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Advanced Techniques on the Saxophone and Jazz Improvisation

4K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  YSUSKA 
#1 ·
I apologise if this has been posted on these forums before, but I looked around and I couldn't find any topics similar to this.

Does anyone have any recommendations of books covering advanced saxophone techniques such as slap tonguing, growling, overtones, use of the altissimo register, etc.?
Also, I'm relatively new at playing the saxophone (less than 3 years on the alto), and the band program I am in is not too good, and so I have little knowledge of the technical aspects of music. If anyone has a recommendation for a book that teaches simple improvisation to someone who has little knowledge of music theory or improvisation, I would appreciate it if you could tell me.

Thanks in advance.
Joe
 
#2 ·
Joe:
First of all, if at all possible, try to find a private lesson teacher who can help to make sure you are doing some of things correctly. Here are a few reccomendations:

1. Make sure your mouthpiece pitch is stable. On alto you should be able to match A4. If you are not getting a full sound on the mouthpiece, then the other things aren't going to happen well.

2. The Sigurd Rasher "Top Tones" and Eugene Rosseau "Saxophone High Tones" are both standard books for development and have great exercises. As a primer to working with these, play slow arrpegios from the bottom of the horn to the top of the horn to even out your tone in all registers. When you are practicing the overtones, it is important that you remember what each voicing feels like. If the sound is not fully supported and or weak, don't move on until it is.

3. With developing altissimo, also check the tone/picth of front E and F. If these notes don't respond, the instrument is out of adjustment, your embouchere/voicing may be incorrect, or a combination of both.

I'll leave you with that to start. More to come if you wish...
 
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