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Thanks! It's crazy to me that people are still watching these videos, even 12 years later.

@@BerryFieldzI’m actually in my junior year in high school and my teacher handed me this solo. Of course, i am struggle with the third song with those sixteenth notes. 🌚 I also play tenor sax

@qforzatek Oh yeah, I vaguely remember devoting most of my practice time to those runs. If I may impart some advice I wish I followed back in high school: 1. Focus your practice time on the stuff that needs practice. Set aside time for warming up, time for noodling/fun, and time for ironing out the difficult sections. 2. For the technically difficult sections: start at half tempo (or slower) and play with a focused tone. Allow yourself to be imperfect, but maintain high expectations. Once you've played the section 2x or 3x in a row to your satisfaction, bump the tempo up one click. Fast, clean runs require proper breath support. 3. Sit down with a pencil, sing your piece out loud, and work out your preferred phrasing. When listening to recordings, consider: what do you agree with, and what do you disagree with? Best wishes on your own journey with this piece! I'm sure it'll be wonderful.

I'm assuming you're asking where I got the sheet music? Here's a link to purchase the sheet music: www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4471910&subsiteid=1

better late than never

Yeah, it's wild what we can remember after practicing enough. There's a piece on clarinet that I learned in 3rd grade that I still I can still play half of from memory; I'm now 3 years deep into getting my chemistry PhD. 😅

@@BerryFieldz I’m actually planning to major in chemistry myself, anything I should know before hand?

@@jimmymcperson Ahaha, funny how that happens. My senior turned down a full ride at Juilliard, and my colleague with a B.A. in music composition dipped out of grad school to teach high school math and science. Seems like half of my PhD cohort has some sort of music performance experience. General undergrad advice: 1. Don't rush your degree. If you're on track to finish early, see if you can add a master's. I added minors in business administration and/or music performance. You'll build many connections with your cohort in your junior/senior years - leaving early doesn't do any favors for your networking. 2. Be extra friendly. Everyone is in a new environment, so it's much easier to make friends. And...it all counts as networking. Going to ragers counts as networking! Research recommendations, political campaign management, summer camp counseling - you can find weird job opportunities while playing rage cage with a bunch of strangers. Might as well make friends while you're at it. 3. Explore research opportunities. You can literally just look up professors with cool research, and email them asking if they're interested in taking on an undergrad. The worst they'll do is say "no". Best case, they say "yes", you get paid to do it, and you get a few papers under your name. 4. Look into scholarship applications. You can get outrageous amounts of money just for spending an hour on an application. When was the last time you earned $5,000 for an hour of work? By the way, if you reach $0 left on tuition, some scholarships overflow into your bank account. It's also great practice for future applications with higher stakes, e.g. job/graduate school applications. 5. Most textbooks are available...in ways other than purchasing them. Ask your teaching assistants, especially if they're grad students. They'll have answers. 6. Behave like an adult. There is no excuse not to use a calendar. Own up to your mistakes and be honest. As a TA, I'm much more lenient towards students who demonstrate agency and integrity. We also have favorites who we'll go to bat for; that's just how the world works. 7. Focus on growth. Employers and graduate schools care about accepting well-adjusted people, not necessarily students with high grades (unless you're in med school). Normally the grades follow the personal growth anyway, though. 8. Take care of yourself. Work out regularly; google "Reddit PPL" if you need a beginner program. More students should find a regular therapist. Cook real food. For some dumb reason, some people think that the "cool" freshman thing is to be sleep-deprived, depressed, and eating instant ramen. That'll change by sophomore year. 9. Study efficiently. For most students, STEM courses in college will be the first time that they actually struggle with learning. Fortunately, you have experience as a musician - apply your practicing skills to studying. They're alarmingly compatible. You wouldn't workshop a piece of music by playing the full thing over and over again - don't brute force your learning by reading the textbook over and over. Digest your content in bits and pieces; sleep and then come back to difficult parts. If exam timing is an issue, practice with a timer. If you tend to freeze up during problem solving, have a "muscle memory" procedure; for me, it's: identify the topic, inventory the given information, determine the questions, plan out the approach/identify relevant formula(e), then solve. Talking/reviewing content out loud as if you're teaching someone else helps ensure that you understand the content on a deeper level. Figure out what works best for you. 10. Show up to lecture. Most of the time, it's disproportionately worth your time and effort - you'll pick up on tips, tricks, and minute details that aren't explained in the textbook. Hints on what's on exams. You'll eventually figure out which lectures are worth skipping. Show up to office hours. You don't have to be an active participant, but just listening in on other conversations can give a ton of insight. Chemistry course advice: General - Take the opportunity to hone your studying habits. Most students fail because they don't have proper study habits or can't solve problems under pressure. Organic - Show up to EVERY lecture. Taking notes is optional. Understanding the "why" of every topic makes a significant difference. Consider study groups. Physical - Welcome to your first curved class, where 20/100 on an exam is the average. Search for multiple resources for each topic; if one explanation doesn't work for you, move on to the next until one sticks. Analytical - Instrumental chemistry. Should be a breath of fresh air, between general and organic chemistry in difficulty. Make sure to incorporate chemistry principles when learning how each instrument works, not just how they take measurements. For the lab course, take special care to follow proper protocol and error propagation - a few of my classmates failed the course because they weren't precise enough with their dilutions, for multiple days in a row. Biochemistry - Information dump. Stay on top of the day-to-day studying, since falling behind is extra painful. Inorganic - Easier than organic. Ask questions if you don't understand anything. Laboratory - Read the lab beforehand. It's so much easier to do a lab when you understand why you're doing every step. 10 minutes of reading can easily save 1-2 hours in lab.

@@BerryFieldz I didn’t expect such a thorough reply, I read it and I just screenshotted your reply, thank you so much!

I think it's the version in this link: www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4471910&subsiteid=1

www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4471910&subsiteid=1

+Eric Qian did your music say soprano sax?

+Eric Qian okay thanks I don't know if I got the wrong one.

Thanks! I'm thinking about picking up the sax again and properly revisiting these old pieces. Yamaha Custom Z, black lacquered - YTS-82ZII.

Yup, Texas is definitely a lot more competitive than Oregon. Definitely should've spent more time on developing my tone. Good thing I got my degree in chemistry instead, I guess.

It is published by Rubank in the "University Series" edited by Himie Voxman as "Sonata in C Minor" from Methodische Sonaten (1732) for Tenor Sax & Piano. You can get it @ www.halleonard.com

I only get about 5 minutes since everyone in the high school and middle school is open to perform. I plan on buying the entire piece, because I really like it all, and I can definitely save it for college. I want to play Cafe 1930 for the performance. :D

Yeah because it is a hard solo lol i'm doing it for solo and ensemble next week and i've been working my tail off on it

WIBC 9 years ago...was that Firebird? And then All-State with Danzón No. 2 w/ Paula Crider? One of my most embarrassing/hilarious band memories - she asked for the concertmaster to give the tuning note, then looked at me instead of the oboist. Slightly flustered but perfectly willing, I gave my best concert A, just to realize that I hadn't put a reed on yet and promptly gave nothing but fuzzy warm air sounds. I also vaguely remember bringing a 1-pound chocolate bar and handing out pieces to the rest of the section, as an icebreaker.

Doing the same thing 7 years later 0_0

​@@huh9290same 3 years later..

Haha yeah, he's really the best. He ended up being my accompanist all the way through college, and even helped me through a music part-time job during undergrad. He also had a short stint drawing music comics: www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Distance-Learning-High-Notes-A-Music-Comic-for-Note-Reading-by-Dow-Yeh-Opus-1-5549415

Amen to that! Keeping a good tone and staying in tune while jumping all over the place and cranking out runs is such a hurdle in that movement. Listening back, it also sounds like my poor accompanist was having a fun time staying with my frenetic tempos.

I'm playing for my solos this year lol

I don't quite remember clearly, but I believe that my edition had optional ornamental notes in the 1st movement. That said, my teacher was primarily jazz focused, so it's entirely possible that he just convinced me to add some extras for fun.

Yamaha Custom Z, black lacquered - YTS-82ZII. Damn, inflation has really done a number on it. It tends to be punchier and more clear than most saxes - I found that to be fantastic for solo performances or jazz ensembles, but a bit less ideal in woodwind ensembles.

Feel you

I don't have any specifics, but it sounds like this piece was well-rounded in difficult parts - fast tempos, large jumps, exposed tone/tuning, etc. One thing that I find can exponentially help students practice (both my music and chemistry students) is to focus on the weakest parts of your play, instead of falling into the comfort of just playing the parts that you feel comfortable with. For improving a piece, focused and intentional practice for 15-20 minutes can easily be more effective than an hour of undirected, general practice. For fast tempos, turn on a metronome, start at half tempo, and bump it up a click every time you play the run correctly twice in a row. For large jumps, make sure that your posture, embouchure, and air support are correctly set, then practice making the jumps such that the set-up becomes natural at faster tempos. For tone, start every practice session with long tones. If you really want to go the whole nine yards, I had a friend who would record her entire practice sessions (~1 hour each), then watch the entire practice session on video afterwards to pick up on any mistakes/habits from a listener's perspective.

Laurie Pavero probably the side key