Phil plays Concerto for Alto Sax and Band Op. 26 by Paul Creston

[wiseoneize]

does anyone know where I can get a piano accompaniment cd to this song?

[saxophoney]

sheet music plus dot com

[imaninjamonkey]

awesome [: and what style of music is this? and what is phillip's last name if i may ask. cuz i am doing a music project on this video.

[WineJulian]

hey saxophoney im a tenor, alto, bari and soprano sax player. whats the reed to make ur sax sound jazzy

[saxophoney]

I play on vandoren 3 1/2 blue reeds. Thanks for listening!

[paul8aBABY]

@WineJulian i use a 4 java vandoren (green box) on a selmer soloist mouthpiece. it's nice and melow with a small spread. like paul desmond.

[saxophoney]

Thanks for listening and for commenting.

[hellomotherful]

HEY IM A HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR! but although I picked this the other day for solo and ensemble I REALLY need tips! Im a good player but lack of motivation and practice has moved me down a band and I want to recommit myself. If I pull this off effectively I'll show my directors too.

[saxophoney]

Good luck!

[boenneteoyneGod1st]

Im so glad this is on here! I picked this as a solo yesterday at school and would love tips!!

[boenneteoyneGod1st]

Im so glad this is on here! I picked this as a solo yesterday at school and would love tips!!

[atombomb31458]

wonderful..bravo You will do great things in music

[saxophoney]

Thank you very much.

[kayjaay2]

just brilliant.

It would be awesome if we could hear you play the other movements.

What mouthpiece setup did you use fo this?

Great job!

[saxophoney]

Thank you very much. I use a selmer 90-180 mp with Vandoren blue 3-1/2 reeds on a mark 6.

[musicdreamer92]

Hey how much do you practice? That's really good

[saxophoney]

I should practice much more, just and hour or so a day. Thanks for listening.

[1scarykidscaringkids]

I love the mark vi, i don't own one personally but played on quite a few. I prefer the mark v though, it just seems to play more openly and with a darker sound. but that's just me. X] but yeah, great job!

[saxophoney]

Thanks for listening. I agree that the Mark VI is a wonderful horn.

[euvedant]

did u ever play sonata mvt.3?

[saxophoney]

Just in practing. I've haven't played it in a performance. Thanks for listening.

[zipohhaha]

nice to see someone else playing this. I recently chose the Creston as my college audition piece; hopefully I can get it the whole thing with precision.

great job.

[saxophoney]

Thanks a lot. This is a great piece.

[bboyOkkk]

sounds hard...

but you handled it extremely well!

[saxophoney]

Thanks.  the piece is pretty difficult.

[AtEveryOccasion]

it was great, but i think you sounded a bit flat, but other than that, great!

may i ask what saxophone (make and model, i know its an alto) you are playing on?

[saxophoney]

I play a Selmer mark vi. Thanks for watching.

[Rabid2k6]

Alright Phil, I have a problem. I want to play this next year with my Band... but $450 is WAY to steep just to RENT a piece. Can you explain why it costs so much to rent, when you can usually buy a full score for around $90?

[saxophoney]

Don't know why the publisher G.Shirmer charges so much and only rents it. When I played it, they were gave this major university a hard time about it. They could only have it for like 3 weeks total so it was like three rehearsals and go, and this is a tough piece for the band too. This video performance was the first and only time it came together and sounded good. The other concerto I played that I have posted, the "Grundmand Concertante", was about $125 to buy. So go figure.

[Sariasphs]

that was awesome :D congrats im currently working on the sonata creston is an awesome composer i hope to be like him one day

[saxophoney]

Thanks for the nice comment. This is a great piece.

[ElementalSaxQuartet]

holy crap! great job phil!!!!

[saxophoney]

Thanks a lot!

[shinka1911]

he is good xD

[saxophoney]

Thank you.

[blues1492]

Wonderful performance.

[saxophoney]

Thanks a lot.

[torosax]

Very nice man! I realized after you commented on my vids that I haven't looked to see if you had any new stuff up. Sounds really good though. I wish I had time to ever play anymore, lol. I think my horn gets taken out of it's case like twice a year now. Keep up the good work buddy!

[saxman4590]

I would like to play this piece with the Shenandoah Conservatory Wind Ensemble but I can't find an arranger and publisher who has the band part. If anyone can tell me of an arranger/publisher who has band part to this concerto, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

[saxophoney]

Its only available from G.Shirmer for rent at around $450.

[arauxos]

Muy bien!

[saxophoney]

Gracias amigo!

[hitmanisback]

wow im gob smacked your good pal

[aztecaXV]

he is one crazy director isn't he?

[saxophoney]

Yeah he is. He retired this year though. It's too bad. He was an excellant conductor and our performances always sounded great.

[awattsandre007]

nice ^___^

[saxophoney]

Thank you. My other performance of the Grundman Concertante is better I think. If you have time check it out. Thanks!

[tyjetz]

It's very pleasant to listen to. I find myself coming back to this video.

You have great smoothness in your fingers, especially in connecting the altissimo Gs to the rest of the runs, minus that one.

You didn't stay with the band all that well in places, but that seems to be mostly due to nervousness. I would suggest, though, that you get a louder metronome so that you can make sure that you stay with it. Sometimes saxophonists play so loud that they drown out the metronome and lose the meter.

[saxophoney]

thanks for listening and for commenting.

[bassbonemexie]

ew youtube teacher.

[tyjetz]

Perhaps a bit louder on the longer run on the fifth page, the band drowned you out in a place where you should emerge.

Also, I know you like the French style, but keep in mind that Creston was an American composer, and the American style arguably does fit it better. Leeson would have used a much slower vibrato at the bottom of the second page since it's the calm in the center of the storm.

[vandorenspaz]

Wow. That was outstanding!!

I think I'll go practice my clarinet now... =)

[saxophoney]

Thanks spaz. Were you at uww band camp?

[vandorenspaz]

yes I was. I played a clarinet solo for honors recital.

[saxophoney]

Oh cool. You did a great job on that! If you have Facebook, look me up and send a friend invite. There's also a Camp facebook Facebook group

[vandorenspaz]

Yea, I did the clarinet solo on the honors recital.

[bandgeeksz]

wow that was an amazing performance. actually I'm just starting to learn sax. do you have any tips?

[spazz911]

What's your sax setup?

[saxophoney]

I play a Selmer Mark VI with a Selmer s90 mouthpiece and Vandoren blue 3/12 reeds.

[ddeejay]

Wow! Outstanding! I play 2nd alto sax in a youth wind band and I was wondering what instruments this wind band consisted of? I love this piece - would love to play it one day too

[saxophoney]

Thanks a lot. The Univ. of Milwaukee Youth Wind ensemble is a full band with all woodwinds, percussion, and brass instruments represented by very strong players. I'm glad to be the principal saxophonist. Thanks for taking time out to comment!

[shthappens825]

Hey how long ago was this? I used to be in UWAY...about 3 years ago, now I am a student at UWM, played alto saxophone too, i stopped playing when i got to college, nice tone, and amazing technique but i personally think, that your vibrato is a little much at some points, but overall its amazing, awesome job

[saxophoney]

COOL. Thanks for listening. This was recorded in Zelazo center in Feb. of this year. This was my 3rd year in UWAY. I won the UWAY concerto competition this year and played this piece. We play a concert every few months begining in OCT. so hope you attend a concert sometime. The vibrato is still being refined but I do prefer the French school of classical saxophone which is expressive. Thanks!

[arauxos]

Excelent my friend! good sound, good beat and good tune!

[saxophoney]

Thanks a lot for listening. I hope to play with a saxophone quartet as good as yours some day.

[Notanemokid2551]

Wow nice recording you sound pretty good. Make sure on your palm keys you aren't playing so loud, it seems like too much sound and you are really trying to play loud up there.

[saxophoney]

Thanks a lot for listening and for commenting. I was really blowing in some parts, trying not to be drowned out by the band and to fill the theater. As you can hear, the scoring for the band is quite heavey in areas which makes you worry as the soloist that you're being buried. It was a really cool experience to be able to play this great piece with an excellent band.

[Notanemokid2551]

Wow nice recording man you sound pretty good. Just make sure on your palm keys you aren't playing sooo loud or anything it seems like too much sound up there. Everything else seems great.

[saxophoney]

Thanks again.

[saxyscotty]

wow, I can't believe you got to play this with a band, you're so lucky

hey, on the saxophone music, it says it could be played with an orchestra also. Do you know if this is true?

[saxophoney]

Thanks for listening. I won a concerto competition and got to play it. I had actually played it at full tempo for the audition, but it was slowed down for the band performance out of concern that the 138 & 152 tempos makes it too frantic.

And yes, it is also scored for orchestra but its only available at a fairly high rental fee.

[JLRedWing13]

Another outstanding performance! In many ways I like how this concerto was written better than the Grundman one. Did you find this piece to be more or less challenging than the Grundman concerto?

Anyway, another outstanding performance. I hope you are intending to major in music in college. The world could use more great young saxophone players like you!

[saxophoney]

Thanks a lot for your nice comments. Yes, this piece is more challenging than the Grundman. This is the first of three movements in this concerto, but it's so great that it can stand alone as a masterful work. Next year will bring auditions for colleges which I'm already practicing for. Hope to get into a college with a top tier saxophone teacher. Thanks again for listening.

[stappi63]

hey Phil awesome job and great to see another video!!!

outstanding performance

your friend Lukas

[saxophoney]

thanks! it was a lot of fun to play and im glad you enjoyed it. let me know when you have some new videos out so i can watch them.

Phil

[stappi63]

hey Phil great job and great to see a new video.

outstanding performance

your friend Lukas

[aztecaXV]

awesome job Phil. I just heard someone here play the Pierre Max Dubois concerto and it was cool. You should do that one.

[saxophoney]

Thanks Tomas. Glad you liked it. I don't know what I'll be playing next but the Dubois concerto could be an option. You need to come visit us and watch our musical. We're playing the Wizard of Oz.