derrick

Don’t let your air pressure (breath support) drop between notes! Keep the pressure on, just like when talking. This way, you connect the notes together nicely, and they become a real sentence. Of course, you stop blowing when you put a comma or for breathing. If you have to play short notes in a row, […]

Are they useful, and are they necessary? The stickers on your mouthpiece ensure that your teeth stay in place easier. This is especially nice when you start playing sax; the mouthpiece feels quite hard on your teeth. You’re busy with all the new experiences, and then it’s nice that you don’t have to put in

Hans Dulfer is a living legend in the Netherlands. He’s a jazz tenor saxofonist who plays all years through in pubs, halls and on many festivals. And he is, indeed, the father of alto saxophonist Candy Dulfer. I learned a lot from him, and used that in my own playing, teaching and the developing of

What should you do with all those tips that often contradict each other? Every saxophonist, sax teacher, repairman, seller, etc. has its own package of ideas, knowledge, and preferences with regard to: saxophones (brand, type, series, year, paint, serial numbers, material), reeds (thickness, brand, plastic/bamboo, cleaning, processing), reed clamps, pads, wipers, cases, straps, standards, posture,

The last note of a sentence is the most important! When you are improvising, playing a just made up story, it is crucial that you end the sentences you’ve just played properly. Otherwise, all the ‘work’ you just did has been for nothing. The listener is then confused and immediately forgets how beautiful that sentence

The note b is very often been skipped on the saxophone when improvising, strange but true. While improvising with students, I repeatedly noticed that they hardly use the b. I’ve come to call this the b-syndrome. And I found the following explanation for that: our fingers don’t like it, especially when playing down, and also

What does it mean when we say: ‘The concert key of this piece is Ab?’ It means that the piece is composed in Ab for the C-instruments. It’s not so easy to explain, but I’ll try.  In most orchestras we have mainly C-, Bb- and Eb-instruments.C-instruments: piano, violins, flute, guitar, bass, guitar, keyboard.When you play

It’s a good idea to try out other instruments. If possible, in a band or in a workshop. This way you get a better idea about the functions, possibilities, and difficulties of other instruments. Big chance that you also discover other musical paths. You become more aware of the role of the bass, guitar, piano,

You can very well compare articulation on saxophone with speaking; and with the latter we have a lot of experience. One of the many possibilities of the saxophone is that you can do almost anything that you also do with your voice. Loud, whispering, screaming, many variations in articulation (from staccato to legato) and sustain.

You can practice difficult finger movements, let’s call them finger steps, on the saxophone just like you do with complex dance steps. Repeat a certain tricky sequence several times in a row. Start slowly, and gradually increase the pace. It’s more easy and more fun if you play it in a loop. If it goes