The Art of Saxophone Playing

This book has a lot of information on the saxophone itself (the sax, the reeds, the mouthpiece, etc) as well as the finer points of playing the saxophone. For advanced players this is more of a review and reminder of certain techniques.

The information about all aspects of tone development, technique, articulation, etc. is really helpful in allowing a Beginner to truly understand the saxophone and it's intricacies as well as how to master the fundamentals of playing which is what really leads to a students consistent progression. I've been using other method books and such but most of them only gave exercises and didn't go into detail explaining the 'Why' to do the exercise. This book breaks everything down and really helps a student to focus more on the task at hand when doing the exercises (like tone development, articulation, breathing, etc). I love this book!

The chapter about fixing, adjusting and balancing reeds will more then pay for this book alone. But it is a wonderful book about all the technical aspects and history of this wonderful instrument. Just but it. It’s worth it.

I find this to be a difficult music book to rate. It has a lot of info that I really don't care about - like how to custom shape a reed - but I can see how it could be very interesting to the mature beginner/intermediate or maybe the serious high school age student and maybe even the college student alike. I think it is way over the head of a young beginner and may turn them off to music altogether and may be repetitious to the professional.There is not much actual music in it to play but it is more of a theory of mechanics for both instrument (reeds and such) and physical (embouchure, diaphragm, breathing and such) and the marriage of the two to create the best sound quality. Overall an interesting music book with much more than just music. Lots of information on how to produce different sound quality, vibrato, intonation, etc. This would have been a good book to have an accompanying DVD. Too bad.

Larry Teal gets down and dirty with eyeball-popping detail to tell you what to do and what not to do when you pick up a horn. If you've ever wondered what those mysterious rockers are doing down there by your right index finger, or if you've ever asked yourself what to call the inside parts of the mouthpiece, you've come to the right place.Teal reveals the science behind getting a great tone: it's all about supporting a column of air. More importantly, he'll give you embouchure exercises that will have you grinning and puckering all day. You'll love his Mr. Musclehead illustrations to see what's really behind that smile.I especially enjoyed the part about how to improve your sound by DIY reed shaving, one of the lost arts of the Aztecs. And the mysterious altissimo range is demystified with clear fingering charts.A very useful book for beginners and old-timers alike. I've been playing for 25 years and I found the book an inspiration that has helped improve the quality of my practice sessions.

Every sax player needs to own this book. It's well written in simple enough language for a high school student to understand. All topics related to playing sax are covered in concise, accurate descriptions. This is my second copy as my first was falling apart from lots of use! It's also quite a good value at this price. Highly recommended- practically worth its weight in gold for the value of the information contained.

This is a perfect book which i feel every student who would like to learn the saxophone must read. This books gives the complete description about playing the saxophone and the techniques & proper habits that are needed to be developed are mentioned briefly in this book.This book is worth the money you would spend in buying it. Please go ahead in buying this book if you are a serious on playing the saxophone.

If you buy One book on sax this is it. You can spend a lot more on several books and will not get the absolute coverage this book delivers.I played for 5 years in junior high and high school. After a 50 year lay off...yep 50...decided to start back and having a blast.

Great book, technical analysis about all aspects of saxophone playing...Attended all my expectations.... Easy of read...No cons... zero...

This book first came out in 1963. The author, Larry Teal, is like a friendly but stern teacher and aims his book at serious sax players. While some of the exercises and advice are for beginners, the book is more of a treatise and a compendium of charts etc. I've been playing sax for years, but I love and learn from Teal's discussions of reeds, trills, muscle development and so on. It's a great book for those times when it's too late to practice—with Teal's book you can relax and collect a few tidbits of advice at the same time. There's good stuff here on intonation, various attack techniques, tonguing and much of what you'd expect in a sax book, but with enough info to please beginner and pro alike.The writing style comes from a different era. If you're serious, this is a boon. Teal can be briefly flippant, but generally keeps a teacherly tone, staying on topic. There's a "selected literature" section at the back , listing methodology books, solo pieces (mostly classical) and the like. It's updated to 1976, so it's useful but outdated.

Great for a novice saxophonist, easy to interpret..

This book is a must have for any sax enthusiast! I read and re read it and learn something new every time .

This book helps you understand the soft way how to play saxophone. It covers all basic information about producing a good sound, and some pro tips on choosing and maintaining the reeds (and even correcting them!)Interesting exercises to develop a good sound (i.e. attack, release, vibrato, etc) and a clear example on how to get a grip on the instrument.Complete biography with a selected -yet vast- list of suggested readings for improvement.Worth every penny.