Not only is this (by far) the best saxophone instruction channel on RU-vid, it is one of the finest channels in any genre. Fun, clever, practical, dripping with wit, INSPIRING, perfectly produced and edited - all combine into one of the most engaging teaching series - anywhere. His teaching style is one of the best I’ve ever encountered. It’s a joy. Dr. Wallace provides not only a wonderful masterclass on saxophone… it’s an absolute masterclass on teaching. This guy should be on TedTalks, standing on the shoulders of genius educators like Benjamin Zander. Well done sir and thank you!
What will help me very much is to locate a backing track that I can use to practice these lessons with and make them flow non stop. Have anything to go with these exercises?
Thank you Wally that was again an amazing valueble an constructive lesson and learned a lot . Greetings from out of Finland from a Dutch musical dude 😎🫶🤙
Thanks Dr Wally, it's a pleasure and a privilege to study under you. What's that magic that the great teachers have? They make you hungry for the next instalment. Stay well.
I have watched so many videos trying to understand how to use them besides noodling up and down or using some inversions. The call and response practice with melodic applications is AWESOME!
Thanks so much Joe! It's REALLY gratifying to hear that this is helpful. I struggled form many, many years. Finally started creating the kinds of lessons I wish I had, ya know? Hope you have a fantastic weekend and happy practicing!
I'm giving you 5 cups of coffee today, thank you so much for the many materials and videos, I'm looking for jazz that I learn late because I'm old. Stephen Shim
Nice job man ... I like the skulls on the bad keys. Great breakdown on the pentatonic world and the dangers of overuse (and ways around it). I've been playing on and off for decades but I'm still learning. Subscribed.
Omg this is awesome… I was looking for some exercises but this is beyond words… I’m gonna grab my sax right now and play the sequence… thank you! my parents downstairs will thank you too :)
Really great ideas and well explained. Before this I was confused as many of the on line tutorials give the minor pentatonic notes as 1, 3,4,5,7 but don't mention that you have to flatten the 3rd and 7th degrees of the scale. No wonder it didn't sound right.
Hi Dr Wally. Thanks for posting this. I love your - ahem, unique - teaching style. Maybe one day you could do a similar thing only this time not giving students the notes to read, but just the sound, so they are forced to use their ears a little more. You might do it with the blues scale as well. Just a thought... Thanks for great lessons, Peter
Really well done. I agree with the British fan base. I do think the dry humor is the majority of the draw.....emphasis on dry (very dry) btw. Oh, and the humility. I think explaining that even the mentor struggles and what your path has been to this point is huge. Creates a real empathy link and makes it real. Keep em coming!
Wally genuine question here... who is your target audience/ which demographic ends up watching your videos the most? I think all of your content is palatable for literally all ages and skill sets. I myself am a college student who is playing and trying to improve just for fun, but I always wonder about the thousands of others who watch your videos too! Thanks in advance and keep up the good work, very excited for part 2 and 3!!
Hi Bill, my target audience is adult amateurs. Strangely enough - a significant portion of my Audience is British. I DID NOT expect this, but they seem to take things a bit less seriously and appreciate teachers who can laugh at themselves (I certainly don't take myself too seriously - I hope). I kind of make the videos I want to see? Like if I were learning something, this is what I'd want to watch, make sense? Whatcha studying in college?
@@drwallysax That is very interesting, maybe you (and I?) would do good at a British comedy club lol. I think you nail that audience perfectly because all of your videos tackle topics that can be hard to get a grasp on in a very clear and concise way - which many channels lack. Your ideas for videos are always prevalent and help me to develop my playing - like in this one I had a good grasp of pentatonic patterns and I've been practicing them, but when you started to hammer the idea of melodic motifs / development it was like a light went off in my head! I've always had a passion for music / saxophone but I never saw myself as a performer, I am studying Economics and Computer Science in New York, so I can scratch my live music / jazz itch whenever necessary! One last thing, the fact that you respond so quickly and care about your audience speaks volumes to you not only as a teacher but as an indispensable part to the saxophone community - I can't tell ya how much I appreciate you!
Adult amateur, that’s me (and British too 🤔) and if adult amateurs is Dr Wallace’s target audience, his nailed it. They inspire the musical Luddite that I am to keep trying and one day I might just produce one line that sounds good! 😉
@@drwallysax I dunno how closely related it is, and I assume something similar is happening in at least some other places, but I just saw a report on a survey conducted in the UK that suggested that ~1 million people there picked up an instrument during the pandemic, which would be well over 1% of their total population. I've been playing a variety of instruments for many years, and have owned an alto for several years but barely had the courage to play it alone, let alone with roommates around, until the beginning of this year. Your course has been a godsend! I've been getting 3-5 hrs of practice a week, and doing just the warmup exercises from your online course, I've been improving by leaps and bounds, it feels like! Very grateful for the resource.
Just one point - in your talking bits you are holding an alto sax but the demonstration sections have you playing on tenor. Some confusion before I realised that I didn't have to change instrument...
Hi Doc! Great video. You often mention your set up and was wondering what you were playing on you alto. (new signature mouthpiece? Reed?) Thanks. Have a good weekend!
Hi Edward! On alto and tenor is the new 56 Select (.080" for alto and .110" for tenor facing. Both with a Boston Sax Shop 3.5 reed. Hope you're having a great week!
Thanks Shitsure! It's an older, non-purple logo 62. After purple, but before the 62ii. make sense? It has the old style neck receiver, but an engraved logo.
I plan on buying a new alto saxophone I was going to either get the 860 Jon-Paul professional around $1,200 or better saxophone produced by conn-selmer says it Metcalf
Hi Nefer, these videos take a great deal of time to make, and I'm quite backlogged at the moment. There will likely be an articulation video in the coming months, but not anytime in the next few weeks.
I've uploaded the etudes! As for the assignments, sorry - things got complicated. I'll be updating soon! I've got student metrics in the course - not many are to April yet!
On example 3 you start with a C but it is sounding like a Bb same with example 4 (probably also the others) here you start on a D but it is sounding like C. Are you thinking about a tenor in Bb?
@@drwallysax So i notice now that in the first example you play Alto then for the other examples switch to tenor, your transposition stays the same. So when you play the alto it is sounding like F and when you play the Tenor it is sounding like C. Also in the first round of back to back you play Alto and the second you play tenor. I got it right now?
Hi! Found this looking on info to help my neice jam with me (I play guitar). I'm trying to find a pentatonic scale for her to use to jam with me if I'm doing blues in like E or A . I understand that the sax notes don't match up But I'm having the hardest time finding any kind of info on what she can play to jam with our group if we're doing something like blues in e or A . Any advice or Even point me to a resource? I bought her two blues books but they don't seem to address this
Gotcha, had this same issue when I was a kid - jamming with my guitar friends. So, here's how it works. If she's playing the tenor saxophone, go up one WHOLE STEP. So, if it's an E blues - she'd be in F# . If you're in "A" - she would be in "B" Now for ALTO saxophone, you have to go up a 6th (don't kill me, I didn't invent this transposition). So, if you're in E - she would be in C# on alto. If you were in A - she whole be in F# on alto. As you might imagine, those are tough keys for a saxophonists (no capo, my dear). SO! Here's what I suggest - Learn a Bb blues for your niece! If she plays Tenor - it's the C pentatonic If she plays Alto - it's the G pentatonic Both of those feel good for saxophonists at any level. Make sense?
@@drwallysax Thank you so much for your quick reply! Yes that does make sense and it is super helpful. I don't mind trying to play in a different key I'm just hoping to be able to include her in some of our jam sessions when she comes and visits and I don't know if I'm going to be able to sell the entire group at an open jam on that🤣 Thank you so much That definitely gives us a great starting point! (She is playing Alto Sax)
Pentatonic collections have existed for a long, long, long, long, time. There are African mbiras that have the collection of 5 from many centuries ago.
@@drwallysax Awesome. I just googled it and confirmed that tenor sax is apparently Bb like my trumpet... (Not that you didn’t already know that...)I plan to master the call and response by ear... but what key am I playing in?
@@drwallysax Also, I mastered by ear the first section of this video with that ascending jazz type scale… I keep hearing about a skip step scale… Could you do a video on that? Sounds like it’s in sync with your jazz lessons?
Your voice got real low when you said go practice at the beginning there. I could use a strong bass like you in my barbershop quartet....jk thanks for the great video!
I wish people making these videos would put links in the description to skip to the part described in the title, what we actually clicked on to watch. Sick of getting a lecture on the most basic stuff over and over.
The first sequence there is an actual pattern the second third fourth and fifth are just random notes that came out of your head that sounded good because you have been playing for 30 or 40 years there’s no pattern so there’s no way to teach it or to practice it other than just to learn it. Not good.
