New Saxophone Etudes Consortium

Year: 2023 | Duration: TBD | Instrumentation: Solo Alto Saxophone | Difficulty: High School/Early College

Narrative

Over the course of my career as a composer I have written almost 30 works for saxophone, with 20 of them being in the past 4 years. Some of these are quite long and intended for some of the highest level saxophonists in the world, while others such as my collection “Ethos of Saxes” was intended to provide shorter works for a wide variety of performers. Still that book is not the most approachable for all saxophonists. As I move towards the next stage of my musical career, I have two main passions. (1) Music that is highly personal, collaborative, and intentional towards my artistic goal of community building, and (2) Music that has some sort of impact on somebody such as my work “What is your World” which provides queer artists an opportunity to present themselves in an approachable, yet still artistically challenging way. As a young saxophonist, I felt frustrated that the music I had to play for pedagogical purposes was not something I connected to, and more so did not seem connected to the repertoire that I was also hoping to play. As we all know the music that we have available to us in 2023 is quite diverse, and requires skills that other commonly used Etude books do not prepare our students for. Alongside Elizabeth Rosinbum, it is our goal to create a new resource that fulfills the following needs:

1) Is a resource intended for High School Saxophonist and/or early college level saxophonists that could act as new curriculum to prepare students for the saxophone repertoire

2) Includes 12 new etudes, with at least 6 intended for those interested in collegiate level saxophone, and 6 for those who are studying saxophone for pleasure as a supplement for their band classes

3) Focuses on highly intentional, curated technical and pedagogical goals, while also being an enjoyable musical experience that is artistically fulfilling for myself and for the student

4) Also includes 3 short works for alto and piano intended for high school students that could be performed by students participating at solo and ensembles

4) Has been reviewed and throughly vetted by the saxophone community

Review Process

Our goal would be to find 3 Teachers who work with High School Saxophonists who could act as reviewers and 3 collegiate level saxophone professors who also act as reviewers. We would want a diverse group of individuals to be involved with this process.

Separate from this group of instructors, we would want to collaborate with 3-6 other individuals as part of this review process to help us identify the 12 most important targeted skills or objectives that each individual etude is focused on. These 6-12 individuals would be still expected to buy into the project, but would receive special recognition for their contribution to the project.

Time Line

The goal would be to meet with the individuals to help curate skills by the end of May or sometime in June, with composition beginning in Mid July and an October Delivery Date. The review process would happen during the 2023-24 Fall Semester with a full release of the materials by Spring 2024. This project makes the most sense for me if it has true impact by actually serving our students in an educational yet artistic capacity, so the more buy in from the larger saxophone community, the more impactful it can be.

Updated Time Line

Due to some delays on my end primarily related to some health issues, we have a new timeline. My goal is to send anyone who has currently signed onto this project the current book by April 15th. I am just making some final edits. From there, I am asking you to implement these materials from then to September 15th, and to fill out a form with any and all feedback. I will provide some questions to guide your feedback.

After that round of feedback, I will then work with the pedagogy team to see how and what needs to be implemented, write informational pages for student success for each etude as well as make some final edits, with the final goal of having a completed Etude book ready to ship worldwide by December, just in time for the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, as well as for the Spring Semester.

Buy In Process

In lieu of asking for large sums of money to make this project happen. It is our goal to make this project as accessible and approachable as possible we are treating this consortium more like a pre-order process

Updated Buy In Costs

$30 early adopter level, pre-purchase the book, and be part of the review process

$65 buy in for consortium membership

Our goal is to keep the book at the $30 price point as to not make it too expensive for our students.

This process can be completed by Filling Out This form here, and sending your total payment to my Venmo @Spencer-Arias OR to my PayPal here