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Low Bb = BLAT

2K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  paulwl 
#1 ·
Aaaaarrrghhh!

I have been playing Yamaha tenor saxes since I started three years ago and noticed now, with my new sax (YTS-52) my low Bb is even worse than my old beat-up 23. Problem? I can barely play it mezzo forte let alone pianissimo, the tone wavers more than a seismograph, and the sound is basically a big, loud, BLAT. (The Bb key on the pinky table is really not so great to operate actually. Big and clunky. That might have something to do with this.) It's never very graceful to slide down from the more pleasurable (relatively, anyway) notes above to this disgusting unrefined blast of sound energy ... so what do I do?!

Thanks for the help :oops:
 
#3 ·
I used to have this problem, especially on tenor, until I just started practicing lots of scales and long tones in the bottom end at soft volumes. It takes work but over time it will become easier. Still, in the meantime check for any possible leaks, which are most common in this area of that horn.
 
#4 ·
You also might be playing too tight over the rest of the horn, so that when you try to play low, you are dropping your jaw or sticking more mouthpiece in your mouth and blowing extra air.

Try keeping the same embouchure over the whole horn and do exercies like Razzy said.

Slur 1/2 notes c-d-c-e-c-f-c-g-c-a-c-b-c-c2-c Keeping the same embouchure and thinking like you are playing the low C the whole time.

Play all your scales slurred starting on low Bb or B depending on which note is in the scale and try to keep the same embouchure over the whole scale.

Just some ideas. Hope it helps.
 
#5 ·
Thanks, yeah. That coincides with my sax teacher giving me full-range scales to practise on, which will eventually fix it (I think). Thanks jazzbluescat, Razzy and saxomophone for the advice, I'll check on it all and see how it goes. :D
 
#8 ·
Low Bb

I have been having the same problem as Jazzophone for years. I transferred from Alto to tenor (Yamaha YTS62) and have never managed to adjust my embouchure. I will be following your good advice and will try playing those low notes a lot more. I think I may have just been avoiding them for a long time!
 
#9 ·
Here's a variation on saxomophone's exercise that helped me a whole lot with the low range:

Pick the lowest note that you can play with your "normal" embouchure with good tone and moderate-to-low volume. Say it's low D. Play a slur series like this in long tones:
D-C#-D ... D-C-D ... D-B-D ... D-Bb-D

As this begins to feel more natural, try lowering the start note to C# or C, and slurring up as well as down (as saxomophone suggests).
 
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