Saratoga saxophones participate in study

The saxophone players in the school’s concert bands participated in a recent research study through Northwestern University that aimed at gain understanding of the effects of practices on saxophone players.

Music director Seth Jones helped coordinate the study with a friend of his at Northwestern, who chose the Saratoga saxophones as subjects for her doctoral research in saxophone pedagogy.

“We were asked to participate with our saxophone students to see how some of the techniques they’re using in their research actually works with real students out in the world,” Jones said.

Most of the participating saxophone players are meeting during tutorial, over a span of seven tutorial periods and six weeks.

“Basically he goes over basic fingerings and other technical things,” junior Vikas Nookala said. “I think they’re just using the study to develop a method for private lesson teachers.”

The students are then recorded and listened to individually. Their progress is then monitored by levels of improvement over time. Musicians from Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band and the Symphonic Bands have all participated.

Though Nookala found the study interesting, he believed that the study did not provide much improvement for him.

“I don’t think it helps at this level,” Nookala said.