All State East 11-12 Alto

Lyrical Excerpt Practice Guide 2016-2017

Dr. Allison Adams

Taken from “48 Famous Studies” by W. Ferling, edited by famous saxophonist Marcel Mule

The excerpt you are preparing is from Etude #1.

BecausetheETSBOAexcerptsaretakenfromMule’sedi<on,Ihavefollowedhismarkedornamenta<onalthoughitisdifferentfromornamenta<onfoundinothersources.

Ifyouoryourprivateteacherhasplayedtheseetudes,youmayfindsomeofthe

ornamenta<onisdifferent.

Therearemanydifferentedi<onsoftheFerlingbookthatsaxophonistsuse,includingoneseditedbyothersaxophonistssuchasRonaldCaravanandEugeneRousseau(lyricalonly)

Before going any farther, please go through this excerpt and write in measure numbers.

The marked tempo is ♪=72. This means you will count 8 beats in each measure.

Other editions mark the tempo closer to ♪=80, and I think it works best somewhere in between ♪=72-80.

Try not to let your tempo get slower than ♪=72. It makes

it very difficult to breathe!

I always practice with a metronome on so I make sure my counting is correct and I am keeping a steady beat.

Measure 1 Onthefirstnote,useeitheraverylighttongue,oronlyairtostartthenote.AddacrescendothroughtheEandFtohelpwiththedescendingintervaldowntoB.

Measure 2

Measure 4

Measure 5 ReleasethehalfnoteEonbeat5sothatyouhave<metobreatheandarenotlateforthesixteenthnotes.Prac<cebeat7withoutthegracenotesafew<mestogettherightrhythm,thenaddthembackin.Therhythmisfairlysimpleonceyoutakethegracenotesaway.

Haveafriendplaybeat7withoutthegracenoteswhileyouplayitwithgracenotes.Makesurethemainnoteslineup!

Measure 7 Thetrillistrickybecauseitrequirestherighthandringfinger,whichisusuallydifficulttomoveonitsown.

Trystar<ngthetrillaliSleslowerandaimingforaboutsevennotesinthetrill.Prac<cejustthetrillbeforeaddingthegracenotesin.

TrypuUngsevennotesineachtrillforthisexcerpt!

Measure 9 Ifyouwriteouttheornamenta<on,itlookslikethis:

Trytostayrelaxed.Theornamenta<onshouldsoundcleanandflowing.Thegracenotesinmeasure10shouldcomejustbeforebeat1,butagainshouldsoundsmoothandrelaxed.Theymightnotbeasfastasyouthink.

Note:Ornamenta<oninMulediffersfromoriginalFerlingbookandmanyotheredi<ons

Measure 11 Ifyouwriteouttheornamenta<on,itlookslikethis:

Trytostayrelaxed.Theornamenta<onshouldsoundcleanandflowing.Thegracenotesinmeasure12shouldcomejustbeforebeat1,butagainshouldsoundsmoothandrelaxed.Theymightnotbeasfastasyouthink.

Note:Ornamenta<oninMulediffersfromoriginalFerlingbookandmanyotheredi<ons

IrecommendusingtheSideBbfingeringforthispassage.

Measure 16 ThestaccatomarkingherejustmeanstoendthenotewithanicetaperandaliSleli\.Becarefulnottousethekindofstaccatoyouwouldinmarchingband–itdoesnotfitthisstyleofmusic.Onthestaccato32ndnotes,use“doodoodoo”foryourar<cula<oninsteadof“tahttahttaht”

Measure 18 LightlytonguebothquarternotesandputjustaliSlespaceinbetweenthem.Again,think“doo,li\,doo”ratherthan“taht,li\,taht"

Measure 22 Checkoutthechangingar<cula<oninthesextuplets!

Measure 23 PlaytheDusingthisfingering: (Middlepalmkey–theoneyou

usuallyaddforhighEb)

Fadeouttheverylastnote–maketheBdisappearintothinair!

Thiswillmakethegracenotesmoregraceful!

Vibrato

Listentomyrecordingofthisexcerptandmarka“V”aboveeverylongnotewhenyouhearmeusevibrato.Nowtryityourself.Dotheseplacesworkforyou?Arethereanyotherplacesyouwouldaddvibratotoenhanceyourexpression?

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