Last night Bandsource (www.bandsource.com) in Downers Grove hosted Bob Sheppard for a masterclass. It was interesting to hear Bob's take on setups and what makes and helps to create a great tone. I made a point of sitting up front and can tell you that Bob has a huge sound. I believe that is just one of the many differences between mere mortals like myself and long time pros like Bob.
One of the things that I came away with from the session was the importance of focusing your practice routine. To be honest, this has always been a weak spot for me. Bob talked about taking a single scale and just playing through it modally in different ways (different intervals and what not) for a week.
I was also rather intrigued by how he described the process that he recommends for finding the right setup. A lot of it aligns with what I have been doing by intuition for years so it was nice to have elements of my process validated. Everyone has a different way of describing many of the elements that go into playing the saxophone. Bob did a great of job of breaking those elements down and addressing some of the common myths and legends that surround how most of us were taught to play the saxophone.
I'll be thinking about the ideas presented by Bob for quite some time.
One of the things that I came away with from the session was the importance of focusing your practice routine. To be honest, this has always been a weak spot for me. Bob talked about taking a single scale and just playing through it modally in different ways (different intervals and what not) for a week.
I was also rather intrigued by how he described the process that he recommends for finding the right setup. A lot of it aligns with what I have been doing by intuition for years so it was nice to have elements of my process validated. Everyone has a different way of describing many of the elements that go into playing the saxophone. Bob did a great of job of breaking those elements down and addressing some of the common myths and legends that surround how most of us were taught to play the saxophone.
I'll be thinking about the ideas presented by Bob for quite some time.