A Beginners Guide to Playing “Outside”

This article is a guest post from Sean Winter.  The purpose of this article is to introduce the concept of playing outside of the given key centre of a song. Usually when we start out improvising we learn the scales related to whichever key we are playing in. Then the scales related to the specific …

Check Out Learn Jazz Standards

We recently tripped across a fantastic website that provides musicians with a “one-stop shop” for learning various jazz standards and jazz tunes. They feature everything from Song for my Father to ‘Round Midnight and they also spotlight various contemporary albums. Each entry features a brief summary of the song – when it was written, who …

5 Easy Steps to Beginning Improvisation

1. Learn the melody of a tune. Really learn it. Listen to recordings and be able to play the melody the way it was meant to be played. Be able to play the melody from memory. 2. Make it your own. Develop your own interpretation of the melody – how you would like it to …

College Auditions and Applications for Musicians

When senior year in high school rolls around, you usually have a good idea of what you want to do after school. Having already been through this process myself, I feel that it would be beneficial to share it with other people who may be going through the stress of the same process. The most …

Ensemble Playing Tips

Some quick tips to help improve your ensemble playing: 1. Tune without vibrato 2. In music, especially classical, it is very important to have more “bottom” (bass instruments) to the sound, so make sure that the lower instruments are audible 3. Listen to the other musicians in the ensemble and try to match dynamics, intonation, …

Music Festival Preparation

Festivals offer a wide variety of resources to the young musician if they are willing to take advantage of what is available to them. The most obvious thing about festivals is the opportunity to network with all the other students who are performing. The hundreds of other kids walking around are great to make connections …

Getting the Most out of Jam Sessions

The importance of jam sessions to your education as a musician can not be emphasized enough! It is vital to attend, have gone to, held one of your own, thought about going to, etc. a jam session. Sit-ins or jam sessions truly give you a taste of what working professionally as a musician entails, they …

Saxophone Playing Tips and Practice Suggestions

Articulation and Style When playing jazz, think of swung 8th notes as a triplet subdivision. Accent downbeats (not heavily, but enough to help with the time and feel). With difficult passages, this will help you maintain a steady pulse. Tongue with the middle of your tongue, not the very tip. Technique Always touch the pearls …