Hi Neal,
This is my first time responding to one of your e-mails so its a little
odd for me. Thanks for the past e-mails, they were great and insightful. I
don’t know if you’ve ever seen this video on youtube, its a clip of
Richard Elliot’s rendition of “your secret love”. If you have not seen it,
I personally think that you’re missing out on probably one of the best
legendary performances of our time. Every time I become discouraged about
my saxophone playing or I feel like I’m not making any progress, I simply
play this video and I suddenly realize why I love playing the sax. Here’s
the link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ-T-knjcSE. Please tell me what
you think, how can I become as good as him and even better? Where does one
find this kind of passion?

Hey Dolu,
You’re welcome, glad I can help you.  I watched that video a couple of times- sounds pretty good- seems to have have quite a heated discussion too, haha.  Have you seen him live?
You’re probably on the right track.  Listening is really important.  And just putting in the time.  How long have you been playing?  Getting a teacher is important too, since they will hear things you don’t.

-Neal

Hey Neal,

It would be a dream come true to see Richard Elliot live, I’m still
working on that. I’m currently an undergraduate so you can probably
imagine I have all the time in the world, lol. I play at my church on
Fridays and Sundays so I use that as an opportunity to pick up the sax and
play around a little. I used to play in the school band back in high
school (Pep band, concert and jazz band), that’s actually how I started
playing. It has been a little under 5 years now but I’ve made considerable
progress despite the lack of formal teaching. About a year ago I bought my
first Tenor sax horn, (Julius Keilwerth EX 90 Series III)this was my
graduation present. I also use a Vandoren Jumbo JAVA Tenor Sax Mouthpiece
(T75) and Rico royal reed (3.5). This summer I really want to dedicate
time to improving on the sax. I have taken several steps in this direction
by printing several solo sheet music that I found online. I also purchased
the “Art of saxophone playing” by Larry Teal and I plan on ripping it
apart this summer. Please, let me know what you think and you’re welcome
to make any suggestions or express any concerns. I really appreciate you
taking the time to respond to my e-mail. Thanks Neal.

Dolu