Hit It, Then Learn How to Aim -- The Misconception in Early Tone Development of New Saxophonists

After the first few lessons with a new student, inevitably they come in frustrated saying that their band director told them that they (and the entire sax section) are playing too loud.  I tell them to calm down and do what their band director tells them.  Then we talk about the “Why” and “How” of dynamics. And, in my opinion, band directors often seem to get it wrong when it comes to tone and dynamics with their saxophone section more than any other.  I admit that I have, and I like, a louder sound.  This doesn’t mean I can’t or don’t want to play soft, but I prefer to have, and believe musicians need, a sound that projects.  I recently attended a master class with Jeff Coffin here in Atlanta and heard him talk about this very thing. (Disclaimer: I’m certainly not comparing myself to Jeff Coffin). Think about any time you’ve been to watch young kids play instruments in a group.  Cousins’, brother’s, sister’s, niece’s, nephew’s concerts in their school gym.  It wasn’t very loud was it?  When you have new musicians on Flutes, Clarinets, Trumpets, Trombones, Bassoons, basically any instrument that’s not Saxophone, these instruments are not naturally loud for a beginning musician.  While air production is consistent from instrument to instrument, it takes a lot of training of embouchure muscles to get a sound that projects on many of these instruments.  The exact opposite is true of Saxophone.

Saxophone doesn’t require a muscular embouchure, at least if you follow the teachings of Joe Allard or possibly even Larry Teal.  After embouchure, the only thing left is air production.  This is where band directors fall into a trap without knowing it:  Saxophonists have to first learn how to control their air and support their sound.  This usually means putting LOTS of air into the horn.  I equate it with the first time I hit a correct backhand in tennis.  The instructor showed us how you have to hit through the swing.  The first time anyone hits the tennis ball with the correct form, the ball goes over the fence and into the parking lot.  We then were told to keep the form but to try and aim more accurately.  THAT’S WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN WITH SAXOPHONE!!  So many directors are interested in immediate balance and huge volume changes that young saxophonists do not have the capability to do well.  Instead, everyone in the section bites down and backs off on air. This results in pitch and tone quality issues which is why their saxes sound so ‘bright’ or ‘tinny’, why they can’t articulate with speed and accuracy, and why they can’t play in the upper register or lower register, let alone play these registers in tune.  Worst of all, the students learning the instrument are developing terrible habits and having a lousy time since they can’t play what’s on the page.  It’s like giving a pointillist painter a roller to use and then telling them just to paint lighter.  If you don’t have the proper base, in this case air control, you can’t start practicing subtlety.

My Advice: To get a great sounding sax section, students should start by doing overtones (the saxophone version of the brass section’s ‘lip trills’, although a very a different exercise).  Then introduce dynamic long tones.  And, directors and teachers, don’t worry about getting the right balance the first couple of months.  Let the students build the warm, lush sound that the saxophone has, then teach them ‘how to aim’.

Clarinet Tone Exercises

I get questioned all the time by my students about how to get a better sound.  It's a great question and an important one at that.  However, the worst thing that can happen is if someone has never even asked themselves "how do I work on tone?"  If someone new to an instrument is using their ear when they play, really listening to themselves, they usually have a pretty good sound.  This allows them to do all sorts of new music, new concepts, extended range and techniques, even if their embouchure and air stream aren't perfect.  The flip side is when someone is fighting a 'bad' sound.  They'll find that it holds them back from doing so much more on their instrument. Tone work should usually start off your practice session.  It allows you to warm up, use air correctly before working on technical or musical aspects, and get mentally prepared for your practice session.  Here's a list of Clarinet tone exercises that I've picked up over the years and a Saxophone version will follow shortly (but, feel free to reference "Ramon Ricker Overtone Exercises" in the meantime).

PDF of Clarinet Tone Exercises

Saxophone Tone Resources

Throughout my educational experience there's always been this looming question: How do I improve my tone?  Now, this can mean a myriad of things for many different people.  For the beginner, it can mean "How can I project more?", "How do I get better intonation?", "How can I stop squeaking?", etc.  For the seasoned veteran, many times it's "How do I imitate the tone of one player or another?" and the even more daring task of getting your own sound.  I've come into contact with a great number of books and videos, and while many of these you've probably heard of, I thought I'd share those with you here and see if you guys had any gems to add:

• Dave Liebman's, "Developing a Personal Saxophone Sound" - Video & Book
• Sigurd M. Rascher, Top Tones
• Dave Liebman Master Class DVD (Roberto's Woodwinds)

I wanted to include, or at least make you aware of the video/book set titled Joe Allard: The Master Speaks.  I believe it has been retitled Master Teacher: DVD's for Music Education presents NBC Artist Joe Allard, Clarinet & Sax Principles - Techniques That Work.  (Jeez!!)  Beware in purchasing this however.  While Joe Allard was (and vicariously still is) the absolute source for production of tone on saxophone, this set was made when Joe was in his last bouts with Alzheimer's.  Joe's concepts are incredible, but some don't really come across in the video.  I suggest pairing it with the other books mentioned here.  (Also, sax gossip: I'm told that the 'former student' that filmed the video took with Joe for a short period of time, quit because of personal difficulties with Joe, had some fairly 'not nice' things to say about him for a while after that, and then went back when Joe was fairly ill - some might say taking advantage - to film this video.)

The following is some stuff I found from www.DinoGovoni.com, got from my teachers, and some resources I've used in the past and present.

Great Books on Altissimo:

• Robert Luckey, Saxophone Altissimo: High Note Development for the Contemporary Player
• Rosemary Lang, Beginning Studies in the Altissimo Register (available here)
  • The blog Bassic Sax talks about it here
• Eugene Rousseau, Saxophone High Tones
• Jean-Marie Londeix, Tablature des doigtes compares harmoniques
• Jean-Marie Londeix, Intonation Exercises
• Ted Nash, Ted Nash's Studies in High Harmonics
• Donald Sinta & Denise Dabney, Voicing: An Approach to the Saxophone's Third Register
• Daniel Higgins & Rheuben Allen Advanced Concepts for the Altissimo
• the previous book Top Tones also deals somewhat with altissimo

It's been my experience that these books are really great for a direction in the fingerings.  I've worked with the Rosemary Lang book myself, which is fortunately BACK IN PRINT.

While I'm sure each of these books has it's own individual approach to the matter, be aware that every horn and person's body type/embouchure/set up is different and so the fingerings they present are not set in stone and change between different saxophones (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bari, etc.).  I have a range up to what I call "altissimo double D" which would be in the saxophone's 5th octave basically by taking their suggestions and then making up the last few fingerings.  You can, like most things, do a fairly quick Google search and find any number of altissimo fingerings.  The best thing I did for my altissimo range was to not just do scales and patterns in the altissimo range ONLY.  I took melodies, or bits of melodies (Star Eyes, Softly, Stella, etc.), children's songs (Frere Jacques, Mary Had a Little Lamb, etc.) and started them low enough so that only the top note was in the altissimo range and then kept working it up chromatically from key to key.  One of the other things I did was take my Ferling 48 Etudes and read down most of the etudes in the altissimo register trying to maintain as much of the written material as I could (dynamics, articulations, tempo, etc.).

The most important thing that each of these books deal with extensively are the subject of over tones.  A more in depth post on that later, but just wanted to throw that out there.

Books on other extended techniques:

Circular Breathing:

• Trent Kynaston, Circular Breathing for the Wind Performer

Multiphonics:

• Daniel Kientzy, Les Sons Multiples aux Saxophones
• Ken Dorn, Saxophone Technique - Volume I, Multiphonics
• John Gross, Multiphonics for the Saxophone

There are tons of online resources on this subject.  Many people have entire sites dedicated to this subject, so if you simply google "multiphonics saxophone" you'll get a good starting point with fingerings.  Much like altissimo, these fingerings are very subjective.  Even though you're getting a concrete fingering, it may not work or not work as well on your horn.  When I first went looking for multiphonic info, I actually found some great fingerings out of a book of Michael Brecker transcriptions by Hal Leonard titled "The Michael Brecker Collection".

Other than that, I've used my teachers as resources, YouTube videos of known artists are always helpful, and chatting with fellow musicians.  I know we're all always looking for a way to get one step closer to 'our' tone  so I hope these resources help.  Since these are not the only things out there, if anyone else out there has other resources they'd like to add leave your suggestions in the comment box below.

Lesson with Jerry Bergonzi

Hi guys! I found a great series of videos that Rico Reeds has put out on YouTube of Jerry Bergonzi.  He's got some great advice and some really cool techniques to improve your saxophone tone, articulation, & embouchure.  This is a set of 14 videos courtesy of Rico Reeds.  They have even more videos on their YouTube channel, some of which you'll see pop up here. #1. Jerry Bergonzi's intro

#2. Jerry Bergonzi explains how to develop a concept of sound

#3. Jerry's comments on Vibrato. I also have a cool post with an exercise that Branford Marsalis uses.

#4. Neck & mouthpiece test for a full sound. Tenor = Concert E, Alto = Concert Ab

#5. Breathing. Personally, I think this video should go first.  No matter what instrument you play, breathing is THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT.  I agree with his insights about the "yogic breath" (Liebman talks about this in his DVD "The Complete Guide to Saxophone Sound Production").  BUT, in my personal opinion, beware of what muscles you're using to move air from your lungs and through the horn.  Some people tend to push too hard with their abdomen and create tension in their throat and hands.  You're body naturally moves air in and out of your lungs, so just allow it do what it does: BREATHE.  Check out this cool book titled The Science of Breath by Yogi Ramacharaka.  This was recommended to Bobby Shew by Jon Faddis and it's what Shew recommends to any trumpet players trying to improve their range.

#6. Jerry talks about relaxing your throat for a good saxophone tone. He says a little bit about what I wrote for video #5.

#7. Articulation Pt. 1 - After attending Jerry Bergonzi's masterclass at Tenor Madness in Iowa, I can tell you that Jerry actually has a fairly strange concept of articulation.  When he's playing fast lines, he says he 'half tongues'.  Although his technique isn't as common among sax players, he makes some very good points about articulation and freeing up his tongue to do as many different things as possible.  His colleague at New England Conservatory and Saxophone legend George Garzone has an opinion completely opposite Bergonzi.  He did a masterclass at Lamont School of Music and explained that he almost NEVER articulates and teaches his students the same.

#8. Articulation Pt. 2

#9. Breaking in reeds - Another tip that might help people out there is putting a date on your reeds.  As soon as I decide to use a reed in my rotation I put that day's date across the back part of the cane.  This lets me know how/if my reeds are holding up, am I going to have to change soon, are my reeds not lasting very long which could hint at a possible change in size, type, or brand, etc.

#10. Reeds & Embouchure - Explanation of his "non-embouchure embouchure"

#11. Reed Adjustment & the Relationship to Your Equipment

#12. Plug for Rico Reeds and their Reedvitalizer. I actually started using these early to mid 2008 and I hated them.  But, I kept using them just to see how they would affect my reeds in the long run.  I have to say after using them now for a couple of years, they are an invaluable tool.  I just use one 73% humidity pouch in a tupperware container for all of my instruments' reeds.  These really do keep your reeds sounding and playing consistent.

#13. The Joy of Playing

#14. Jerry talking about his concept behind saxophone embouchure. There are Italian subtitles to this that cover some of the video screen, but it's still a great tutorial on saxophone embouchure.