Category: Workshops

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Come and Play Saxophone

Our Come And Play Saxophone morning was great fun today. Thanks to all the saxophonists who came along – you sounded amazing! Also big thanks to St Andrews Music Centre for hosting, to Mike Brogan for being our guest tutor for the day, and to The Wind Section, Edinburgh for bringing their trade stand of tempting saxophone goodies!

We played some fun repertoire from Saxtet Publications including ‘All In Good Time’ by Karen Street and ‘Simple or What?!’ by Chris Gumbley. In our improvisation workshop, we used blues scales to improvise over one of the tunes too, which resulted in some awesome solos in the concert at the end of the morning. We had a good blow through lots of music from all sorts of genres including movies, jazz and classical.

If you enjoyed today then why not come along to one of our groups? The St Andrews University Sax Ensemble rehearses on a Monday night in the Younger Hall, and Fife Sax School’s very own Community Sax Group in Kirkcaldy on a Saturday morning is great fun too!

We will have some great events coming up in the new year, so keep an eye on the website or sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear. Fife Community Sax Group will be resuming regular rehearsals in Kirkcaldy on a Saturday morning, and there will be one-off workshops to develop your saxophone-playing skills.

Have you always wanted to play saxophone but not known where to start? Then why not get in touch with us now and we will help guide you through the early stages of getting an instrument and starting lessons.

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Saxophone Ensemble Skills Workshop

Open to all saxophone players aged 18+

Saturday 9th November 2019

10:00am to 1:00pm

Windmill Community Campus, Kirkcaldy, KY1 3AL

This small-group workshop for saxophone players (max. 10 participants) is all about the skills needed to play in a group. It is aimed at people who have less experience or confidence when it comes to ensemble playing. 

The session will feature quite basic notation reading in order to allow for maximum discussion and development of the features of ensemble playing. Areas covered will include:

  • Tuning
  • Balancing volume
  • Beat and rhythm
  • Counting rests
  • Articulation and phrasing

The session will be led by experienced performer and teacher Ellie Steemson, featuring fun repertoire in a relaxed and friendly setting.

The adults I teach often tell me they would like to play their saxophones in a group setting, but feel anxious about going along to an established group. Much of the knowledge needed to thrive in a group musical environment is quite basic, but when a group has many experienced members already these basics are not always explained. Therefore new players joining the group can end up feeling left behind and confused, and are often put off by this experience.

I aim to demystify these basic skills in order to make playing in a group something more aspiring adult musicians can enjoy. In order to do this, we will explore the skills required by breaking down them into small areas and focusing on each one separately. There will also be plenty of time to focus on individual questions and concerns due to the small group size.

Ellie Steemson

Fee of £30 is payable in advance via bank transfer to secure your place. Please bring a music stand.

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