Saxophone Podcast Special Episode: I'm Slowly Putting 1500 Saxophone Etudes on YouTube (Volumes 1, 2 and 3)
Executive Summary
The 1,500 Saxophone Etudes on YouTube (work in progress):
By God's grace, I am currently focused on creating and uploading YouTube videos for my entire collection of 1,500 saxophone etudes across three volumes, even as I am in the process of writing Volume 3. Volumes 1 and 2 are currently available on Amazon, while Volume 3, which will feature entirely unique compositions, is projected for release around 2029 or 2030. To ensure these resources are immediately accessible to saxophone scholars worldwide, I am steadily capturing videos of the etudes playing in MuseScore using OBS Studio and uploading them to YouTube in high-fidelity audio. Additionally, to provide maximum flexibility for study and practice, the open-source MuseScore files for these books are available for free on GitHub, and I eventually plan to offer mp3 files at various tempos to my Patreon supporters.
My current workflow for sharing this music utilizes a "triad mode" strategy, where I actively upload a trio of etudes (one from each of the three volumes) simultaneously to YouTube. This methodical process will continue until all 1,500 etudes are fully accessible. I highly recommend that scholars approach mastering these etudes by first utilizing MuseScore to export the audio at a 50% tempo. By listening and sight-reading at this slower speed, musicians can properly internalize the rhythms, melodies, articulations, and dynamics before gradually progressing to 75% and 100% tempos.
Writing and independently publishing this series has been a tremendous, self-taught learning experience powered entirely by Free Software and modern AI tools. My production environment relies on Pop!_OS GNU/Linux, LibreOffice, GIMP, MuseScore, and OBS Studio for video capture, while distribution is handled through Kindle Direct Publishing. Furthermore, tools like Google's Gemini AI and NotebookLM have been invaluable for planning, executing Linux commands, formatting code, and even generating companion podcast episodes. We live in an amazing time for creators, and I highly encourage anyone considering writing a music-related book to embrace these accessible tools and start their journey.
Keywords: Saxophone Etudes, Music Publishing, MuseScore, YouTube, Open-Source Software, Music Education, Free Software, Google Gemini AI
By God's grace, I published Saxophone Mastery: 500 Dynamic Daily Etudes Volume 1 on Amazon.com on November 14, 2023 (please see Reference [A.] below). On March 3, 2025, I successfully published Volume 2 on Amazon [Ref. B]. I'm currently writing Volume 3 [Ref. C]. Volumes 1 and 2 contained etudes that were based on other etudes in the books; every etude in Volume 3 will be completely unique, so Volume 3 will take me much longer to write. I'm planning on it taking me between 2 and 4 years, meaning that it might not be released until 2029 or 2030.
However, I won't wait until Volume 3 is complete before I start putting the etudes on YouTube. I want saxophone scholars to have access to the etudes in many ways:
- The source files to all 3 books, including the MuseScore score files (.mscz files) will all be available for free on GitHub.com (Ref. D) (Volumes 1 and 2 are already there; the Volume 3 files will go up when I finish the book).
- All scores will also be downloadable on MuseScore.com, but downloading scores from MuseScore.com requires a paid subscription.
- I want to have every etude available to every saxophone scholar on YouTube because the videos are in high-fidelity audio and YouTube allows you to slow down the etude as much as you like.
- My long-term goal is to one day make mp3 files of all 1,500 etudes available to my Patreon Patrons in 3 tempos: 50%, 75%, and 100%.
My personal preference:
Let's assume I want to master Etude 1.
- First, I would download the MuseScore file from GitHub.com or MuseScore.com.
- I open the score in MuseScore and print it. Alternatively, you can buy the physical book on Amazon.com.
- I like Ogg Vorbis audio, but most people would probably prefer mp3 audio. I export the audio of the score in 3 tempos: 50%, 75% and 100%.
- I start at 50% tempo: I first listen to the etude several times to internalize the rhythms, melodies, harmonies, articulations, and dynamics.
- I then attempt to sight-read the etude at 50% tempo while listening to it. I try to mimic what I'm hearing as much as possible.
- Once I've mastered the etude at 50%, I repeat the process at 75% and 100%.
I'm writing this on Friday, March 20, 2026. My goal is to upload the etudes in trios as many days a week as possible. For example, a trio would be Etude 1 (Volume 1), Etude 501 (Volume 2), and Etude 1001 (Volume 3). So my goal is that when I finish writing Etude 1001, I'll upload Etudes 1 and 501 the same day I upload 1001 to YouTube. I'm close to executing this. As of today, I've uploaded the following etudes to YouTube: Etudes 1-30, 501-517, and 1001-1029. So over the next few days, I'll be working on uploading Etudes 517-530, and finishing and uploading Etude 1030. Then I'll shift to the triad mode: write 1031, then upload 31, 531, and 1031. Then I'll repeat the process until all 1,500 etudes are completed and uploaded.
If you're on the fence about writing a music-related book, I can say that it's a tremendous learning experience. I'm pretty much self-taught: I learned how to use all of the following Free Software tools:
- Pop!_OS GNU/Linux as my computer's operating system (Ref. E)
- MuseScore to write the etudes and to export them to pdf (Ref. F)
- LibreOffice Writer to write the text parts of the book (Ref. G)
- GIMP to create and edit all of the photos (Ref. H)
- pdfunite (which is part of poppler-utils) and PDF Arranger to combine individual pdf files into bigger units (Ref. I)
- OBS Studio to capture the video of each etude as it plays in MuseScore (Ref. J)
Then, I learned how to use Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) to actually publish the book. I love Google's Gemini AI: it was an invaluable tool that helped me to plan everything and it is also an expert on GNU/Linux commands, so it taught me how to do a lot of the processes that I developed to write the book. It also helped me to format the Github pages for Volumes 1 and 2, and I'll also use it for Volume 3. We live in an absolutely amazing time when there are so many tools to help us to learn and be productive. A final tool that I use a lot is Google's NotebookLM: I use it to create podcast episodes hosted by two AI-generated podcasts hosts to bring the text that I write (like this article) to life. Thank you so much for reading and listening: I hope that you'll enjoy what I've released, and what I'll be releasing in the future.
References:
[A.] 500 Saxophone Etudes (Vol. 1) on GitHub.com, MuseScore.com, and Amazon.com:
---[a1.] GitHub.com: https://github.com/RexDjere/500_Daily_Saxophone_Etudes
---[a2.] MuseScore.com: https://musescore.com/user/18100066/sets/6460858
---[a3.] Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Saxophone-Mastery-Dynamic-Etudes-Saxtalk-com/dp/B0CN9P393K/
[B.] 500 Saxophone Etudes (Vol. 2) on GitHub.com, MuseScore.com, and Amazon.com:
---[b1.] GitHub.com: https://github.com/RexDjere/500_Daily_Saxophone_Etudes_volume_002
---[b2.] MuseScore.com: https://musescore.com/user/18100066/sets/6490291
---[b3.] Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Saxophone-Mastery-Advanced-Rhythmic-Saxtalk-com/dp/B0DZ6G3J2J
[C.] 500 Saxophone Etudes (Vol. 3) on GitHub.com, MuseScore.com, and Amazon.com:
---[c1.] GitHub.com: Coming probably in 2029 or 2030
---[c2.] MuseScore.com: (work in progress): https://musescore.com/user/18100066/sets/13850141
---[c3.] Amazon.com: Coming probably in 2029 or 2030
[D.] My overall GitHub.com homepage (all of my open-source projects will end up having a home here eventually): https://github.com/RexDjere
[E.] Pop!_OS GNU/Linux homepage: https://system76.com/pop/
[F.] Homepage to download the MuseScore open-source score writing software: https://musescore.org/en/download
[G.] Homepage for the LibreOffice open-source office suite: https://www.libreoffice.org/
[H.] Homepage for GIMP: the GNU Image Manipulation Program: https://www.gimp.org/
[I.] Information about pdfunite and PDF Arranger:
---[i1.] pdfunite Ubuntu manpage (manual page): https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/trusty/man1/pdfunite.1.html
---[i2.] PDF Arranger GitHub page: https://github.com/pdfarranger/pdfarranger
[J.] The OBS Studio homepage: https://obsproject.com/
If you need help learning about any of the references above, Google Gemini AI is your friend: it's well versed on all of them.
ASCII-Tree Summary of the Entire Article:
1500 Saxophone Etudes Project
|-- The Volumes
| |-- Volume 1 (Published Nov 14, 2023)
| |-- Volume 2 (Published Mar 3, 2025)
| `-- Volume 3 (In progress, completely unique, ETA 2029-2030)
|
|-- Distribution Platforms
| |-- Amazon.com (Physical books)
| |-- GitHub.com (Free open-source MuseScore files)
| |-- MuseScore.com (Downloadable scores via subscription)
| |-- YouTube (High-fidelity audio, adjustable speed)
| `-- Patreon (Future goal: mp3 files in 3 tempos)
|
|-- Recommended Practice Method
| |-- 1. Acquire score (GitHub, MuseScore, or Amazon)
| |-- 2. Export/acquire audio at 50%, 75%, and 100% tempos
| |-- 3. Listen at 50% tempo to internalize musical elements
| |-- 4. Sight-read at 50% tempo while listening
| `-- 5. Master at 50%, then repeat at 75% and 100%
|
|-- Upload Strategy ("Triad Mode")
| |-- Uploading in trios (e.g., Etude 1, 501, 1001)
| |-- Current status: Uploaded 1-30, 501-517, 1001-1029
| |-- Near-term goal: Upload 517-530 and 1030
| `-- Ongoing cycle: Write new Vol 3 etude, then upload trio
|
`-- Creation and Publishing Tools
|-- Operating System: Pop!_OS GNU/Linux
|-- Score Creation: MuseScore
|-- Text Editing: LibreOffice Writer
|-- Image Editing: GIMP
|-- PDF Management: pdfunite and PDF Arranger
|-- Video Capture: OBS Studio
|-- Book Publishing: Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
`-- AI Assistants
|-- Google Gemini AI (Planning, Linux commands, formatting)
`-- Google NotebookLM (Generating companion podcasts)