Dan Forshaw Masterclass

On Friday 10th may 2013 we had the pleasure of attending a saxophone master class hosted by, the founder of www.cambridgesaxophone.com Dan Forshaw. (This is part of the College’s Scholarship Programme which aims to provide extended activities for talented students).

He began by playing a Jazz standard ‘Tenor Madness’, after that he told of the main events in his career to date. He also taught us the principles of ‘playing by ear’ and why it is so beneficial.

There was a brief period of Q+A, where the people involved had the chance to speak with a professional musician. He later went on to say what accessories we should use to improve our performance of music. Since he is endorsed by the famous music firm “Rico Reeds”, e spoke about the Reeds he finds the best to use and gave advice on the best ones to use to produce the best sound on your saxophone. Then we were invited to join him in performing a piece called Anthropology, we also did a number of improvisations with him.

All to soon the masters class was finished and he finished by playing a Michael Jackson hit.

We thoroughly enjoyed this once in a lifetime master class gaining a great deal knowledge from a world class jazz musician.

Rhys Year 8

Kieran Year 9