Sax Accessories: Seiko, Protec, and Key Leaves

well a saxophone Academy it's almost June and quarantines are ending but all my gigs in concerts have been canceled so I've had time to clean up my case and organize my accessories several times it got me thinking what are the must-have accessories you should keep in your case at all times hi and welcome to the Saxon Academy I'm dr. Wally Wallace and if you're interested in saxophone master classes and product reviews please do subscribe we've got some cool topics coming up this summer now today we're talking about accessories that I think you should keep in your saxophone case and I've narrowed it down to my three favorite accessories that I keep in my case at all times now interestingly enough I use a BAM slimline case which is very narrow doesn't hold much so I can only hold three things and these are gonna be my three favorite accessories that I keep on me at all time now over the years I've been guilty about buying unnecessary saxophone gear I've gotten shelves and drawers lined with stuff that's just not necessary some of it is overpriced some of it doesn't work terribly well and some of it is just dumb like those little fuzzy pad savers shove it things that looks like a flayed Muppet but today I want to talk about three accessories that I love work well and are all under $25 now the criteria I'm using our number one function does it serve a purpose that is necessary and does this accessory do it well number two value is it affordable and well priced and all three that we're talking about today are $25 or less and three is aesthetics and design does it work well and eloquently and does it look cool because the saxophone is a cool-looking instrument I don't like to have ugly looking things in my case so I've come up with three things that I always keep in my case that I've used for years and years and years that I think you should give a try so let's talk about Wally's three must-have accessories number one the classic Seiko quartz metronome now I always tell my students if the metronome is not clicking you're not really practicing you're just playing which can be fun but if you're shooting for mastery metronome is an invaluable tool and I love this little guy now I have mentioned how small my cases and you may wonder why not use a smaller metronome well as for size per volume I think this is a perfect match they make smaller little credit card shaped ones that are smaller but they make a little beeping noise and I just haven't found it to be loud enough and being saxophonist our instrument is quite powerful it is very loud and we do require loud metronome especially if you're using your jazz mouthpiece or you're in a non-optimal practice environment this is a very satisfying loud woody talk to it I just really like it and in any environment no matter what mouthpiece I'm using I can hear it clearly while I'm practicing I mean not with a whole rhythm section obviously but it really does get the job done and yet it's small enough it fits inside my case and the design I love that it's simple it's got nothing more than you need it's got the bare-bones minimum which when I'm trying to focus on my practice session I really like that it's got an on-off switch you can also just turn on the light which I don't really ever use but more importantly it's so easy to change the tempo there's this little dial that just spins effortless and it's got a great tactile feel super easy to click up the tempo while you're practicing or go back down when you crash and burn it's a really satisfying easy to use thing and it's just a simple design that lets you focus on your plane now I have owned more complex metronomes in the past like this doctor beat 60 the DB 60 and I've SR owned the giant ones that are shaped like a toaster they have tons of functions and subdivisions and tuning notes and lots of other options that I just never used and I haven't found them to be necessary for myself or my students I don't want my metronome to subdivide for me I want my students to be subdividing for themselves in almost all cases so I just don't think this is necessary the other ones are great too the giant dr. beats they just don't fit in your case this little guy can fit in almost any saxophone case my case is tiny still fits it goes with me everywhere which I love another thing I love about this metronome is it is built like a tank it's not beautiful aesthetically it's fine it's not offensive but it is built like a tank it's plastic but it just seems to last forever I've had this metronome for well over a decade and I cannot tell you how many times I've dropped it off the stand I've knocked it off a piano every time it hits the ground splits open and the battery spills out it looks like it's dead and it's guts are hanging out it just keeps working you pop the battery back in place pop the back back on and I'm how many times I've dropped it it just keeps on working this is one of the more durable things I've owned in my life it's been great and I've had friends with Seiko metronomes as well had similar experiences like the wrist watches that Seiko makes they're just built to last it's a really good quality especially for the price point as for value you can get these for 25 bucks on Amazon right now now this is an older model and I don't see this one listed anywhere online but they have the same thing basically now with red accents it looks slightly different same metronome only the red accents I think they look kind of cool kind of makes it look like a Cylon from Battlestar Galactica should be roughly the same shape and size and should fit in most any case they're small they're loud they're durable they work great and really I don't think you should go anywhere without packing a little portable metronome you never know when you're gonna have five minutes backstage or I'm giving a master class or a clinic and I get there early and I can find a room to practice and again if it's not clicking you're not getting the most out of your practice you really need to have one of these at all time now I know what you're wondering why not just use a phone there's plenty of metronome apps for the phone well a couple of reasons number one I don't like the distraction this is not gonna get text messages this is not gonna get facebook messages updates notifications badges icons alarms well you should set an alarm if you have somewhere to be but this is not going to distract you while you're practicing I made a video about practicing with focus I'll put a link below I really don't want digital distractions when I'm practicing I want my saxophone my music and that's it I find it really hard to get my students when they're using the phone app to ignore incoming messages and notifications you can put it in airplane mode but really I just think this is a better option also if I'm traveling during the day and I'm giving a master class and traveling to go teach or maybe doing a concert I don't want to wear down my phone battery using the the metronome app and some of the apps do eat a good amount of battery life so I just think this is a better option and occasionally when I do use my phone for music I use it for tuning drones which we'll talk about in another video and then I do want to keep my tuning drums separate from my metronome for a variety of reasons I really don't think in google wrong with this guy just love this little Seiko quartz metronome number to the protec read case so you need a good solution for protecting and organizing your reads and I think this protec read case is really the best option that I found especially for the price it's a really great value now one of the reasons I love this is it does hold 10 breathes and that's important for me as an alto player when I buy a box of reads they come with 10 and this holds 10 so when I break in a box of reads I do all 10 at a time and I want to have something that will hold 10 reads at a time I've owned other little Vandoren cases which are fine and I like they hold 4 so even if I have two of these I'm only holding 8 reads and then you got two lonely reads sitting in the box at home and I put a link to my read conditioning video down below but if you're conditioning your reads well sometimes I will get 10 usable reads out of a box I'm not saying 10 reads ready for a recording session but I can often play 10 reads out of the box and at least practice on them so I need a read case that holds 10 reads as far as function it's really easy to use it's got a little push button right here and it opens that's not surprising I mean it should open and close but it is easy to open get to all of your reads which is nice they don't move around or jiggle or fall out like some of the just flatbed glass case ones they're easy to pull in easy to pull out with protecting the tip which is important and overall the design is nothing fancy it just works and I like it and it is durable I have had several pro Tek read cases over the years this is an ancient one if you can get a look at the dings and scuffs and scratches and marks on this one I've had this one for years and years and years and years it's not pretty anymore but it still works now I actually like this one slightly better because you can see the Roman numerals more clearly this one actually has Arabic numerals which are a little bit difficult to see but you can still note which number your reads are so you can make sure you're not using the same read to death and it aids in rotating your reads which I recommend rotating to read every hour never plan read for longer than an hour if you don't have to all your reads will last longer and also keep your ambusher conditioned now as for size its slim it's a little bit wide compared to some read cases like the Van Doren but I find this fits in my protec case and once again my case is small it fits just perfectly in the pocket it's snug but it does fit I think you're gonna find this fits in most sacs phone cases built like a tank cheap affordable sturdy now I know what you're wondering why not have one of the fancy read cases that have little humid packs inside or the van doren hydro case which is like a cigar humidor that keep your reeds at a constant temperature well as I've mentioned in a previous video I really prefer my reeds to dry out when I'm not playing them I've experimented with different methods of hydration using the daddario moisture packs I've used the Van Doren system I've used a rock salt and water and pantyhose thing that my professor taught me in million years ago in my experimentation I find my Reed's last longer and have more color and better response when I let them dry out between sessions yes they warp a little bit as they dry that's the nature of organic material when it dries but once you soak it it goes right back to normal I have not found that a problem and after decades of experimenting I prefer my reeds to dry out a lot of pro players I know do prefer the same though some really great players like to keep the reeds moist whatever whatever floats your boat this works really well let's my reeds dry out protects it it's about 16 bucks on Amazon I've owned lots of these some from my classical Reed's from some from my jazz reeds some for tenor I just think these are great little Reed cases highly recommend them and number three he leaves key props now for the third accessory I have to start with a confession I rarely rarely swab my instrument now before you judge me let me explain throughout the day I teach lessons I might do a masterclass I might well used to before the pandemic I will travel I will be doing demonstration videos I will be practicing and I usually have to run from one thing to the next or get stopped in between students I just don't have time to swab my instrument and by the time you get around to it at the end of the day well evaporation is taking care of the moisture and there's really no point but there is an issue I do get me a horn professionally cleaned and overhauled on the regular so it doesn't get any gross buildup or anything like that but the pads that stay closed on the saxophone your G sharp key E flat to a lesser extent but also the low C sharp the ones that stay close they get sticky and sticky keys are terrible which is why I really love our number third accessory here key leaves key props now what I love about these is the simplicity of the design they're shaped like leaves because you leave them and leaves you get it it's a good pun they're a very soft durable silicon and they will not hurt the finish of your horn they will not scratch your horn I've been using these for well over Oh almost two years now they just work great and so the way the work is this you pop them under your low E flat key and your low C sharp key just takes a second even with me going around a camera tripod here and what that does is pops these keys open to dry now here's what's critical when you open this low C sharp key your G sharp key is open via some kind of lever system so this stays open now so these three stickiest keys on the saxophone stay open to dry it has alleviated sticky keys for me which is a big deal and the climate where I live our summers and Springs are very humid our Falls are actually pretty humid even some winters are humid where I live and sticky keys are the bane of my existence a huge problem for my students key leaves have really fixed that I'm not paid by key leaves I'm an endorsing artist but I just love the product rule on brown the owner is just a very bright guy who's created a very good product now I have some naysayers who say well use a piece of cork or pulled up some paper sure if you want to fold up dirty paper and stick it in there hoping it's the right thickness go for it but these are very squishy so it just doesn't Bend the keys in any way now the band they come on basically it their function is to hold them together so you don't have to separate props it's just easy to have them together so you just to get out of your case the Green is not my favorite color aesthetically but it serves a purpose in the back of a concert hall in the darkness in the dark case they're easy to find and my students do think they're needs and they always want to talk about it which is great because they want to talk about something that can get rid of their sticky keys so I'm a huge fan of tea leaves key props I own a couple sets I use them all the time occasionally a couple months ago I got distracted when we were practicing at the beginning of the pandemic because I'm watching two kids had to walk away didn't put these in and I had a sticky g-sharp key for the first time since I could remember they really do work they're simple and they're about 25 bucks which is not expensive especially when you consider it's less than a box of reeds these should last indefinitely you can even stick them in the dishwasher they're very durable highly recommend key leaves key prompts so please let me know in the comments below what accessories do you love or you couldn't live without what do you keep in your case at all times and maybe more importantly what have you tried that doesn't work what do you think has been overpriced just badly designed or things that you bought and later really regret it let me know in the comments below we would certainly appreciate a thumbs up if you found any of this useful and please do stay tuned we've got some cool topics coming up next week but until then go practice [Music] [Music]

Channel: Saxophone Academy

Views: 5,666

Rating: 4.9874606 out of 5

Keywords: sax, saxophone, cheap, under, $50, alto, alto sax, alto saxophone, saxophone academy, $100, otto link, tone edge, amazon, amazon prime, alto mouthpiece, sax lessons, sax gear, how to play saxophone, beginner saxophone, protec, key leaves, tenor, tenor sax, wally wallace, seiko, saxophone lesson, saxophone lessons

Id: PQmadsT2g7U

Length: 15min 0sec (900 seconds)

Published: Wed May 27 2020