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The Saxophone Symposium Volume 44: 2021
Lyle Rebbeck. A Practical Guide for Teaching the Saxophone to Beginners ©2019. Friesen Press.
Reviewed by Julia Nolan
Lyle Rebbeck is well-known among Canadian saxophonists, especially those from Manitoba to British Columbia, as a long-time member and supporter of NASA’s Region 10. During a teaching career of over thirty years, Lyle is proud that many of his students started with him as beginners. His teaching experience and concern for thoughtful pedagogy for beginning saxophone players are the impulses behind this excellent book.
Lyle Rebbeck holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Saskatchewan and a Master of Music from Northwestern University. Lyle performs in concert and jazz genres, writes a regular column for the Medicine Hat News, and produces the Medicine Hat Jazz Festival. Lyle teaches woodwinds, jazz improvisation, and coaches woodwind ensembles at Medicine Hat College.
This practical guide for beginning saxophonist is comprehensive and covers what you need to know – and what you didn’t know you needed to know. Lyle’s understanding of what the beginner needs and things to consider is vast. He covers the topics in impressive detail in prose that is easy to comprehend.
The Table of Contents takes the reader through initial considerations (physical attributes, braces, wisdom teeth removal, what age to start, choosing the right equipment, why C on the piano is not a C on the saxophone, mouthpiece, reed, and method books, to name a few!) Each section, while packed with information, is clear and concise.
For example, the section about the first lesson begins with the question to stand or to sit? You may have your opinion – or may not have thought much about this. Lyle gives his own insight – spoiler alert – stand! Using point form explanations and photographs, Lyle guides the reader from assembly, reed and ligature placement, proper hand and finger positions, embouchure, and making the initial sound. He identifies areas that might inhibit good sound (sensitivity in the upper teeth and teeth biting into the lower gum) providing good suggestions to alleviate these problems.
Without going through the contents in its entirety, let me point out that this book covers tone, tonguing, breathing, air, pitch, fingering choices, reeds, vibrato, caring for the saxophone, methods, materials, listening, performance, and when it’s time to upgrade your saxophone. From here, there is a section about playing in quartets and ensembles, when a student wants to play jazz or decides to become a professional musician, remedial work (reviewing areas where self-taught saxophonists may have learned improperly – tonguing, glottal attack, Bb fingers, embouchure), and teaching adult beginners. As I said, he covers a lot of topics.
Lyle’s preferred method and étude books are: Rubank: Elementary Method, Hovey: First Book of Practical Studies for Saxophone, Klose: 25 Daily Exercises for Saxophone, and Londeix: Les Gammes (The Scales by Steps and Intervals). Following these, he uses Ferling: 48 Famous Études (Mule edition) and Teal: The Saxophonist’s Workbook. As standard books these are all good, but there are more on the market and one can add to these according to personal taste and pedagogical needs. A highlight of this chapter is the detail in which Lyle explains how to practice for success using Klose. He advocates using the metronome from the beginning, striving for perfection, and keeping track of progress. As he states,
Without going through the contents in its entirety, let me point out that this book covers tone, tonguing, breathing, air, pitch, fingering choices, reeds, vibrato, caring fo the saxophone, methods, materials, listening, performance, and when it’s time to upgrade your saxophone. From here, there is a section about playing in quartets and ensembles, when a student wants to play jazz or decides to become a professional musician, remedial work (reviewing areas where self-taught saxophonists may have learned improperly – tonguing, glottal attack, Bb fingers, embouchure), and teaching adult beginners. As I said, he covers a lot of topics.
Lyle’s preferred method and étude books are: Rubank: Elementary Method, Hovey: First Book of Practical Studies for Saxophone, Klose: 25 Daily Exercises for Saxophone, and Londeix: Les Gammes (The Scales by Steps and Intervals). Following these, he uses Ferling: 48 Famous Études (Mule edition) and Teal: The Saxophonist’s Workbook. As standard books these are all good, but there are more on the market and one can add to these according to personal taste and pedagogical needs. A highlight of this chapter is the detail in which Lyle explains how to practice for success using Klose. He advocates using the metronome from the beginning, striving for perfection, and keeping track of progress. As he states,
I give my students one main guideline to follow with this book: perform the
exercises as fast as possible rhythmically even and without mistakes. That’s
the kicker. No mistakes. I expect to see a row of crossed-out metronome
markings showing how they have kept track of tempos and increased these
each day.
He provides the reader with step-by-step manageable guidelines and practice suggestions to help achieve results. At the end of the book, is a list of preferred saxophone repertoire spanning seven years of study for alto and tenor with a few suggestions for soprano.
A whole chapter is dedicated to teaching saxophone in the school band setting. He delves into problems we have all experienced. One of the most prevalent is that younger players in band tend to play loud and the balance with flutes and clarinets (who likely play too softly!) is affected. He points out possible problems (mouthpiece, reed, amount of mouthpiece in the mouth, embouchure) that provide approaches and possible solutions without inhibiting the developing saxophonist. He also suggests warm up exercises to help the student develop better control through long tones and various dynamics.
The book provides valuable information for private teachers, music educators (elementary and high school), adult beginners, and even high school saxophonists. The chapters contain clear headings, with excellent explanations and descriptions of content. Lyle’s matter-of-fact delivery reflects Fredrick Hemke’s ongoing influence, and to whose memory the book is dedicated.
A good addition is the letter of expectations. He outlines his commitment to the student and his expectations of the student in the study of saxophone. It is encouraging but also spells out the rules of engagement to prospective students.
A nice touch at the end of the book are testimonials from saxophonists Michael Morimoto, Brendan Catalano, and Michael Kurpjuweit, all former students of Lyle Rebbeck.
This is a welcome addition to our pedagogical literature and especially relevant to those teaching beginning level saxophonists.
Canadian Winds: Spring 2000
Lyle Rebbeck. A Practical Guide for Teaching the Saxophone to Beginners (Friesen Press, 2019)
Reviewed by Jeremy Brown
A Practical Guide for Teaching the Saxophone to BeginnersI by Lyle Rebbeck is a useful and comprehensive guide for teachers of beginning saxophonists. Instrumental music teachers will find this resource an important adjunct to other methods and study books for the saxophone. The 156-page book covers nearly any saxophone playing topic one could imagine. For example, can a student play with braces? (Yes.) Can students play after their wisdom teeth are removed? (No, not for two weeks.) Should a student stand or sit while playing? (Standing is preferable.) I particularly enjoyed Rebbeck’s take on intonation challenges on the saxophone, how to correct certain notes, and the teacher-assisted fingering description. Though many of the topics in this book are used by experienced teachers, his compilation of them is strikingly insightful with marvelous solutions to common questions beginners often have. He addresses the topics of instrument assembly, breathing, tonguing, tone quality, fingering, reeds, and vibrato. His section on the mechanism and how to fix certain universal sax horn issues includes photos and is thoughtfully laid out.
Rebbeck’s guide draws from his comprehensive experience as a teacher and performer, and the breadth of the topics he treats is impressive. He includes clear and cogent photos of proper finger position, embouchure formation, and mouthpiece and reed adjustment among other illustrations – all of them useful to the band director or studio teacher. The appendices include a conservative but useful listing of repertoire for the first years of saxophone study and an explicit explanation of saxophone study expectations between teacher and student. I enjoyed reading this book and have recommended it to many of my students who are just starting their careers as studio teachers. It is concise and easy to read, with may useful suggestions.
