Conway Publications / conway / CP00100311a
CHOPS 3: The Sinta Quartet Method
$39.50
Dan Graser / Zachary Stern / Danny Hawthorne-Foss / Joe Girard
Chops 3: The Sinta Quartet Method continues the mission of its 2 predecessors to modernize and update the fundamental areas of saxophone performance and study. This volume focuses entirely on the chamber music fundamentals needed to have a successful saxophone quartet experience and to develop effective rehearsal strategies. Of course, the bulk of your time in rehearsal will be spent on repertoire; however, the addition of warm-ups and fundamentals to the start – and perhaps end – of each rehearsal will allow for greater efficiency in achieving a unified approach to your music.
Saxophone quartet can be the most rewarding music-making you have during your studies as it focuses your attention on blend, intonation, group cohesiveness, and the shared formulation of an interpretation with friends and colleagues. However, it also likely requires that you practice on an instrument with which you’re not as familiar as your primary saxophone. Thus, some suggestions for getting acquainted with your new instrument’s tendencies are given at the outset. Doing some diligent individual work on making your quartet instrument as precisely practiced as your primary instrument will make for much more enjoyable rehearsals.
The main areas of focus for the ensemble exercises are intonation, cueing, uniformity, and blend. Knowing how to properly adjust each note of a chord is an important skill to develop aurally, as is the skill of reading a score and quickly deciphering which member of the chord you’re playing. As such, all exercises are written in full transposed score. Even if you are not yet familiar with transpositions, start with some of the “concert pitch” to saxophone pitch relationships you do know, and build from there while learning to read from a score. Since saxophone music requires that at some point, every member or occasionally the entire group cue together, cueing exercises focusing on developing this skill are included both individually and also in tandem with the aforementioned intonation exercises. Uniformity and Blend are the final areas and though frequently used interchangeably, they are specified here. Uniformity exercises focus on performing moving lines, articulating, using vibrato, beginning and releasing notes, and changing dynamics as a group. Blend exercises focus on timbre specifically and matching tone color across registers and instruments. As you can imagine, the two are linked but at various stages groups often find they need to focus. These exercises allow for that specific type of focus.
