Month: October 2017

Since my first collegiate saxophone teacher, Dr. Laurence Wyman, refaced a mouthpiece for me back in early 1999, I’ve been fascinated with mouthpieces and how they work. I’ve read several papers and articles on the subject (including Wyman’s doctoral dissertation), and in the interim I’ve had several more mouthpieces refaced by him and others. Now I’m finally taking the plunge myself: I recently bought myself some tools to begin measuring and refacing mouthpieces on my own.

Armed with some knowledge and experience playing all the various sizes of saxophones, I’m hoping that I can turn this into an interesting and enjoyable project. My goal is to become as knowledgeable and proficient as Dr. Wyman and Joe Giardullo, both of whom have years of experience working on mouthpieces and whose work I admire.

I’ll be posting some pictures of my mouthpieces and measurements in the near future. Stay tuned!

Autumn is the busiest time of year for teachers and, as it turns out, for many musicians as well.

Since September, I’ve been playing in rehearsals and/or performances almost weekly, ranging from jazz to wind ensemble. This will continue until Christmas, when my last official concert of 2017 with the Hudson Valley Saxophone Orchestra takes place on December 17th.

January is also looking to be busy, with the Navy Saxophone Symposium on January 12-13. After that things will slow down a bit, but they will inevitably pick up again in the spring for musical productions and the NASA Biennial Conference.

I’m lucky to be as busy as I am, because I know of many musicians who are not so fortunate. Time to get practicing!