Timothy McAllister's Best Advice For Players

[@AcevedoDMA]

I kind of wish Tim got to discuss the topics further. His talk about higher education and modern sax playing turned into a mouthpiece ad. Sure, this was likely the goal, but it got pushed in that direction before he got it there.

[@lukeserrano62]

He’s SO in tune! ❤

[@michaelfarjellah1218]

Does anyone know how to improve innotnation?

[@josiahk33]

​@@michaelfarjellah1218 working on voicing and playing with a drone are both really helpful to improving your control of the pitch and ability to recognize whether you're in tune or not. there are plenty of tutorials for both of these on youtube

[@SaxCasts]

Great video and what a legend Timothy is, incredible player and teacher. I've found that there is a larger polarisation these days due to the diversification of genre. We have so many variants of Jazz, Pop and Rock that classical sax is becoming smaller and smaller. Most students who come along lean towards pop and try to avoid reading as a sort of taboo. This message has been reinforced across the online sax teaching world. The old ways of teaching classical repertoire is dying out. For many years now Classical sax has been the outlier which in some ways is a shame as there is a lot to learn from Classical playing. The beauty and singing quality you can get from our curvy friend in Classical Music just resonates in a different way to the other genres. Dan

[@rloomis3]

The level of classical saxophone playing in the last 25-30 years has absolutely skyrocketed. One can easily find numerous examples on KZbin of college- (and sometimes high-school, or even younger) aged players whose technique far outshines that of many established "big names" in the field of a generation or two ago. Getting into the top university/conservatory studios nowadays requires already having facility in the altissimo register, and often other extended techniques like circular breathing. When I was in graduate school, Lauba was just beginning to compose his _Etudes;_ today they're standards, and even their demands have been surpassed by other works. Now, whether the musicianship of these players rises to a level similar to their technical prowess is another question - but the fact that the major orchestras in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Baltimore, St. Louis, etc., have been presenting saxophonists as featured soloists, to me, bodes well for the future of the discipline.

[@battlestupid]

Timothy McAllister!! One of great classical master !!

[@davidclaro152]

Beautiful playing!

[@okayfine6342]

Hi commenters! If anyone sees this and knows some of the excerpts he's playing, please leave a comment. I'm not a deep enough classical player to instantly recognize a lot of the common repertoire. Let me know!

[@bobmatt5175]

He plays excerpts from Respectfully Yours and MHP, both by Andy Scott

[@rayrayray4116]

Good stuff. Lots to think about Being a newbie I have a question concerning technique. As a classical player, his fingering, he really lifts his fingers off the keys, is this for note clarity, emphasis? I read, listen to others, which was more jazz, pop oriented where they say keep your fingers close and low to the keys, more smoothly almost like it’s effortless . Are both correct? Is it personal style, preference? Any reason or reasoning behind either, both methods?

[@jakebickham123]

its more style/performance attitude. When playing technical runs you'll never see a master Like Dr. Mcallister take their fingers off the keys. With slow lyrical stuff its not needed as much.

[@rloomis3]

I was at a concert where Chris Potter played with Tim M's quartet, Prism; afterwards, there was a Q & A session. Someone asked Potter about his technique, saying that he didn't seem to follow the "rule" of keeping one's fingers close to the keys. Potter replied with a somewhat puzzled tone, saying that wasn't something he had ever worried about, and almost implying the question of whether it was something anyone _should_ worry about. I think it's a useful teaching approach, but for the reason that beginners often put their fingers in awkward positions that will make things more difficult for them, and this can help avoid that - as opposed to it being absolutely necessary for building technical velocity, or even accuracy.

[@francois9144]

Very interesting video. 👍 Thank you very much. That said, is the conn c-melody that we see in the vidéo in the studio, for sale ? 😀

[@stangetz534]

hi 5:11 thanks

[@TheAaronRodgersTao]

I’ve only recently started to appreciate the classical saxophone sound. Always respected the rep. But the sound for me wasn’t always something I had an ear for. Now I can tell how much is going into it and the richness of it. Still hate the classical sax stuffy attitude though… kidding/not kidding

[@stangetz534]

6:37 maybe way they all use new selmer series iiis or yamaha's. haha