This is probably the first of several reviews of mouthpieces from Phil Engelmann who makes and refaces mouthpieces under the name of Phil-Tone. Over the last few years I have bought several of his mouthpieces, had him work on one of mine, and bought one of his refaced mouthpieces as well. Today I’m going to… Continue reading Phil-Tone Equinox D Review
Author: Barry
I've been playing the saxophone professionally for over 30 years mostly in the Baltimore/Washington DC area. I've been through a lot of trials and tribulations trying to learn and play this wonderful instrument and my hope is to pass some knowledge along to others and maybe save them some of the trouble. At the very least I want to give you some things to think about even if you do something different or disregard what I say completely.
Gig Notes
Played an interesting gig last night for several reasons. It was a 45th anniversary party for a nice couple and the gig was on Gibson Island. I was playing with my usual wedding band, New Monopoly. I mentioned before how huge the book is and even after nearly two years on the band I’m still amazed… Continue reading Gig Notes
My Gear – Acoustic Version
I thought it might be interesting to fire off an opening volley about some of the horns I’ve been playing. Some of them I’ve been playing for quite a while and some are relatively new additions to the arsenal but all have stories associated with them. I’ve always considered myself to be primarily a tenor… Continue reading My Gear – Acoustic Version
Can I Teach Myself to Play Saxophone?
I wanted to start having some “Beginner’s Corner” posts and this seemed like the best place to start. I see and hear this question a lot whether it’s in online forums or in person. People want to learn to play the saxophone but they would like to just learn it on their own. The first… Continue reading Can I Teach Myself to Play Saxophone?
An Unlikely Piece of Indispensable Gear
After my horns and my EWI (which uses my laptop as a sound engine) my next most important piece of gear is my iPad. I use it for all kind of things and it has become practically indispensable for me. First and foremost, it is a great portable music reader. I use two apps for… Continue reading An Unlikely Piece of Indispensable Gear
Let’s Talk About Reeds
Over the years I’ve tried a lot of things to deal with the reed situation. I’ve done everything from the “slap it on and play” method to synthetics and plasticovers to the whole reed rush and glass method and I’ve developed some pretty particular opinions about what I want to do and what I expect… Continue reading Let’s Talk About Reeds
Turning Back the Clock
I wanted to write this while it was still fresh in my mind but it’s likely it won’t be posted for a couple weeks depending on how well I get things set up (UPDATE: The concert was actually back on June 24th). I just came home from a wonderful event playing a reunion with old… Continue reading Turning Back the Clock
The Most Important Part of Your Setup
One thing that’s pretty constant among sax players whether it’s meeting face to face or connecting with each other online is that we like to talk about our setups. For any beginners reading this, a setup is usually the collective term for what you are playing (i.e. mouthpiece, reed, horn, possibly the ligature, or maybe… Continue reading The Most Important Part of Your Setup
Artscape 2012
I played a very fun gig today at something called Artscape in Baltimore, MD. I was part of a band backing up a young, talented singer named Emma White. We didn’t have a lot of time to get the songs togethe?ß?r and there were only a handful of horn tunes but the overall vibe of… Continue reading Artscape 2012
Welcome!
Here’s my first post of hopefully many. I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for a while now and I really hope it’s something people find interesting or fun but if nothing else it’s a way to spend some time analyzing and organizing things I do as a player and getting them out of my… Continue reading Welcome!