Cultivating a Living Education

The daily production of overtones is not typically thought of as an elementary exercise for young saxophonists; in fact, the subject of overtones does not appear in most widely used method books designed for children. There are however a handful of books that have been written to help facilitate the student with playing in the altissimo range, and these books do in fact discuss overtones. However, these methods are aimed at the advanced player, not the young child, this is clear in the language that is used. Many collegiate saxophonists will be familiar with a few of these texts; Top Tones (S. Raschèr), Saxophone High Tones (E. Rousseau), and Voicing (D. Sinta). It is true that 80 years ago the altissimo register was thought of by most saxophonists to be an extended technique, but today the idea of playing high on saxophone is generally accepted if not unavoidable. Why is it that 80 years after the composition of some of the saxophone's most notable masterworks such as the concerti by Glazunov and Ibert, works that require 3 and a half to 4 octaves, does one still encounter students of various ages and ability opting to take certain passages down the octave? The student is not to blame here, the underlying issue is one of pedagogy. While saxophonists have come to terms with the altissimo range and its practicality, educators have still not reevaluated the way in which the student is prepared for this particular challenge. Perhaps when this situation is viewed under the gaze of Anthroposophy, educators might glean insight into the importance of early overtone study. This treatise will examine some of the core principles that form the pedagogical philosophy of Waldorf Education as prescribed by the Austrian-born scientific, literary and philosophical scholar Rudolf Steiner as well as their application to modern day saxophone pedagogy.