saxophone tutorial

in #kingsely6 years ago

1
A Guide for
Playing The
Saxophone
Originally compiled by Anthony C. Salicandro
Revised by Skip Spratt
Provided by SaxShed.com Lessons by Mail
2
I.
Approaching the Saxophone

  1. The saxophone should hang on the neck strap to
    your right side, not in the middle.
  2. Support the instrument with your right thumb,
    keeping it away from your body slightly. While
    sitting the saxophone should rest against the right
    leg, about half way between the knee and hip.
  3. Keep your body position straight, head erect and
    always bring the mouthpiece to your lips With the
    neck strap is adjusted correctly, the mouthpiece
    should line up directly to the lips while sitting up
    straight.
  4. Place the fingers “on the pearls” (white mother of
    pearl inlay on keys) at all times. Left hand on top,
    right hand on the bottom. The left thumb goes on
    the thumb rest under the octave key. The right
    thumb hooks under the Thumb hook.
  5. Place the mouthpiece in the mouth and Anchor the
    weight of your head and teeth down onto the
    mouthpiece. The top teeth and bottom lip should be
    approximately 3/8 inch in from the tip of the reed.
    The top teeth and bottom lip should meet at arrows:
    Things to remember:
    A. Never remove the teeth or top lip from the
    mouthpiece.
    B. Drop the jaw to take a breath.
    C. The natural resting position for the tongue is on
    the reed (ready to be released).
    D. The natural position of the hand forms a “c”.
    E. Place tips of fingers in the center of the pearls.
    3
    F. Keep the tips of the fingers (fleshy part) on the
    pearls when playing. Squeeze keys down, don’t
    hammer.
    G. Keep the fingers arched slightly, as in playing the
    piano.
    H. Relax hands. Try this: Drop your hands by your side
    and try to completely relax them. Raise them in
    front of you without tensing up. This is the natural
    curve of your hands and the saxophone was
    designed to work with the natural curve of your
    hands.
    II.
    Embouchure
  6. Form an “O” or “Ou” position, evenly around the
    mouthpiece.
  7. Turn corners into the mouthpiece while pulling
    down slightly.
  8. Drop jaw from the hinges (near ears). The jaw must
    be relaxed.
  9. The jaw and lower teeth pull away from the reed,
    while the lower lip lifts up onto the reed in the
    opposite direction. (like exaggerating the letter F)
    This dynamic of the jaw, lower lip and teeth working
    the reed with just the correct amount of opposite
    tension, is one of the most important elements in
    playing the saxophone. Perhaps the saxophone
    embouchure can better be described as an “Ouf”
    position. Remember – just form the letter “F” with your
    4
    lips. Doing this will get you well on the way to forming
    the correct embouchure.
  10. When the position described in step 4 is correct, it
    should create an opening in your mouth when
    playing, as if there were a ping-pong ball in your
    mouth. You can try to fake a yawn to create a similar
    sensation.
  11. Bottom lip must be rolled in enough to create a
    good cushion to work the reed, but too much will
    damage the tone and your lip. Don’t swallow your
    lip. The correct position is much like the natural
    formation you get when saying “F”.
    III.
    Embouchure exercises
  12. Put the index finger on your bottom lip. Press lip
    over bottom teeth and pull down. This will hurt
    unless you resist by lifting your bottom lip up and
    away from the teeth, using the facial muscles in
    conjunction with muscles in the bottom lip. (F)
  13. Play long tones with upper lip off the mouthpiece.
    This is only an exercise. As stated before, the top lip
    should never come off the top of the mouthpiece
    under normal playing conditions.
  14. Bring the corners of the mouth down as far as you
    can, independent of all other facial, lip and chin
    muscles. This is similar to a frown without pouting.
    Things to Remember:
    A. Keep a stationary embouchure. Initially the best
    approach is to use one embouchure setting for
    the entire range of the instrument. Low B flat
    all the way up to high F should be played using
    the same embouchure setting. “SET IT AND
    FORGET IT!"
    5
    B.Integrate all of this with long tones,
    embouchure studies and scales throughout the
    full range of the saxophone.
    IV.
    THROAT
  15. The throat should be open in “Hee” position.
  16. Regardless of what syllable you are thinking while
    playing, the throat should be open and relaxed.
    V.
    BREATHING
  17. Breath from the diaphragm. Stomach muscles press
    against the resistance of the diaphragm.
  18. Correct breathing involves the stomach muscles
    and diaphragm working together to push the air out
    of the lungs.
    Try this:
    A. Lie flat on your back and place a large, heavy
    book on your stomach. Breath in through your
    mouth slowly. The book should rise as you
    inhale. Exhale through the mouth. The book
    should lower as the diaphragm pushes the air
    out of the lungs. You can also check
    diaphragmatic breathing while sitting in a chair.
    Hold the legs of the chair while sitting up
    straight. Inhale and make sure your shoulders
    do not rise. The stomach should expand (get fat)
    as you inhale. When you exhale the stomach
    should go in. (get skinny)
    VI.
    TONGUING
  19. “ee” position. The tip of the tongue is placed on the
    tip of the reed. (Approximately 1/16-1/8 inch from the
    top of the reed). This is the natural resting position
    of the tongue when the mouthpiece is in your mouth.
    Form an embouchure - apply air pressure and then
    release and return the tongue. The tone should
    sound full if the support is sufficient and the
    release is accurate. All the while air pressure must
    6
    continue from the abdominal muscles, even when
    there isn’t any sound, due to the placement of the
    tongue on the reed.
  20. The air does most of the work in tonguing. We only
    use the very front part of the tongue - sing “ee”.
    That keeps the rest of our tongue stationary - then
    “tee-tee-tee-tee”.
    A. An excellent exercise is to pretend to spit a
    piece of rice off the tip of your tongue. It’s
    almost like “t” and “P” in one motion.
    B.Another similar exercise is to form a small
    aperture (flute embouchure). Blow air through
    the small hole formed in the lips. The very tip of
    the tongue should release and return to the
    small aperture creating the sound “T – pop.”
    When you return the tongue to the hole
    correctly it creates a rather percussive “pop”
    sound. It is imperative to keep the air speed
    intense all the while.
    The best approach to tonguing is the achievement of
    good legato tonguing, which will lead to a good
    staccato tongue.
    Here we use the stomach muscles to kick the air “ha ha”
    with the tongue “teh teh” so it is “teh” not “tut”. The
    musical effect we want here is light and tapered
    staccato. The air must start fast and abruptly, but stop
    slowly or tapered like a pizzicato or pluck of a string.
    7
    Exercises in Legato Tonguing
    Light touch tongue all air. It should sound almost like
    you are sustaining a note.
    Legato Tonguing
    “dit” or “tet”
    Exercises in Staccato Tonguing
    5 Half Tones
    *When playing chromatic passages use the trill F# key as
    well as the side C. If the chromatic scale is within the
    context of a slow melodic line, use regular F# and C.
    8
    VII.
    VIBRATO
    Once a student has achieved a good, healthy sound, even
    if he/she’s only been studying six months or a year,
    vibrato should be introduced.
    Using the syllable “Vah-Vah-Vah-Vah” or “Wah-Wah-WahWah”
    will create the pulsations necessary to produce a
    controlled and even manipulation of the pitch.
    “V” or “W” is the jaw movement; “ah” is the air stream. The
    “ah” or air portion of the vibrato is very important. First
    say “Vah-Vah-Vah-Vah” with the air, not the voice.
    It is a combination of jaw and air - putting the air
    through the horn like this: (cycling) instead
    of this:. (Pulsating) It should be as though you
    were making circles or oscillations, not just an up and
    down movement of the jaw.
    Play the exercise below at the following oscillations
    and tempos:
    3 pulses at 108 m.m.
    4 pulses at 72-80 m.m.
    5 pulses at 56-63 m.m.
    6 pulses at 48-60 m.m.
    Vibrato exercises should be played in all keys, as well
    as the key of G Major is represented above.
    9
    Additional Tonguing Exercises
    Play the exercises below in all keys. Start on the tonic
    or root and descend one octave. Repeat the same
    exercise ascending one octave as detailed below.s