Which etudes?

[Brendan Muse]

As a private lesson teacherless player looking at colleges, which etudes should I start working on? Right now, I haven't the faintest idea of where to look or who to ask. I plan on majoring in jazz performance, but I figure that having the stuff for classical isn't a bad idea.

Any help would be appreciated.

[TMadness1013]

Depends on your skill level...

I would start w/ the Voxman book, along with the Rascher Top Tones & Rascher 158 Exercises. When you finish the Voxman, go along to the Ferling book. That should keep you busy for a long time

[Chris S]

I agree with TMadness on this one. Even if it's a bit above your skill level, get the Ferling book I think it's call 48 Famous Studies for Oboe or Saxophone. Dont' be scared when you open the book. It's pretty black on the inside. Just take it slow once you get it. When I first got it, I took all of the fast Etudes about 1/2 the written tempo. Count them out in eighth notes and they aren't as difficult. Good luck, practice hard and go to whatever school you want to. It also might be helpful for you to look at potential colleges and see what they require for their auditions. Get that book and start working on it. I think that most schools will have the Ferling listed though.

Take care,
Chris

[Brendan Muse]

The problem is, I looked at a couple, and they said "two contrasting pieces from the standard repertoire." I have no clue what the standard repertoire is, so I don't know where to start with them.

[TMadness1013]

Welcome to the world of classical saxophone and its very small (but getting larger!) repertoire :)

If you go onto the "classical saxophone" part of the SOTW board and post a question asking for the "standard repertoire" you'll get a lot of responses.

To give you an idea....for my audition I played Eugene Bozza's "Aria" which is a staple for slow lyrical pieces, and also Bozza's "Caprice" from "Improvisation and Caprice" the Caprice is very fast & technical.

good luck

[awholley]

Also, you can do a google search for

+saxophone +repertoire +freshman

and you will get a lot of hits on college saxophone studio repertoire lists.

There will be a lot of repetition, and you'll be pretty safe picking from the repeated items.

Alan