Welcome to the Scott Paddock Sax School! In this course, I’m going to teach you several pop melodies that have play along backing tracks for you to perform with. The sole purpose of this course is to expand your repertoire and make you comfortable interpreting, personalizing, and performing melodies. At the end of each lesson, you will be performance ready on that song!
Early Intermediate Sax Players: use these melodies to practice dynamics, articulations & goal notes to shape your phrases and bring the music alive.
Intermediate Sax Players: if you have worked through the Ad Lib section of the Intermediate: part 1 Pathway Course, use all of the skills you have learned in that course to personalize these melodies by changing rhythms, repeating notes, adding notes, and coming up with your own personal arrangements.
What to expect in each lesson:
- A complete breakdown of the sections of the song.
- An explanation of the basics of the song.
- A play along breakdown of the notes/rhythms in the melody.
- A practice play along with Scott.
- Basic ideas for ad libbing on the song.
- A backing track you can perform the song with.
Prerequisites for the Pop Play Alongs specialty course:
- Complete the Early Intermediate Pathway Course (very important!).
- Understand what key signatures are.
- Be able to count 8th note & triplet rhythms.
- Have at least 6 major scales memorized.
- Understand how to use dynamics & articulations to shape a phrase.
- Know the concept of goal notes and how to use them to shape a phrase.
MY SUGGESTION
This is a great accessory course, meaning it should not be your main focus. As you work through the Sax School Pathway Courses, you learn new skills in every lesson. Use the songs in the Pop Play Alongs specialty course to practice and perfect those new skills. Once these songs are in your repertoire, keep coming back to them and apply the new concepts you learn in the Sax School. Have fun performing the songs in the Pop Play Alongs course!