Simple Reggae - lesson
With
John O'NeillJohn O'Neill teaches the tune 'Simple Reggae' and shows how singing a piece through before you play it helps you shape the line on saxophone.
What's in the course
25 lessons (2h 10m) · 1 free
01. Posture
13:20
02. Fingering
4:10
03. The breath
4:12
04. Breathing exercise #1
3:24
05. Breathing exercise #2
4:34
06. Breathing exercise #3
2:29
07. Breathing exercise #4
1:27
08. Breathing exercise #5
2:27
09. Embouchure & your first note
9:46
10. Troubleshooting your first note
9:34
11. Developing your sound
3:43
12. Tonguing exercise #1
4:36
13. Tonguing exercise #2
6:49
14. Final thoughts & practising
1:57
Lesson transcript
Simple Reggae: Lesson Insights
Introduction
That was simple Reggae. Another tune from the first chapter of the Saxophone Method. I'm going to use this piece to demonstrate another technique that I encourage my students to adopt.
Singing Before Playing
One of the things that I often get my students to do is try singing the piece before they play it on the saxophone.
Demonstration
So I'm going to give you a demonstration of how I do that:
- Do do do do do do do do.
Now, it's pretty obvious I'm not a great singer, and it really doesn't matter about the quality of your singing.
The Importance of Singing
While you're singing, you can focus on:
- Maintaining a good line
- Remembering to sing with the do syllable
Then, when you pick up your saxophone to play the piece, you've imprinted those key concepts in your mind before you start to play.
Final Thoughts
It's just a question of imagining yourself singing while you play, maintaining the line, and thinking the syllable.
So, remember to:
- Sing
- Play
- Have fun!
Dam!
25 lessons
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Meet your guru
Meet your guru
John O'Neill is the saxophonist behind The Jazz Method for Saxophone - the Schott series that has taught a generation of players around the world to improvise. First published in 1991, it remains one of the best-selling jazz tutors ever written, alongside his companion methods for clarinet and flute.
He came to the saxophone at twenty, while reading French and German at Trinity College, Oxford, after hearing John Coltrane. He went on to study with British tenor great Don Rendell, and took improvisation from Lee Konitz, Warne Marsh and Peter Ind - direct heirs of the legendary teacher Lennie Tristano. A professional musician since 1979, he specialises in jazz and bossa nova and has played London's leading venues, including Ronnie Scott's, while also writing music for film, television, theatre and dance.
A qualified teacher with decades of experience, John has taught saxophone, clarinet and flute privately and in schools, on the jazz course at Trinity College of Music in London, and at summer schools in Spain and the Czech Republic. He still performs and teaches from his home in North London.
