Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Joe Allard

Along with my reading of Dave Liebman's book "Developing a Personal Saxophone Sound" I have been studying the work of Joe Allard, influential and highly respected teacher of the sax and clarinet who amongst many others taught Dave Liebman and Micheal Brecker. Focused particularly on sound production that was "free of all unnecessary tension and capable of a great variety of tonal possibilities" Allard focused on the "development of the embouchure, proper use of the air, flexibility of the laryngeal and oral cavities, and one's own tonal imagination".* If like me you are a little late on this vital information, a good start is to check out the official website http://www.joeallard.org/. It has lots of information on his teaching style as well as interviews and comments from many of his former pupils.

*(from the website)