Dr. Ray Smith is the saxophonists' saxophonist, the teachers' teacher. His 50+ years of saxophone playing and teaching have prepared him well to bring together perhaps the greatest breadth of practical saxophone information ever assembled under one book cover in The Science and Art of Saxophone Teaching. This book is valuable to saxophone teachers and serious saxophone students alike covering such topics as basic tone production (embouchure, oral cavity, breath support) and solving problems with tone, playing low notes, slurring down over intervals, solving reed issues, saxophone repair and adjustments, coordinating classical and jazz study and practice, warmup exercises and practice routines, articulation basics and articulation styles, development of technique and speed, choosing fingerings, solving vibrato issues, working on intonation problems, playing dynamics, rhythmic development, learning altissimo (may be worth the price of the book alone), phrasing musically, choosing good breathing places, working with ornamentation and cadenzas, dealing with differences between styles, becoming a multilingual musician, doubling other woodwind instruments and helpful information on clarinet, flute and double reeds, dealing with stage fright, and much more. This volume belongs in the library of every earnest saxophonist. There are also a series of video tutorials on a coordinated YouTube channel that bring all the concepts to life.
Ray has been blessed to be a master pedagogue and is sharing in this book the concepts, insights, and approaches he has used to help countless young players become great saxophonists and musicians. His track record as a professor at Brigham Young University is enviable. His students teach at many of the nations' universities, perform in the Broadway pits, play in the service bands of the Army, Navy, and Marines, and write for Hollywood movies. One is playing with the Dukes of Dixieland, and one is currently holding down the first tenor chair in the famed University of North Texas 1 O'Clock Lab Band. Ray, himself, a disciple of Eugene Rousseau, is a fine performer and well-recorded artist. He is equally at home in classical and jazz-related styles and adept at all five woodwind instruments. He has been heard frequently on the airwaves of this country (ESPN, ABC, NBC, CNN, etc.), on movies such as The Sandlot and The Swan Princess, and on Television series such as He-Man: Masters of the Universe, Xena, and Hercules.