Welcome to the Scott Paddock Sax School! If you are coming to this pathway after completing the Intermediate: part 1 Pathway of the SPSS, you are good to go. If this is your starting point at the SPSS, please make sure that you are able to do the prerequisites below. If not, check out the SPSS Early Intermediate or Intermediate: part 1 Pathways for a refresher.
Prerequisites for the Intermediate: part 2 Pathway:
- Have your major, mixolydian, and dorian minor scales memorized.
- Be able to perform 8th note Chop Shop technique exercises at 130 bpm.
- Understand the basics of ad libbing and be able to ad lib on at least 5 songs.
- Know how to improvise using your blues, mixolydian, and dorian minor scales.
- Know how to read the dominant 7th & minor 7th chord symbols.
What you’ll learn:
The main focus of the Intermediate: part 2 Pathway is to bring out your personal style when playing music. We will learn to make melodies sound better through the use of more advanced ad lib techniques, improvise on songs with more complex chord progressions, and dig really deep into articulations/style. We will also dive deeper into the basics of playing the saxophone by learning more scales (the 2-5-1 scale & the natural minor scale), speeding things up with the Chop Shop series, and improving your tone through the use of overtones. By the end of this course, you will be able to interpret and play music at a much higher level.
When you finish this course, you will be able to:
- Ad lib over any melody
- Understand the unwritten rules of jazz articulation
- Interpret & shape musical phrases
- Recognize chord symbols
- Improvise over a major 7th chord
- Improvise over a dominant 7th chord
- Improvise over a minor 7th chord
- Improvise over a 1/2 diminished chord
- Figure out tonal centers
- Recognize major 2, 5, 1s
- Recognize minor 2, 5, 1s
- Have a basic understanding of voice leading
MY SUGGESTION
I recommend that everybody start with the Early Intermediate or Intermediate: part 1Pathway (depending on your playing level). Even if your saxophone skills have progressed beyond this level, reviewing the basics and learning my teaching style will definitely have a positive effect on the way you learn & organize the musical concepts that will be taught throughout the Scott Paddock Sax School. Learning how to play any type of musical instrument is a building process. The more solid your foundation is, the faster and easier you will progress.