another thing that can scrape a bit of skin off if you’re not aware they are there. I’m still very much enjoying the horn and have been playing it 3-4 hours a day and have become quite comfortable playing it. It’s a “Bettersax” than I had anticipated at such a great price. My comments are respectfully submitted as you suggested to keep a update. I’m anticipating my “burnin” mpc👍🏽Thanks again for all you do✌🏽🎵🎶🎷
Great Video Jay. The app looks really useful. What is the neck strap you use on alto? Your info I think only mentions the Crazy strap for Tenor which is different.
Is the sound in your AirPods that coming from your iPhone or do you play through another outside mic Jay? I usually practice without any return other than the accompanying track or the metronome. Thx
A chord is a combination of notes played at the same time. The two most common kinds are major and minor. Major Chords are the first, third and fifth note of the major scale ( for example the 1st 3rd and 5th notes of the C major scale are C E And G. Play them together and that's the C major chord) Similar to major chords, minor chord are the first third and fifth note of the minor scale. ( For example C Eb and g are the 1st 3rd and 5th notes of the c minor scale . Hence the c minor chord.)
Love the videos! Decided to rekindle my early years and start playing again 20 years after I put it all down. Just picked up a Yamaha 62 Tenor and am looking forward to running through your vids to get my skills sharpened back up!
Hey Jay. Thanks for another excellent video. Your sound is so great. When i embellish, i just play what i feel sounds right. I would love to know if there are any particular patterns/ rules/ scales to play over a particular chord pattern. Simply, say. ll V l, perhaps, to make it more colorful, besides the usual. Make sense? Also.... how does your mouthpiece compare in brightness to a Meyer 5?
Hey Jay, I'm interested in that mouthpiece but how do I know what "tip opening" is best for me. I'm still a novice so maybe that mouthpiece is too high level anyway?
Great app. Wow! Didn’t even know it was out there…….Thanks. Also your breathing tips/reminders. As a former taichi/yoga teacher i know how important it is in most physical practices but so easy to forget when playing the sax. Crucial! Thanks again
I have a question that's not related to this app although I just got the app. My question is what are your thoughts when it comes to practice when it comes to using certain horns? I have two student model alto's 1 I paid around 300.00 (ORPHEO) another by brother gave to me about couple months back EMPERA ES-403 I believe, the reason I purchase the ORPHEO is I use to commute on the train to work and I would take my horn with me because I had free time to play, but I had to walk through kind of rough neighborhood on my way back to catch the train and thought if I got jacked my 300.00 wouldn't be miss like my Selmer Paris. With that said, I have Selmer Super Action 80 and a Yanagisawa< I spend my practice time on the student models, my thoughts are I don't want to damage or scratch the pro models. Do you think this makes a difference? My Selmer has already been through hell just from falling from the stand and my case falling with the horn in it and horn slipped out. Thanks for any comment.
Hello, I've just gotten interested in the saxophone. I'm not a beginner musician, as I am studying to be a classical singer in college right now, but I want to expand and play wind instruments. Unfortunately, being a singer and all that, I can't play an instrument that requires a lot of tension in the throat, tongue, stomach, etc, because that is counter-productive to my main proficiency. I know that such tension can't be completely eliminated, but on saxophone, can it be minimized? How tight is the embouchure on Saxophone? Is it as tight as a clarinet embouchure?
I'm not sure what you heard was vibrato, it was the phasing from being a bit off pitch, which I believe he was demonstrating so you could hear the value of matching pitch on the drone.
I want to become a professional saxophone right now im in a beginner band but next year im going to the more advanced band im going to play the saxophone for 28 years
I have a collection of Android metronomes and chord progression apps. Each one has strengths, weaknesses, and unique features. Mostly I use my Windows PC. I use the score editor _MuseScore,_ which is a free version of the expensive editors like _Finale_ and _Sebelius._ I will write out exercises from Jay's courses, and with the ease of an editor, transpose them to all keys. I can add chord names and have the editor play the chords back. Or I can add a part to the system to play drones or other things (drones are tied whole notes with your choice of instrument sound). I can easily change the tempo. I can turn a metronome on in the editor, but it only plays on Beat #1. (Some of the Android metronome apps though have very sophisticated options, such as playing the tempo in one ear and a complex rhythm in the other ear, or gradually increasing the tempo as you play). There is value in writing out the music that you play. It adds another dimension, understanding and perspective to what you are doing, and additional ingraining into the neural circuits in your brain. It helps ear training also. You get to know which notes you are hearing in your head, and what patterns you are playing. When _iPractice Pro_ becomes available for Android, I will certainly add that one to my collection.
