I am 82 years old and have been playing for 70 years! I must say your suggestion about keeping shoulders from hunching while playing is the first time I have ever heard it and it not only improved my tone but eased my fatigue. I am very grateful for this most helpful advice and will now be a student of your other videos. Yes, even with playing for 70 years, a player who is willing to learn will always find something to improve their playing. Thank you.

I clicked the like button and my tone is 15% better! Thanks!

Doctor Wallace, I consider you top shelf. With my years of utube viewing, yours is the easiest way. You go deeper, into the meta. And also your wit and teaching style makes it more enjoyable.

I took lessons for a year and was never told that tonging was to end a note. This is going to change my life. Thanks Doc, great videos this year, really looking forward to the rest of the things you have planned.

I feel like your tone has improved since your first videos. Not that it was bad before, because it was really good. Now it’s gorgeous

Nice work, Dr. We need more big warm sound in the world. 😊

This is such great advice. I’m returning to the sax from a 13 year hiatus. My fingers still remember but my lips and breath support are slowly coming out of retirement lol. Thanks for everything!

That airstream support/clean cut off, and longer phrasing make one hell of a difference. Have some more likes Dr Wally 👍👍👍👍.

Fantastic ! Finally someone who explains things clearly and without a shred of BS ! Thanks !

Love this!! I really needed this for a solo!

You're the best profesor!

Just wanted to prove that I'm following your advice! Thanks for the feedback, Dr. Wally!

Beautiful sound! You are inspiring while teaching!

I cant even tell you how much my tone has improved since finding your exercises a month or two ago, thank you so so so much!

Another superb video! Thanks Dr Wally.

i love this guy, hes full of top tips, and makes it fun too. great stuff Mr Wallace.

Very well done on Scarborough fair!

Instructors and teachers are exceptional people. Thank you, Doctor!

Can't thank you enough for taking the time in making these invaluable videos, especially for beginners, like myself. Thanks from the UK.

Wow, great info. I'm planning on getting back into practicing saxophone(tenor in the past, alto this time). I'm definitely going to apply this idea to my regimen. Thanks.

Thanks for everything you’re doing, Dr Wally! Always bring me a smile along with knowledge. I especially love the fact that I can increase my tone by 15%! I was looking for a 10% improvement, so thanks. You always over-deliver! 😎🎷😎

Amazing profesor!!! You are a very special guy! Thank you

Doctor Wallace , Thank you for this great videos . I rewatch your videos and take notes and practice and wait for your next video and I’ve progressed so much ... Thank you ♥️

Absolutely love your content, and the way you make more difficult concepts easy to understand (aka - using the diaphragm correctly). I'm still challenged with tonguing correctly while at the same time putting my lungs in my stomach, but the sound is definitely fuller. THUMBS UP!

I love your videos!

Love all Your videos, thank you so much!!

Tone size increased! 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻

Thanks for this great information Dr. Wally. I will practice this. :)

I'm so glad I discovered this channel

Great video! I never thought about breathing this way!

Thanks Wally. Enjoyed the video and I’m now subscribed

You crack me up! Great teacher 👏

This is a great lesson. Thanks!

I can Just agree to all the comments. It's s great fun to listen to your Lessons and the information ist easy to understand. I got my Instrument Serviced and will pick it up tomorrow. Then i will get straight back to the January lessons.

Great video lesson! Thanks!

Thankyou for the lesson.

Good video, thanks

Thanks

thank you

Thank you for this post. I was just asking someone about how not to have weak endings on the notes I play!

Thank ,very helpful.

Great advice! I can´t wait for the lesson on how to get a small cold sound, where we are told to breath small gasps from the chest and fade out all our notes ends...j/k :D

I would love for Wally to do a masterclass at my high school 😞

Very good and accurate! Is that a SYOS ? Sounds good though I suspect that’s more you than your set-up . Good points made here ! Thanks

Hey Wally! Finally, someone who’s NOT saying to use your diaphragm to drive the air out. Yay! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Totally agree about the phrasing thing as well. Great point. Kinda like the kitchen “faucet” analogy (native English speakers say “tap” 😉) - the pressure is always there, and you just flip the tap on when you want the water, or sound. Lovin your new regular content - super high quality. I like your non-patronising attitude as well. Your subs seem to be shooting up as well, so great job. Congrats! J😊

Another great explanation Dr Wally

Haha "chunky money's" Great quote

Great advice, Dr. Wally. There's a saying in the exercise/workout realm; which applies equally well to playing a wind instrument: Don't forget to breath!. It may sound simple enough; but so many people seem to "forget" to breath at times; especially when they are focused on some other aspect of what they're doing. It's happened to me when I'm in the middle of the melody in a song... not so much now. If you know the song 'Traces', by the Classics Four; I used to have a lot of difficulty with that long run. It's not much of a problem these days; after all, I've been playing sax for more than 2 years! ;) If I had another ten years; I would probably have it all sorted out by then.

Thanks!

Thank You Doctor..

Super Smart !

Fantastic information Sir

Some of the best teaching videos for the saxophone I’ve ever seen. Very clear, backed with the knowledge behind it. Great stuff 👍🏻

Thanks for the video, Doc. Will you be doing a follow up to the Bach/Bird listening lesson? Thanks.

Dr. Wallace, have u ever considered make a video about the types of articulation and theirs symbols in the score ? Thx

Great!!!

Another great video! I think the right reed is also important to sound big. With a light reed you are able to play louder and it’s easier to play more bars, but the sound is terrible.

7:42 FACTS!

Came for the awesome educational content, stayed for the jokes lol (and the awesome educational content)

Jeez ur hilarious!!!! I'm wondering how hard your reed is? and how big your prototype mouthpiece is?

Yamaha 82z UL !! Excelent Suond Man !!!

As fate would have it the last couple of weeks I'm taking care of my grandparents, so I'm literally practicing in my grandma's house!!

Question for the Doc! You play both classical and jazz. I do the same but at a much much much lower skill level. I am wondering what tip opening you use for both styles. I have a Selmer C* for classical and JJ HR 6 for jazz. I find it hard to adjust between the two and I certainly cannot use the same reed strength. Do you manage two separate sets of reeds? I also find myself practicing with the C* often, just to not wake up the kids. Which makes it more difficult when returning to the HR 6. Any suggestions on this topic? Perhaps a video on this would be a good idea?

i see the channel name , i subscribe ! me smart man ! lol

I need lessons in Costa Rica Central América

Dr Wally, can I have a bit of your beautuful tone, please? :)) Excellent video once again, thank you!

Great video Dr. Wallace! Thank you! Will you be making one on embouchures?

my main instruments are Bari sax and clarinet. I haven't played alto in a few years, but I'm playing it for a musical, and I forgot how much I despise it. no hate on alto, it's a great instrument, but it's so much harder to get good a good tone on it.

This is a really good video, but I’m also wondering how would you get a tone like Paul Desmond? I really like playing his music and I want to try to develop a tone similar to his.

Nice video! Could I ask what mouthpiece you are using?

Love your work as always. Feel like I could perhaps just put video of you on, and duck out for a siesta rather than teaching remotely. 😂

So if you have a Dad bod does your stomach expand more and overall give you better air support? Asking for a friend.

I have a question about my back pressure air getting stale. Am I taking in too much air? I find myself releasing the remaining air at the end of phrases just to make sure I have new air in my system otherwise I get lightheaded. Does this make sense or is this even possible? Thank you for your vids, great stuff.

"Dr Wally believes in you" ...Dr Wally may have taken one too many baritones to the head O.o! Seriously though, I have to thank you for the breathing explanation, the reminder (for both how I breathe when I'm playing and to be patient with myself), and the new way for me to look at my breathing while playing. One of the issues I run into is, surprisingly, Karate. No not random karate fighters trying to punch me in half when I'm playing (though I could hardly blame them), but rather karate breathing. In karate, breathing is the opposite, you pull your belly in when you inhale and let it expand on the exhale (for various reasons that I won't bore you with) - unfortunately after ten years on this, whenever I require a large intake of breath I default to this technique because, well, 10 years of karate training. Goes to show, though, that just because something is an "art" the toolsets don't necessarily overlap... also that I REALLY need to redouble my efforts on getting a more focused mindset when playing. Oh and I deffintly agree with the other comments on this vid. Somethings have definitely just clicked for me (not just on sax but clarinet as well) ^_^ .....I still have no idea what's supposed to click from Charlie Parker and Glen Gould though =.=;;

Hi Doctor Wally. How can I get a few zoom lessons with you. I am 69. I played tenor in small groups until I was 30. Then quit when my career needed some serious attention. Now looking at possible retirement in next couple of years. I picked sax back up 3 years ago, alto this time. Been loving it. I fell in love with the sax laying in bed as an 8 to 10 year old with my dad listening to Stan Getz Jazz Samba, and all those Verve recordings. I can still hum all of his solos, to this day. But I can’t play them. My other favorite was Paul Desmond who I saw in concert with Brubeck in the mid 70s, at Philadelphia Academy of Music, only a couple years before he died. … I am struggling trying to sound warm like my hero’s, and to improvise. Any chance I can get a few zoom lessons from you? Whatever the cost is, it’s worth it to me. Just to improve a little. And I can tell you are a teacher I can connect with. Please reply if you can. Doctor J!

Hey Doc, when you're breathing out with the abs contracted is the stomach deflating at the same time or does it stay out while you're contracting. Thanks.

Thanks again! Wouldn't eating more candy/gravy help? I think I noticed a BMI - tone relationship in a lot of my heroes... 🤔🤫

The equipment really does matter though, I’m high school I played a saxophone that was difficult for me to do low D easily, it took lots of air. Then one day I tried another saxophone and the low D came out so fast my brain couldn’t compute for a second how the light air I was breathing caused such a crisp easy low D.

Hey Doc, on the exhale while contracting your stomach, should it also deflate as your expelling air? Thanks.

Hi Dr.Wallace My overtones are highly sharp , is that normal ? Thanks for great content by the way ♥️

4:25 MY JAW WAS CLINCHED AND MY SHOULDERS WHERE TENSED UP CLOSER TO MY EARS THAN NORMAL! HOW DID YOU KNOW DR. WALLACE? LOL THANK YOU. I RELAXED AND MY SOUND GOT INSTANTLY BIGGER AND MORE VIBRANT.

Been practicing though

Nice lesson doc, I have a question which is not about this lesson tho. My question is, how do I make use of the octave key? I mean when do I hold it and when do I release it? thank you

Hi Doc. Have you made any videos on top notch dressing for men?😎

Looks like Max, the head vampire from the lost boys :)

Thank you for great information. I have a tendency to play bending notes always, What can I do to practice and stop this ugly habit? thanks again

This was great , what mouthpiece and reed do you use?

Do you stop the note with your tongue playing classical music?

Hi Dr! Great video, I have a question, I'm a begginer and I realized that when I loosen my jaw my tone gets bigger but also flat, so I got more my mouthpiece in, then with minimal pressure it gets too sharp making it too hard for me to play in tune because I'm not used to playing in that way, so I don't know if that is normal and I have to master that embouchure or I am doing it wrong and the mouthpiece position has nothing to do with the tone and tune, so what could I do? Thanks! I enjoy your videos

I personally burn sage before every session.

I love how his phrases for a fat note get weirder and weirder as the video goes on

Hi. May I ask: what is your doctorate in? Music? Performance? I’m fascinated to know. Don Walker, UK

Saw you slide off bis in the first 5-second, and turned it off. *jk* love you Dr. Wally.

You pointed at me.. and you were right

Instant click!!

Woo

Hey, I recently got braces, how can I get used to playing my saxophone again?

The microphone used in recording a sax is everything in terms of tone quality. Omni microphones, not cardioid or other 2nd order mics, ALWAYS sound fuller and more natural and the difference can be very substantial. Why recording engineers use 2nd order microphones for ANY musical instrument or voice is beyond me. Check it out.

Was that phrase you played from Scarborough fair ?

I‘ll take your „bad examples“ any day any time , for the rest of my sax career 😅