Forum: Tone Producing

I've seen pretty much all of the premier players of today make allowances for the different registers - ie. taking more mouthpiece or rolling the lip out to allow more reed to vibrate with higher notes, while taking less or rolling the lip back for the lower notes. I've seen Chris Potter even...

I've been playing alto sax for many years and while I am otherwise fairly proficient, I can't seem to play the upper register properly. Eb, E, and F come out extremely flat and awkward sounding and F# rarely comes out at all unless I slide up from F. I cannot get passed D without biting...

wondering if the size of a person could have any impact on getting the desired tone. My kid is 5'2" and that is all she is gonna be. She was wondering if her lung size could be one of the "problems" in her getting/finding the tone she wants. I am not so sure that is a reason as there are small...

On my alto saxophone, I push my reed a quarter of a cm past the mouthpiece tip. I do this because it makes my tone warm and darker. Will this hurt my progress?

First off I have done long tones for a while, about 10 yrs on and off (5 yrs if you add up all the time). Yet I can't get the sound I am looking for. I listen to the player that I want to sound like the most, but yet I seem very far away from it, my sound is a lot of darker.

Hi i´m new here. And I´m sorry for my english. I´ve been playing sax for one year - and there is one issue I can not fix. The timbre of register played without using octave pad is just...almost completely different the the timbre of the one played with it. It can be well heard between...

K so I hope this is in the right place. Is there a saxophone equivilent to double and triple tonguing as done on brass instruments?? For years I've used my tongue as if it were the beak of a bird, pecking at the reed, one stroke at a time. I am quite quick with this but I have found a way to...

90% of the time, my nasal passages are completely blocked up (I've had this problem for years), so I breathe through my mouth. I can breathe through my nose, but it is very labored and "sniffly". I was wondering - can having congested sinuses affect your saxophone tone?

My band is playing Gordon Goodwin's Count Bubba and i cant figure out how to get that awesome sound their lead alto (or at least i think its their lead alto) has. especially during the sax solis... any tips? or super easy cure all secrets? EDIT: i should probably specify that im talking about...

hi everybody this is my very first post,and I hope I can receive some help for the SOTW community.. any idea about which way to sound like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt72qQ-44QQ around 0.56 sec.. I went to many of their concerts,and it looks like there's nothing special about the sax...

I resently discovered that I bite my mouthpiece to produce tone. how can I get rid of this habit? I have my mouthpiece far out on the cork of the neck to get a good pitch. I have recently also tried to blow with a relaxed mouth but I cannot blow as long as I can when I bite abit to it. neither do...

I always Try to develop this great sound on the Saxophone but i don`t know how to produce it. What do i have to Practice? How do i have to Practice? Is there any special technique to develop this sound? ... I try to achieve such a great sound: ...

My set-up is as follows: Early Conn 10M, Master Link 4**** mouthpiece, Marc Jean Lig, and Fibracell Soft reed. From this set-up, I was expecting a dark tone, which I believe I am getting. When is dark just dark, How can I tell if my tone is stuffy, or too dark and fat. Even the high notes G2...

Hey all. I've been working on my sound a lot lately and have been trying to emulate this altoist Myron Walden (Brian Blade's band). There's this one pentatonic lick that he played on a tune where I really love his sound (decent amount of edge, and a dark reediness which sounds Asian to me for...

Would it be worth my while to take some voicing lessons, I see how important proper voicing is to play the saxophone, would voicing lessons assist in improving my tone and control? ps: I spoke to the teacher at the music school and asked him about the singing lessons he gave and he was quick to...

Hi, I recently got my alto chops to a new level and I'm quite happy about my progress. The downside was I stared sounding more like a clarinet. My friend actually came up with the term after listening to a recording of my playing and after listening to it myself I noticed the same. Immediate...

Im about to be a somphmore in high school and was wondering why do i have a slightly airy sound? Set up is a standard yahmah 4c mouthpices with #3 blue vandoren reeds, Taiwanese made Tenor sax

I found this article on the internet while surfing around tonight and found it fascinating. Basically, it looks like a research paper that someone did and his conclusions were that the timbre of your instrument affects how the intonation is perceived by yourself and those listening. He's...

I don't know where else to post this so I'll post it here. What is the best way to produce a warm and controlled vibrato? Is it with the diaphragm or jaw muscles? I can get an ok vibrato sound on the higher notes but on notes below middle D the tone really suffers and it sounds more like a wawa...

Hi Everyone, I am a highschool student and some say my playing is a bit above average (not in the interest of boasting - but in the interest of giving indication of level). Anyway, my music teacher at school and my private teacher have both alerted me to some intonation things. I play a...

I know, this may sound crazy-just bear with me: A couple of months ago I added a quick long tone routine to my practice sessions, and my sound changed pretty quickly. Now, I actually, for the most part, have it where I want it. I still definitely need to work on a stronger embouchure, tone...

I'm starting to become fed up with a mediocre sound at p and softer. Any help guys?

I guess there is no "perfect" embouchure, but what would you consider the best way to produce a sound on the sax?

I'm currently playing on a Barone Jazz 7*. Love the piece. Using RJS 2H filed reeds, I was placing the lig slightly behind the file line which made sense to me. However at my last lesson I was having intermittent problems getting some of the G2 and up from speaking consistently and low notes...

I just spent most of the weekend reading everything I could find about Mr. Allard. Amazing. Anyone know how I would go about locating someone to teach me this method? PM me please. Thanks

Hi everyone, In my practicing i cant seem to quietly tongue the lower notes (mostly B and Bb) and once i start the note i cant get it quieter than a mf or so without the note stopping due to lack of air support. i know this is one of the 'practice, practice, practice' things, but is there any tips...

I've recently come to discover that I've developed a habit, and I'm not sure if it needs fixing. When I play, I rest the tip of my tongue against my bottom lip (also touching my bottom teeth) and my tongue is on the floor of my mouth. To tongue, I just raise the front portion of my tongue (a...

Hi, you frequently find in sax teaching books, that it would be important to move the tongue only very slightly away from the reed. While this could be the case (I don't know), I don't think that this is a good thinking... Even if you say that the best thing would be to leave the embouchure...

Well, seems like a suitable place to post this thread. I've been playing sax (and clarinet) for around three years now. In general I feel pretty comfortable (physically) with clarinet, alto sax and sop sax but I have real problems with the tenor sax. Sometimes I feel relaxed and comfortable with...

This is one for you clarinet doublers. I'm sefl taught on clarinet and seems my Bflat at the third line on the staff has a snarfy sound to it.(About the only was I can describe it.) Someone told me once that is a characteristic of most clarinets. Anyone agree with that or have a solution? Thanks.

Several months ago I managed to get out of my biting habit which was great, except my ability to play high E and F immediately disappeared (figures if I was biting to get them out). I don't want to ask for the millionth time on this forum "How do I play those notes?" since the answer is voicing, of...

hello, please help. the only wind instrument i play is soprano sax and i would like to know what's reasonable within the realm of possibility regarding overtones so i don't battle with windmills. i was wondering if overtones are easier or harder to play on soprano than on lower pitched saxes. ...

I know that everybody is going to have a unique tone and it is most likely going to stay that way. At this point I have stopped doing long tones (about to get back on them though for endurance), used to do them all the time and still have pretty much the same tone. My question is how much of a...

Hey friends, I'm wondering what's causing the squeak between octaves when I play. It occurs when I go from middle C or C# to middle D for example. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtQx5ktAmNs Here's me playing Lazy Bird - it happens like 5 times. If you want to comment on other aspects of my...

Recently, as my instructor has pointed out, I am having throat issues. He noticed that I tend to dramatically adjust my throat depending on which register I am playing in. For some reason, this really seems to affect playing my G (:space5:). It usually happens when I am coming to it from a higher...

I have a nasty habit that i now keep doing...head tilts to the side i will make a conscious effort to change it ..because i practice in a small room unfortunately too small the sound is big so because of neighbors and my own ears i like to make it sound nice what ever the case after all its music...

When I play from around low E to Bb, it starts off out of tune, then after half a second or so, it becomes in tune. Is this something from my part, embouchure, etc? Or my equipment (I have a YTS -62, and the mouthpiece that came with it is a Yamaha 4C. Using a orange box, 3 Rico reed.)

I'm aware that A in second octave is pretty sharp itself and with practicing I've menaged to make it in tune with enbouchure. Still, when I trill/run fast A to C it's dificult because those two notes need different embouchure placement and lip pressure, so it sounds slightly out of tune. Is it...

Im having trouble with my embouchure, and i think i need to loossen up with it a little bit. I play Tenor, and when i play low D or below, i have trouble getting the tone clear and most importantly, smooth. It wants to always go up an octave and sounds awful when it waves between octaves. Im...

Does anyone have any advice for getting a good vibrato? I am learning how to do vibrato and I can kind of do it but to me, it just doesn't sound good. When I hear myself do vibrato, it sounds like I am changing the pitch too much and it is not fast enough. But no matter what I do it doesn't seem to...

I've had the roughest time with air in my alto sound... Something I'm not at all used to from my days playing bari. My actual sound has improved immensely, but I STILL have an airy quality I don't want. Any tips? Setup: Jupiter 767 Vandoren AL4 V12 2.5's (like a 2.9-3.0 in trad)

Its definately me, I can't seem to be able to play the low notes B flat and B on my Kessler Custom Alto Saxophone. Right now I'm using a Kessler 50NY mouthpiece with 2.5 Rico Royale reeds. I have a rovner lig but I normally use the metal lig since I like the sound better. Thinking it has to be my...

hi guys, i decided to post a link to these written Joe Allard school saxophone lessons i made for someone. They are basically what i remember of the first basic concept lessons from the old juliard school saxophone department. my teacher george was a graduate student in the juliard saxophone...

I have a question: I'm mainly an alto sax player that's been doing a lot of long tones. I'm planning to improve my tone on tenor with long tones. Do you guys have any tips on how to view the overall sound quality and tone of the tenor sax versus the alto? Do you treat playing tenor the same...

This study involves using the ear on a line.It's good review for the advanced player ( or use it with your students) and very important. http://www.saxontheweb.net/Price/Dom7ChordLine.html Dom7 Chord Line using Your Ear - In this lesson we are going to start to build your...