What school are you from??? Options

[Dewey]

Sigurd Rascher or Marcel Mule? I have actually gone pretty deeply into both. When I was in high school my teacher was from the Mule school of sax, then when I got to college my teacher made me get into the Rascher ways, which I admit I loved at the time. Then I transfered colleges and actually back to my teacher from hs and back to the Marcel Mule school.

I can really appreciate both but have to say that I like Mule now and probably always will.

[Guidovivaldi]

Not really understanding what the heck your saying... I suppose I would like very much an explination of what the heck these 2 school are... sorry for my ignorance. I would look it up on the internet, but I've found oh to many a fony websites that I trust you and the other folks here more than the internet.

[Dewey]

Different tones, different articulations, different equipment, different phrasing, interpretation of the repertoire etc...

Legit saxophonists basically fall into one of the two schools.

Marcel Mule

or

Sigurd Rascher

[Guidovivaldi]

lol, you selected the same articles I read after I made that post. I guess I still don't get how you would classify the differnt folks though. I got out of one article that Mule emphasized the use of altisimo, but how was his tone diffrent from Rascher? Articulation? I guess I really just need a basic explenation of this, cause after reading through those 2 articles twice now, I still don't really understand how their interesting lives (very intersting indeed) apply to the modern day saxophonist. Sorry again for not really fitting the idea of your wonderful topic, and bringing it down to a begginers level...

[Dewey]

Actually Rascher tended to use more altisimo than Mule. Top Tones for the Saxophone by Sigurd Rascher is one of the most famous altisimo method books around. Not to say that Mule couldn't do it, of course he could but Rascher was an absolute monster with his upper registers.

[JPSaxMan]

Although I have yet to listen to either player or to dive into the classical realm in depth with a saxophone teacher, I believe I would be more from the Mule school (French school, right Dew?). The German school was Rascher, last I checked (Buescher's, small chambered small tip mouthpieces in most of their orchestras).

[Dewey]

First let me say that i'm no expert but this is a topic that young guys like you at least to begin familiarizing yourself with because it's the history of your horn. When you have a "classical" teacher you will find that you, indeed are studying from one of the two schools of saxophone.

Articulation. Mule was generally a little more delicate in this area. Rascher seemed to be a little more animated I guess.

Tone. You really need to be listening to these guys as they are the Godfathers of sax. The tone is hard to describe but there are definate differences. Rascher had (has) his own mouthpieces. I have one but I haven't played on it in years. It seemed very open and almost buzzy. These aren't good descriptives for it but you'll hear when you listen to them. When I first got the mp it took me a while to get used to it and there were things that I had been used to doing that I suddenly had to relearn.

These guys made the pieces that we perform today what they are. They were playing them around the world when people really didn't know them and they were playing them their own (very different) styles.

PLEASE research this topic more than what i'm telling you because it will not be the last you hear of it. These guys are to saxophonists, what Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantel etc.. are to baseball players.

[Dewey]

Yeah jp, sometimes Mule will be referred to as the french school of sax. The Rascher mp's are very small. Lots shorter than most other classical mouthpieces. Listen to these guys asap and as often as you can.

[Dewey]

Oh, and JP these guys are virtuosos.

[Guidovivaldi]

i'll see if i can pick up some stuff at the library. i spent the last of my money on a my chemical romance cd, some vandoran zz's and regulars, and a new lig... once again the saxophone has lead me to a broke existance... if only i was 16 and could have a job!

[Whozurdoggy]

I personally am of the Rascher school of music, just as an fyi. It's not as much that I like Rascher's technique better, I've just been familiarized with the Rascher technique since the beginning, and it works for me.

[Master.America]

So all saxophonists fall into two schools of music, huh?

I still don't understand... what are the fundamental differences between the two schools?

[JPSaxMan]

[Guidovivaldi]

I think folks like you (Master...) and me will just need to go out and listen to it... It's probobly not the easiest thing to describe for our buds Dewey and that that know what their talking about...

[Dewey]

I personally am of the Rascher school of music, just as an fyi. It's not as much that I like Rascher's technique better, I've just been familiarized with the Rascher technique since the beginning, and it works for me.

I kind of just explained that. One could write a 100 page essay describing it to you but i'm not going to do that. You have the internet at your fingertips, look these guys up, ask your teacher about them.


**Sorry about that, I meant to reply to the other guy who asked what the differences were.

[Dewey]

So master, what have you found out?

[Guidovivaldi]

you think he would do his own work? as far as I go, i god alota great recordings from my band teacher, who went extatic when i told her i wanted to learn about these folks. she went home and got me a huge bag of cd's and that, and has all these post-it notes saying all this stuff and her favorite tracks and stuff... i'm guna save them all to my computer and listen to them soon.

[Master.America]

Not much... there doesn't seem to be anything on this subject on the internet. Come Monday, I'm going to ask some of the teachers at my college about the two schools. I've wanted a copy of Rascher's Top Tones for a while, but I never really knew who he was. And as for Mule... never heard of that guy, but it sounds like getting to know him would be worth my time.

[JPSaxMan]

And as for Mule... never heard of that guy, but it sounds like getting to know him would be worth my time.

Considering many great teachers and students (including myself) follow his classical rudiments, it probably wouldn't be half a bad idea

[Dewey]

You've never heard of Marcel Mule??? Damn, you need to get on the ball!

As for the internet, I typed in Marcel Mule on a search engine and in .16 seconds it brought up 503,000 websites.