I started this a number of years ago along with overtones. It made an immediate difference to my tone and I can play the full scale on the mouthpiece which the cats seem to like. Once you can hit various notes then use a piano or keyboard through headphones and this will make hitting the scale notes a way lot easier. If you can’t get anything but one pitch from the mouthpiece then practice overtones as mouthpiece tones are a similar thing but slightly more difficult.
Mouthpiece exercises have been a great help for me over the years... my goal was to play Happy Birthday on just the mouthpiece... (my poor wife!) but it really helped my sound.
I just started practicing on my 5C mouthpiece today and it's lots of fun. Plus it's great that I only have to put together a couple of pieces to practice without going through the whole set up.
Impressive! I do sometimes practice with my mouthpiece when I don't have my sax with me for a while and want to maintain my embouchure, but this is an eye opener as to what can be (& should be) done.
Amazing to hear that range. I'm a total beginner practising with a saxlab silencer. It isn't silent but a bit quieter and good for practising like this. I can do about 4 notes so far.....
I play about 30 minutes 5 days a week and find playing tunes good fun. Christmas carols are good (Ding Dong Merrily on high for example), pop tunes too. I also do scales (major, pentatonic and blues) and I also play argeggios and practice tonguing techniques to improve my articulation. I find i have a range of about a 12th on my mouthpiece but this can be changed or increased by putting a finger over the neck end of the mouthpiece and moving it around whilst trying to blow high tones. This closes off some of the hole and when you find the right position you can move up into much higher notes than is possible otherwise. There is quite a lot of information out there on the net eg examples of what exercises to play and why. Well worth doing!
Thanks....is it really true you've never played on your mouthpiece before Carl's video? If so, and given how good a player you are....maybe it's not essential??
I do practice on my mouthpiece sometimes. I believe if you can sound good on your mouthpiece you can sound good on your horn. I usually practice with a tuner and try to sustain certain pitches. I usually go chromatic. I can say it helps with tone and intonation.
Hi Nigel I have being doing it while I drive with a cheap neck piece because I work in London and live in the north east, I go home for the weekend and back to work for week days ( I know it's wrong but I have develop a great tone, but my finger work not as good)
I made a mouthpiece silencer from a large vitamin bottle - carved out the front flap opening a little and the mouthpiece fits snug - put a wash cloth in and a hole in the bottom and it works great - costs ? $ 0 I think it reduces the volume at least by half . You cannot tell by the video, I guess because the phone recording volume is maxed out . Maybe if I put the phone farther away during the sound test it would be apparent . However, you can hear the sound resonate in the room at the end of the first test . In the second test, you can tell there is no resounding resonance present . Here is a video showing what I have . ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yHIAxdTOvk8.html Maybe I will try making a saxophone cover-all silencer with a cardboard box and some shredded newspaper ...
Just started this week practising with just a mp and within days I’m noticing all sorts of stuff, although adding the neck makes me less able to do a range of notes why is this?
I’m 55 and have only been playing Alto Sax (first ever instrument) for almost 2 years now. How do I play make a more blues sound as opposed to jazz? What are good blues artists/albums that I should listen to for inspiration? I struggle trying to play with play along tracks. How can I get used to playing with a “Play along” track? Sorry for all the questions
Hey Mike. Lots of good questions here. Understanding how to get a “Blues” sound on your sax starts with listening to more “blues” players and breaking down the elements in their playing that you can add to your own. It’s something we do in Sax School with our “Sound Formula” lessons. I have a playlist of some of my favourite Blues Sax players on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/user/nigelsax69/playlist/2Ws7GzR2DF48s258Y3Zzh8?si=Ua6DHlJ-T4G0L4CRE72FYw
Join various FB groups and whittle them down to just one to be part of the learner community. Not all groups are the same I’ve found just one that really suits me I’m a 62 year old Alto beginner learner.
Today I noticed when I blow the sax I have resistance on my upper teeth and on my cheeks.if I don’t feel that I don’t start playing .it feels like it that way I can control my airflow well and keep me in tune with my soprano sax.is it the right way ?thanks
You have to change your oral cavity/further back in your mouth/throat. It takes awhile to get used to, but try whistling going up and down while paying attention to what your throat and tongue further back is doing. If it helps, even touch your throat while doing it
hey do u know how to change the pitch now? i know how u feel, i cant change a full step in first few month neither many people tell u do whistling helps but i dont know whistling. and u know what, i get this technique by accident. you keep moving your tongue up and down, back and forth and closing/ opening your throat move a little bit each time so u can keep track what movement u made then u will suddenly get a huge pitch changing oh, remember, u DONT NEED TO change lip pressure to achieve this
In 2018 I was fortunate enough to spend over four hours talking politics and music with Gilad Atzmon. He gave me a lesson that was one of the highlights of my life and later that evening I watched him perform with his quartet and strings at Ronnie Scott's in London. What a day. He asked me to do what Carl is doing here and I found my embouchure was about a fifth higher than his. That's what allows him (among other things), to sound like this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mbg0YYH5wr0.html