Saxophone • Clarinet
For some reason I never got around to posting a video for the final etude in the book, “Bachground Music.” I have posted all four here now for you to hear if you have the book and want some ideas for interpretation. These are the order they appear in Bach Shapes. Accompanist is Stefan Vasnier, these were all recorded back in 2017.
Hello everyone, I hope you all are safe in this difficult times. My friend from the Berklee days, Alex Terrier, has graciously invited me to broadcast from his facebook page, Alex Terrier Music, an hour workshop on my book , Bach Shapes, focusing on new materials I am preparing for the second book. I am posting the handout for the lecture here, along with some auxiliary materials that will eventually end up in book two. I hope they are useful!
Happy New Year everyone! I hope the year brings you happiness and prosperity. I want to share a couple of things regarding Bach Shapes. First, out today I have a new article on Doron Orenstein’s Best Sax Site Ever, which you can check out here: Bach’s Toccata and Fugue. Thanks to Doron for allowing me to share some upcoming ideas for the second book in the series, which pending how many more of the first book I sell this year, will be released by next year if all goes well. I have many more ideas for this volume, and will be asking for reader input as well by setting up a survey soon. I have also created a couple more video edits of the etudes from the book, performed by Stefan Vasnier and I last summer, here is the latest:
There is only one etude from the book that has yet to be posted, will be up soon! You can hear all of the others at www.bachshapes.com. Guitarist in Kuala Lumpur, Az Samad was also kind enough to write review of the book on his site: Az Samad Lessons
Also in Bach Shapes related news, I will be presenting a lecture on how to apply this info to improvisation and technical practice at this year’s NASA (North American Saxophone Alliance) conference in Cincinnati, which will take place March 8-11. More info and details as it approaches. I believe video of this will be available to stream or download.
More to come!
Jon
$19.95
Diatonic Sequences derived from the music of J. S. Bach, for saxophone. Includes 4 jazz etudes, an explanatory introduction and the Shapes transposed into all keys. More information at www.bachshapes.com.
48 in stock (can be backordered)
The first Bach Shapes book of sequences derived from J.S. Bach, for saxophone and all treble clef instruments.
“Jazz musicians have naturally gravitated towards the music of JS Bach for years, so a book like this one has been a long time coming. Jon has done a wonderful job capturing various snapshots of Bach’s seemingly infinite musical language, organizing these shapes in a setting that could be very useful to improvisers. A truly interesting and enjoyable book that will hopefully lead to more volumes in the future.”
–Miguel Zenon, International Touring Artist
A unique approach to scale/interval practice, Bach Shapes is the music of J.S. Bach distilled to its basic elements: beautiful melodic shapes. These can be studied as technical exercises, or used as building blocks for jazz improvisation. Suitable for any instrument and currently being used by guitarists, oboists, clarinetists and more. The studies are drawn from Bach’s violin, cello, flute and keyboard music and ordered by difficulty, transposed into all keys. Learn to stretch your range and play intervals more evenly with these musical studies. At the end are four etudes based on jazz standards. The cover and interior has been beautifully designed by Chrissy Kurpeski.
“I really dig this book, there are so many musical ideas that one can find in Bach’s music. It’s about time someone like Jon comes along to organize it to be practiced by jazz musicians. It’s good both for the chops, vocabulary and knowledge of harmony. You really have to know what you’re doing when you utilize his devices.”
Dmitry Baevsky, NYC Saxophonist
“This book is great for practicing and learning really nice sounding passages from Bach in a more focused manner. All passages are transposed as well so you can focus on a particular key that needs work. The engraving is very clear and spacing very well done, its been on my music stand for a while now and has really been fun!”
–Andrew Hadro, NYC Freelance Saxophonist
More info on bachshapes.com
Check out the Bach Shapes Etudes now for sale too!
| Weight | .8 lbs |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 9 × 12 × 2 in |
For those of you interested in how some of the etudes sound from my new book, Bach Shapes, here is “20,000 Fugues”, based on “How Deep is the Ocean?” Joining me is Stefan Vasnier on the piano.
This is our first attempt to play some of the material from the book, and I also recorded a brief tutorial that day on how to start working with the shapes, that is still to come. For now enjoy the music and do feel free to order the book in PDF or print for your fall studies here. The book is currently discounted to $16.95, which is less than it sells for on Amazon.
I will be teaching a course on Jazz History this fall at City College of New York, along with my regular private teaching, but my hope is to keep weekly posts up regarding the book, as there is still a lot of material I would like to explain. Til’ then!
I had a surprising amount of requests for a downloadable version of Bach Shapes last week, so here it is!
$16.00
Bach Shapes: Diatonic Sequences for Saxophone, PDF edition.
Downloadable PDF version of Bach Shapes: Diatonic Sequences Derived From the Music of J. S. Bach, for saxophone. Includes 4 jazz etudes, an explanatory introduction and the Shapes transposed into all keys. More information, including reviews, articles, videos, recordings and more at www.bachshapes.com. Great for interval and scale practice,sight reading, transposing by ear, altissimo and more. When purchased, some customers have reported the download email going to their spam folder. Please check there if you don’t see an email. Otherwise I will send it along myself!
Great book! Good
For technique, but mainly very good for inspiration. Beautiful lines!
Wonderful book! I am an upright bassist, and one aspect of this book that I’ve really enjoyed, is that, once I’ve gotten an exercise under my fingers and can play it fluently I get a very similar gratifying feeling as when I play through a cello suite. Very musical, and I highly recommend it!
I humbly request that you don’t share this to Scribd or any such sites if you can help it! The download is a good option for our European customers until I can find a better way to ship books to Europe. Enjoy!
And if you missed the first three analysis posts from the Bach Shapes sub-blog, which includes my breakdown of some of Paul Desmond’s improvisational methods and a full transcription, here they are:
Paul Desmond and Bach Part One
Paul Desmond and Bach Part Two
Paul Desmond and Bach Part Three
The solo I didn’t get around to covering is “Tangerine,” a really great one, transcribed by pianist Bill Mays in Doug Ramsey’s book. For now I would pick up his ebook here, or transcribe that solo yourself. Here it is:
Thanks and if you enjoy the book please do write us a review on Amazon!
Everette Macy Colquette –
LOVE this book. I actually use it for flute. I start every practice by turning on a drone of whatever note I’ll start with, then I run through the exercises. For fun, I practice different modes with the exercises 🙂 Great book for a beginner like me that has significantly improved my expression, my tone, and my speed.