In the words of a recently late, sax playing friend of mine, “Now that’s real music!” Good to see the classical sax lessons amongst all the jazzers. And there’s no one better than you, Dr. Wally. You are a phenomenal classical player. And this! This is a “real” piece of music, not for the faint of heart saxophonist! Thank you! I can’t wait to start practicing. I will be following this series for sure! 😊
I have no sleep 5am in the morning having allot of problems lately Turn the tv on clicked on your video DJ Bach !!!man you made me laugh hard in my worst situation Thank you so much for this video I love Paul Desmond i Love Bach winner
Another good video sir. Yes Dr. Wally I have found "Finger Anticipation" to come in quite handy during certain passages including going down to low B and also fingering low C# for a G# when going from G# to C# or C# to G#. I have found when you add a soulful jazz feel to classical music it makes for some unique and colorful passages. Thanks for the insight.
Dr. Wally, been playing a long time, mostly baritone sax, but started on Clarinet and my instrument just kept getting bigger and bigger! I just found your channel and I am really enjoying your teaching style and the content has helped this old dog learn a few new tricks! Thank you!
Dr. Wally - I don't know which I enjoy more. You wonderful lessons, your beautiful playing, or your hilarious humor. You make my day! Thank you. And yes - I'm going to go practice now... 8-)
I know a couple of that idiots you're talking about... One of them is called Tito Hinojosa ... He makes only videos in Spanish, but is so RUDE and ignorant when he talks about classical saxophone.
Great to hear Dr. Wally playing Bach! As a church organist who also plays sax, I consider JS the greatest. Incidentally I could be the world’s only church organist who plays sax in a Bollywood band, any others equally bizarre out there?
Okay. I'm new, but is there a part 2 to this video? I've been watching for it, but I think I missed some part of your process or something. I loved this. I have been playing for a long time, but it has been a long time since I've heard these things. I totally forgot them. I've also gained some bad habits in my playing. So, I enjoy reviewing your videos to remedy some of this and refresh my memory. I still play in concert bands. So, I love the classical stuff as much as the jazz. I too play baritone saxophone.
Wow Dr. Wallace this so demanding. I'm a moderate oké jazz-blues player, always interested in classical but not enough technic. Love Jaques Loussier play Bach as jazz, Jim Hall and Paul Desmond make the Concierto d'Aranjuez sing, even Ian Anderson who plays a Bourré and Procol Harum with a Wither Shade of Pale. I use the scales of Canon by Pachelbel in jazz improvisations. On first sight this is technical a bit above my head but I'm gonna try, damn...I'm gonna try. You are the teacher I have missed 40 years ago! Thanks man.
Excellent video and clear explanations. Although I am miles away from the level of your target audience, I do appreciate the witty remarks that sometimes contain a nugget that I can actually use at my level.🙂
Hey Dr. W2, great installment. As a confirmed Ornithologist I nevertheless spend most of my playing time with the flute and cello music of JSBach. Your admonition that we’re not trying to make the saxophone sound like a cello is spot on. I tend to think flute phrasing and articulation. Notwithstanding the saxophone wizards that play all the ‘crazy’ arpeggiated (embellishments). Like when playing the d minor Chaconne …. far beyond the present scope.
Any plans to make more classical sax videos? This is kind of a unique niche that you are super well qualified to fill and seems like a good opportunity for you to differentiate yourself from the many other purely jazz oriented TH-cam sax gurus. Not to mention you are obviously a very talented and well trained classical saxophonist, also rare in the jazz sax world. Would love to see more classical sax content on your channel. Not full time (obviously) but enough to keep nerds like me coming back for more. I am a beginner and am working hard to get good enough to focus on your Saxophone Fundamentals course material as my main learning source. Got a little ways to go, but I'm getting there. Just for fun I'm even taking a crack at learning the Chaconne (which I know isn't beginner material). Four bars in and I'm still alive! Thanks for what you do. I hope this TH-cam thing working out for you. You are a real treasure.
Dr. Wally - you are the only way I will listen to classical sax. In fact, you could play popsicle stick only with your left pinky 😃and I would still listen. Looking forward to your video on Stan the Man. I am still working on the ultimate scale exercise from last week.....challenging but I am getting there, slowly!
Dear Doktor Wally, I also would like to point out that the modern piano is from around 1859, the birth of Steinway & Sons Model 1, which is a whopping 109 years after J.S. Bach's death. Bach's keyboards where, well, quite different. So: Don't worry & keep on your good work.
This is such a beautiful lesson, I am not sure how else to define it. Well informed, well played and humorous too, even the camera work is just spot on. Thanks for that. I am a random guy who studies baroque solfege and dreams to be able to improvise a bit one day, and I will certainly watch more of your videos!
In a different video you mention setting/tuning your embouchure to low Bb, and that definitely helps jumping down to the bottom notes bc you're eliminating all the excess tension.
Hi Dr Wally! Excellent lesson with variety! I enjoyed your playing. If you work on Getz and blues, I wanted to mention the exquisite tune played by him called . Tasty Pudding
Very Nice, Doc. I have a copy of Classical Studies for Clarinet by H. Voxman, which I'd bet can be found online. It's not a perfect fit for sax, but only misses in a couple places. I started in on it when I started sax about 2 years ago, and it is sublime and complete music, and it'll make you do things you would not do otherwise (eg those leaps). Another thing about playing Bach: it'll sharpen your intonation, big time. Thanks Doc!
Good music - and Bach wrote GOOD music transfers to any instrument at any tempo. Bach used harmony that was re-emerged in Jazz. By the way - Bach Cello Suites sound good on baritone sax! (basically the same pitch as the cello. Thanks for choosing to play Bach.
There is an incredibly researched book called The Cello Suites by Erich Siblin, you don't have to be a cello fan to read this and get something out of it, but it makes a really interesting and entertaining story of the life of Bach, and his adventures as a composer.
Can you do a video about recording and editing saxophone recordings. I feel like a lot of people, including myself, would like to see a video on this. Your recordings sound awesome!
great video, I love classical music so I will def. give it a try :) I play tenor and have the feeling that is is less often used in classical music, but I guess it is no problem with practicing this piece?
I was puzzling over your transposition and came to the conclusion that you might have based it on the lowest note playable on the sax equal to the lowest note written in the piece of music? A lot of flute music transposes well when you drop it a minor third for alto, if you want to keep it in the original key. Fun fact: when you have something written in a "concert" minor key and transpose it for the alto. you end up playing it in the same but major key, as in B minor(D) is transposed to B major.
@@drwallysax Thank you so much.. Is that what you usually use? I'm just very curious because I absolutely love your sound. You and Otis Murphy are my 2 heroes on saxophone sound!!
Quick question for you, Dr. Wally. In regards to the octave skips and anticipation fingering, with the phrase going D - Bb - Bb as you already have 6 fingers down for the D could you finger the low Bb but play the overtone of middle Bb and then drop to low Bb without moving a finger? Or is that less efficient and/or less melodic?
Dr. Wallace... You really are an amazing saxophone player, I would really love to study a master's degree with you... At wich University you are professor?...
I’m afraid I must throw the protest flag at your wearing of the polka dot “jazz shirt” to play classical. I think accepted internet protocol would be to have a different affectation, sartorially speaking, for each genre. I will give kudos and say I am enjoying the growing collection of les meubles mid-century in the studio. Very stylish.
Sounds good, but Sonny Stitt told me years ago that your fingers should always stay so close to the keys, that it would appear that they're not moving.
I had a horrifying image of a saxophone smashing a cello into splinters. (There's no question that a sax is sturdier than a cello, even if a key might get bent in the process.) Let's not bash our fellow musicians/instruments, literally or figuratively.
I realize that these were not meant to be danced to, but why not put a slight accent on the first beat of the measures? To my ears that emphasizes the contrapunctal nature of the piece and adds energy. Also, didn't Bach spend the 1730s improvising in coffee-house jam sessions? Wonder if he used diminished scales...
The written phrases naturally accentuate the meter. many phrases it doesn't make musical sense to do so - and done to often it quickly feels labored and pedantic.
I pronounce it in American. Any country that opposes this pronunciation can easily be annexed and forced to the freedom pronunciation by congressional decree.
In the words of a recently late, sax playing friend of mine, “Now that’s real music!” Good to see the classical sax lessons amongst all the jazzers. And there’s no one better than you, Dr. Wally. You are a phenomenal classical player. And this! This is a “real” piece of music, not for the faint of heart saxophonist! Thank you! I can’t wait to start practicing. I will be following this series for sure! 😊
Excellent, great to have you here Becky!
I can’t think of anyone else explaining Bach for sax so well! Thank you Dr Wally.
Most kind, thanks Larry! Happy practicing!
classical sax is so underrated :( I am so sad that its not as mainstream as it should be
The Second Great Saxophone Craze shall remedy this. It's happening.
Classical musicians looking down on the saxophone (Im so sad that it is as mainstream as it is)
I have no sleep 5am in the morning having allot of problems lately
Turn the tv on clicked on your video
DJ Bach !!!man you made me laugh hard in my worst situation
Thank you so much for this video
I love Paul Desmond i Love Bach winner
This is one of those things I never get tired of working on. Thank you for the valuable lesson on such enjoyable and illuminating music!
Hey Tom, thanks man! Hope you're doing well!
@@drwallysax Can't complain, though I'm considering breaking into vacant homes to use them as practice spaces. I hope you're well, too!
Another good video sir. Yes Dr. Wally I have found "Finger Anticipation" to come in quite handy during certain passages including going down to low B and also fingering low C# for a G# when going from G# to C# or C# to G#. I have found when you add a soulful jazz feel to classical music it makes for some unique and colorful passages. Thanks for the insight.
Wonderful, happy practicing Jacque!
Yay!!! Bach!!! My favorite composer. This'll be fun! Thanks Doc!
Happy Practicing, Spencer!
Yes, Bach teaches me a lot about playing my alto and my flute. Great stuff. Good voice leading and phrasing.
Dr. Wally, been playing a long time, mostly baritone sax, but started on Clarinet and my instrument just kept getting bigger and bigger! I just found your channel and I am really enjoying your teaching style and the content has helped this old dog learn a few new tricks! Thank you!
So glad you're continuing to learn and enjoy - I'm here to walk the path with you my friend. Have a great weekend!
Dr. Wally - I don't know which I enjoy more. You wonderful lessons, your beautiful playing, or your hilarious humor. You make my day! Thank you. And yes - I'm going to go practice now... 8-)
Well thanks for making my morning, Pat :) Hope you're having a great weekend. See you at the masterclass this week?
I'm so glad with this Bach Cello suite piece for Bes-Sax 🎶❣️🎵
Thanks for the Bach! Much appreciated as well as the shout out to Sousa...
Good for Wally. Bach would have loved the sax and most sax gurus only talk about playing the sax in jazz or popular music. Keep up the good work!
I know a couple of that idiots you're talking about... One of them is called Tito Hinojosa ... He makes only videos in Spanish, but is so RUDE and ignorant when he talks about classical saxophone.
Thanks my friend!
Love Bach on the sax. So cool!
Thanks for posting!
Yay! Happy practicing!
Fabulous to have such an insightful lesson on playing classical music especially Bach
Much more to come (and thanks)!
If anyone likes Bach Cello Suites on the saxophone, check out Henk van Twillert's amazing transcriptions and recordings of the entire works
Thank you for your advice. I have never been taught finger Anticipation
Great to hear Dr. Wally playing Bach! As a church organist who also plays sax, I consider JS the greatest. Incidentally I could be the world’s only church organist who plays sax in a Bollywood band, any others equally bizarre out there?
That might be a safe bet, Roger 😂
Thanks for posting Dr. Wally, I really enjoyed that, and your expressions and jokes.
Thanks Paddy, hope you're having a great week!
Amazing... You can play classic and jazz embouchure, it's great. Many thanks for your videos. 🙂🎷
Okay. I'm new, but is there a part 2 to this video? I've been watching for it, but I think I missed some part of your process or something.
I loved this. I have been playing for a long time, but it has been a long time since I've heard these things. I totally forgot them. I've also gained some bad habits in my playing. So, I enjoy reviewing your videos to remedy some of this and refresh my memory. I still play in concert bands. So, I love the classical stuff as much as the jazz. I too play baritone saxophone.
Wow Dr. Wallace this so demanding. I'm a moderate oké jazz-blues player, always interested in classical but not enough technic. Love Jaques Loussier play Bach as jazz, Jim Hall and Paul Desmond make the Concierto d'Aranjuez sing, even Ian Anderson who plays a Bourré and Procol Harum with a Wither Shade of Pale. I use the scales of Canon by Pachelbel in jazz improvisations. On first sight this is technical a bit above my head but I'm gonna try, damn...I'm gonna try. You are the teacher I have missed 40 years ago! Thanks man.
I really like this new library thingy idea !
More good stuff coming :)
Excellent video and clear explanations. Although I am miles away from the level of your target audience, I do appreciate the witty remarks that sometimes contain a nugget that I can actually use at my level.🙂
I appreciate that, and very happy you find some use in it!
Wonderful. Bought the Kynaston book a while ago and have been working through the first suite. Bach is just like, wow...
Hey Dr. W2, great installment. As a confirmed Ornithologist I nevertheless spend most of my playing time with the flute and cello music of JSBach. Your admonition that we’re not trying to make the saxophone sound like a cello is spot on. I tend to think flute phrasing and articulation. Notwithstanding the saxophone wizards that play all the ‘crazy’ arpeggiated (embellishments). Like when playing the d minor Chaconne …. far beyond the present scope.
Any plans to make more classical sax videos? This is kind of a unique niche that you are super well qualified to fill and seems like a good opportunity for you to differentiate yourself from the many other purely jazz oriented TH-cam sax gurus. Not to mention you are obviously a very talented and well trained classical saxophonist, also rare in the jazz sax world. Would love to see more classical sax content on your channel. Not full time (obviously) but enough to keep nerds like me coming back for more.
I am a beginner and am working hard to get good enough to focus on your Saxophone Fundamentals course material as my main learning source. Got a little ways to go, but I'm getting there. Just for fun I'm even taking a crack at learning the Chaconne (which I know isn't beginner material). Four bars in and I'm still alive!
Thanks for what you do. I hope this TH-cam thing working out for you. You are a real treasure.
Much more to come, yes! My doctorate is in classical performance (and was my job in the Army band), it's near and dear to my heart :)
What a great video. Loads of detail and insight. So grateful for you doing these. Look forward to the second part.
Many thanks!
Tremendous lesson Wally. Really great content. 👍🏻
Dr. Wally - you are the only way I will listen to classical sax. In fact, you could play popsicle stick only with your left pinky 😃and I would still listen. Looking forward to your video on Stan the Man. I am still working on the ultimate scale exercise from last week.....challenging but I am getting there, slowly!
Well that's incredibly kind, thank you Laura. Keep up the practice - getting it perfect is not the goal - we're after growth!
Great Doctor! And as usual your humor is actually funny and very welcome!
Thanks Bob, hope you're having a great week - and happy practicing!
What a beautiful piece of music!
♥️♥️🎶🎵😄
I'm performing the cello suite in D minor on bari sax pretty soon, super excited for that and this video helped me dissect my own piece in preparation
Yay, good luck!
Dear Doktor Wally, I also would like to point out that the modern piano is from around 1859, the birth of Steinway & Sons Model 1, which is a whopping 109 years after J.S. Bach's death. Bach's keyboards where, well, quite different. So: Don't worry & keep on your good work.
very good to see the diagram, so i have now a deeper understading of this music....thanks a lot
Than we shall dance the courante together when we next meet, huzzzah!
Fabulous pinky tip. Thankyou
Bach is beautiful on any instrument
very much agree - accordion to electric guitar, it's all wonderful.
Crazy good stuff on the low B flat, I need to look into this some more and practice, thanks again. am glad I subscribed.
So glad it's useful, happy practicing and welcome to the Academy!
OOh you have the most beautiful tone and phrasing!
Wow, thank you!
This is such a beautiful lesson, I am not sure how else to define it. Well informed, well played and humorous too, even the camera work is just spot on. Thanks for that. I am a random guy who studies baroque solfege and dreams to be able to improvise a bit one day, and I will certainly watch more of your videos!
That's very kind, thanks my friend :)
Sax makes everything better. Especially 18th century music;)
everything but our bank account my friend :)
@@drwallysax stimmt leider 😎
Thank you so much . I really appreciate your videos and the free pdf.
You are most welcome ;)
look forward to it thanks
Looking dapper
In a different video you mention setting/tuning your embouchure to low Bb, and that definitely helps jumping down to the bottom notes bc you're eliminating all the excess tension.
Very much so! (part of the reason I put the zero video before this one :)
Sisyphus on the saxophone? Awesome comment. I like your brain droppings, very appropriate.
That Prince of Wales tie is spot on! :) Great lesson, thanks! Though I am not advanced enough yet to play it.
I had no idea that pattern had a name, good to know! Happy practicing, Mike!
@@drwallysax Thank you!
"Suck It cello nerds" could be the best line ever. Once again, great video!
Hey Friend, are you a band director? Always looking for music educators to connect with!
@@drwallysax yes!
Hi Dr Wally! Excellent lesson with variety! I enjoyed your playing. If you work on Getz and blues, I wanted to mention the exquisite tune played by him called . Tasty Pudding
I appreciate the suggestion, we'll be working on "There Will Never Be Another You" next week!
Very Nice, Doc. I have a copy of Classical Studies for Clarinet by H. Voxman, which I'd bet can be found online. It's not a perfect fit for sax, but only misses in a couple places. I started in on it when I started sax about 2 years ago, and it is sublime and complete music, and it'll make you do things you would not do otherwise (eg those leaps). Another thing about playing Bach: it'll sharpen your intonation, big time. Thanks Doc!
Bach consistently reminds me of how much more I can grow :)
Good music - and Bach wrote GOOD music transfers to any instrument at any tempo. Bach used harmony that was re-emerged in Jazz.
By the way - Bach Cello Suites sound good on baritone sax! (basically the same pitch as the cello.
Thanks for choosing to play Bach.
Bach on sax, it's gonna make for a great weekend :)
I love your channel 👍👍
Well thanks my friend!
There is an incredibly researched book called The Cello Suites by Erich Siblin, you don't have to be a cello fan to read this and get something out of it, but it makes a really interesting and entertaining story of the life of Bach, and his adventures as a composer.
I'll check that out!
Hello, very nice and useful video. Thank you
The classiest Jazz saxophonist is Paul Desmond, the B.S Bach of Jazz.
Bach has an amazing ability to turn off my consciousness after about 2 minutes.
That's called narcolepsy
great lesson :)
Can you do a video about recording and editing saxophone recordings. I feel like a lot of people, including myself, would like to see a video on this. Your recordings sound awesome!
I'm no expert, but would happily share my budget setup!
great video, I love classical music so I will def. give it a try :) I play tenor and have the feeling that is is less often used in classical music, but I guess it is no problem with practicing this piece?
Solo bach can sound wonderful on tenor! Give it a go!
I was puzzling over your transposition and came to the conclusion that you might have based it on the lowest note playable on the sax equal to the lowest note written in the piece of music? A lot of flute music transposes well when you drop it a minor third for alto, if you want to keep it in the original key. Fun fact: when you have something written in a "concert" minor key and transpose it for the alto. you end up playing it in the same but major key, as in B minor(D) is transposed to B major.
Dance diagram killed me haha!
Gotta stretch first!
I think Albinoni’s Adagio in G minor works so well for the sax if anyone is looking for another classical piece to tackle
Particularly this performance th-cam.com/video/QPkQetdhqeA/w-d-xo.html
“Suck it, cello nerds”. So funny. 😂
I mean, they have it coming ;)
Happy Birthday Brian!
And another one: Actually, Yo-Yo Ma (2001) is playing bar 16 with a (rather slurred) "prall-triller" (AKA turn), at 138 bpm, so happy trilling...
Dr Wally Sir,
Is that a Selmer alto sax, you're playing?
Lovely tone.
❤️❤️👍
It is, bought a mark vi a few weeks ago. Fun bit of history.
I 100% agree that you should try making the saxophone not sound like a cello but a saxophone
The saxophone has all the beauty it needs :)
can you talk about the mute you were using? I've seen sax players use them in the past when trying to soften their tone, is that all there is to it?
I've got a video on the topic! th-cam.com/video/mGeGXtuLAY8/w-d-xo.html
Dr. Wally I am very curious what is your mouthpiece for classical saxophone?
The one in this video is a Selmer S90/190
@@drwallysax Thank you so much.. Is that what you usually use? I'm just very curious because I absolutely love your sound. You and Otis Murphy are my 2 heroes on saxophone sound!!
@@jacobsnook8428 sorry for the slow response, it's my new favorite, yes!
Quick question for you, Dr. Wally. In regards to the octave skips and anticipation fingering, with the phrase going D - Bb - Bb as you already have 6 fingers down for the D could you finger the low Bb but play the overtone of middle Bb and then drop to low Bb without moving a finger? Or is that less efficient and/or less melodic?
That seems difficult, and the overtone drop will have less clarity than a key pop methinks?
@@drwallysax I see what ye means.
Dr. Wallace... You really are an amazing saxophone player, I would really love to study a master's degree with you... At wich University you are professor?...
Hi Victor! I left academia, just teach online now (but that's very kind of you)!
Lmao so funny enough, I played the Cello Suite to prove I was a "legitimate" musician to the classical majors lmao
I’m afraid I must throw the protest flag at your wearing of the polka dot “jazz shirt” to play classical. I think accepted internet protocol would be to have a different affectation, sartorially speaking, for each genre. I will give kudos and say I am enjoying the growing collection of les meubles mid-century in the studio. Very stylish.
I'll speak to wardrobe. As for the interior decor, i'ts the same 5 pieces I keep moving around 😂
Sounds good, but Sonny Stitt told me years ago that your fingers should always stay so close to the keys, that it would appear that they're not moving.
I vote Dr Wally fights a cellist in a show superiority.
I mean, it would just be a lot of slapping and filing insurance claims..
I had a horrifying image of a saxophone smashing a cello into splinters. (There's no question that a sax is sturdier than a cello, even if a key might get bent in the process.) Let's not bash our fellow musicians/instruments, literally or figuratively.
I realize that these were not meant to be danced to, but why not put a slight accent on the first beat of the measures? To my ears that emphasizes the contrapunctal nature of the piece and adds energy. Also, didn't Bach spend the 1730s improvising in coffee-house jam sessions? Wonder if he used diminished scales...
The written phrases naturally accentuate the meter. many phrases it doesn't make musical sense to do so - and done to often it quickly feels labored and pedantic.
Where's the .pdf?
Ana Moura
My two takeaways: (1) don’t sound like a honk-a-potamus when range shifting and (2) #SuckItCelloNerds.
And the student becomes the master...
@@drwallysax nay, kind sir! Until that day comes, I shall continue to subscribe and hit the like button!
@@YoungWilliamO Than I shall name you the apostle Will of Carolina. Though I am a Bulldog and bleed red and black, you shall be my brother.
@@drwallysax and brothers, we shall be, in the name, of the S-E-C
uah! 🌜💥🎷💥🌛 🐻👍👍👍
... but... where is Ollie?... 😜
A guy who looks like a hedge fund manager playing the sax😂😂😂
You strike me as the kind of guy who wears a fedora and plays the blues in 2 keys.
My mother was right! I never did amount to anything!
Always listen to your mother....wait....
I thought you were giving up classical music?
It's just a few lines of Bach...I can stop whenever I want....
@@drwallysax 😂
Sorry musicologists, but 1601 is most definitely NOT baroque.
If you malor in saxophone performance.... you'll go baroque. If you want to sound like a cello, get an Aerophone. Seriously.
Some very good advise but kinda corny at the same time.
This is not "Bak", it's Bach. Even you should be able to pronounce this correctly ;)
I pronounce it in American. Any country that opposes this pronunciation can easily be annexed and forced to the freedom pronunciation by congressional decree.