I started playing tenor again about 5 years ago after a 35 year layoff. After trying to teach myself, I finally started lessons a couple of weeks ago. Last week, my instructor completely changed the height at which I hold my sax.
I always positioned the sax/strap height so that the mouthpiece naturally fell at the opening of my mouth when hanging on the strap, and I kept the body of the sax fairly close to my body. My instructor observed that this caused the mouthpiece to enter my mouth at an angle, and said that the mouthpiece should be perpendicular to the plane of my face (mouth).
To do that I had to lower the sax about 3 inches (mouthpiece now under my chin when sax is hanging) and push the sax away from my body with my right hand to bring the mouthpiece up to perpendicular. So I ended up repositioning the height of my neck strap from as high as possible to almost as low as possible.
The result was pretty amazing. It caused me to open my throat more, loosen my embouchure, and put way more air into the sax. My sound immediately became much more open, louder, and richer. I play in an R&B band, and at rehearsal last night they were all amazed at the difference in my sound.
The only downside is that my right arm is getting pretty tired holding the sax out away from my body, but I guess that will strengthen over time.
So to get your best tone, at what height to you hold your sax and at what angle does the mouthpiece enter your mouth?
I always positioned the sax/strap height so that the mouthpiece naturally fell at the opening of my mouth when hanging on the strap, and I kept the body of the sax fairly close to my body. My instructor observed that this caused the mouthpiece to enter my mouth at an angle, and said that the mouthpiece should be perpendicular to the plane of my face (mouth).
To do that I had to lower the sax about 3 inches (mouthpiece now under my chin when sax is hanging) and push the sax away from my body with my right hand to bring the mouthpiece up to perpendicular. So I ended up repositioning the height of my neck strap from as high as possible to almost as low as possible.
The result was pretty amazing. It caused me to open my throat more, loosen my embouchure, and put way more air into the sax. My sound immediately became much more open, louder, and richer. I play in an R&B band, and at rehearsal last night they were all amazed at the difference in my sound.
The only downside is that my right arm is getting pretty tired holding the sax out away from my body, but I guess that will strengthen over time.
So to get your best tone, at what height to you hold your sax and at what angle does the mouthpiece enter your mouth?