The Techniques of Saxophone Playing

This professional text on the saxophone was recommended to me by a saxophone student at one of the main Conservatoires. I am so glad I paid out the money to acquire this critically import instrumentation guide for the four main saxophones (soprano, alto, tenor and baritone). It's a book of advanced techniques: detailing eighth-tone scales, alternative fingerings, timbral trills and multiphones. It also deals with subtones, teeth notes and many other techniques. The pages are divided according to the technique but then subdivided according to the four saxophones, in turn, as per each technique. I would say that the only shortcoming is that the charts change very subtly to a different saxophone, so if you are researching something for the alto, you need to be very attentive as to which group of pages relate to the instrument you need at that time. In the end, I found I had to actually mark the top outer corner of each page “ALTO”, etc., in each technique sub-section so that I could be sure that I was still on the appropriate chart for the instrument concerned. Perhaps in future editions, this could be addressed by adding obvious boxed text in the top outer corners of each page of the charts. I don’t think this small issue in any way detracts from the overall excellence of this book which is a must for composers and orchestrators wishing to write for any of the 4 saxophones.