Hereby a few tips!

When starting to practice a new piece, a lot of players start with pitch. That seems to be a good place to start, but unfortunately is not a handy strategy.

I always recommend being patient and first find out what kind of music you are going to play. Have a listen, of have a close look at all the clues in the sheet music. Check the style, atmosphere and then what is said about dynamics and articulation. Feel the music before playing by checking the time signature, tempo and the feel (swing, funk, romantic classical etc etc. )

And then: check the rhythm. Do you understand, or can you clap/sing along?

And then: have look at the key and thén the pitch.

And then play.

It seems like a lot but this can take just 5 minutes and the result is a more musical approach and less mistakes.

You can have taste by listening, and study along with this video.
This song and video are part of the online course Learn to Play Sax. In this course my aim is to teach you not only how to play but also how to study!

And for additional study tips check this article.

Have fun and be patient! 😉

Floor Wittink

Het bericht How to practice; thát is the question! verscheen eerst op Floor Wittink.

There are several possibilities for a good embouchure depending on which sound you want to have en fits you. Focus on finding the right balance between tension and relaxation. In my next blog I give exercises that help you get a flexible embouchure. Good breathing and a right posture are neccesary to get a good embouchure!

Embouchure basics:

1. The teeth are firmly on the mouthpiece approximately 1 cm from the edge

2. The mouthpiece does not slide into the mouth (as if there were a clamp between your teeth and your left thumb pushes you forward slightly)

3. Keep your lower lip somewhat loose, feel the reed vibrate in your lip

4. No chubby cheeks and the mouth corners are forward

5. The jaw must be relaxed, do not drop or pull back the jaw for the lower notes, nor bite for the high notes

A teacher can help you establish your embouchure. It’s easier to learn it right from the start!

Het bericht Five Embouchure Checks verscheen eerst op Floor Wittink.

Here are four exercises to help you become aware of your breath support.

1. Observe
You will make quick progress if you pay attention to breath support, but the real art is first of all to observe and learn how your body behaves when you are breathing. Note where you feel your breath in your body as you:

– smell something nice
– sniff
– yawn
– cough
– laugh
– when you sit on a stool and lean forward until your stomach touches your knees (feel your back move!)
– when you breathe in and out slowly

2. Observe with your hands

Lay one hand on your stomach and the other on your chest and breathe in and out for about six seconds. Do you feel how when you breathe in your stomach extends forwards first, and then your chest?
When you breathe out your chest falls first. This is followed by the stomach going inwards. Maybe you don’t feel this. Note, however, where you feel movement.

3. Make space

In this exercise you want to become aware of how to make space in your back, sides, stomach and chest:
Take a scarf and tie it around your waist. Tie it on tightly (though don’t use a knot, so that your arms are free to move).

– Can you push this scarf outwards when you inhale, and cause your hands to come closer together? Can you inhale in this way without using your chest cavity? And can you also inhale when using it?
– See whether you can make the movement greater, and thus use more of the scarf.
– Focus your attention on your back. While inhaling try to feel your back move outwards.
– Focus your attention on your sides. While inhaling try to make your sides go outwards.
– Tie the scarf around your chest. While inhaling can you make your chest cavity expand, and thus push the scarf outwards?

4. Active exhaling and relaxed inhaling

We are not always active when we exhale nor do we always let the inhalation come of itself. However, this is what you have to do when you play a wind instrument (but also when you speak and when you are doing heavy lifting!). You can feel this well with the help of the following exercises:

– Exhale completely using a strong “fffff” and also use your stomach muscles. You may use your hands to stimulate the inward movement of your stomach.

– When you can no longer exhale, let your muscles loose and you will feel that you inhale of yourself with the use of your waist. Your stomach will extend forward again.
Practice this until it is effortless and you inhale quickly.

– Be careful that you are standing completely straight, as if you have a string tied to the crown of your head pulling you up. Be sure you are standing correctly when exhaling, as well as inhaling.

– Also practice this quickly with short powerful exhalations. If you become dizzy, this means that you are inhaling too high and your need to relax more when you inhale.

Het bericht Does breath support takes care of itself? 4 exercises verscheen eerst op Floor Wittink.

1.
Stand upright, with your weight evenly distributed on both legs, as if a rope were pulling you up from the crown of your head.

2.
Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. In that way your balance is optimal.

3.
Shoulders, arms, fingers and throat should be relaxed; the tension you need to produce the air to blow into your horn comes from your torso.

4.
If you let your sax hang loose the mouthpiece should come to the height of your mouth and not lower.
Tip: stand upright and then adjust your saxophone, instead of the other way around.

5.
Keep your wrists straight. Tip: have a look in the mirror while playing and check your wrists.

6.
The hands: the fingers should be relaxed and slightly bent as in natural position.

7.
Press the keys with a definitive movement, but do not move your fingers too far away from the keys. Your fingers should stay bent while pressing the keys.

8.
The thumbs should remain still, the octave key is pressed by your thumb tilting your thumb slightly.

Watch this video to see a véry unshakable posture…..…and if you know how to play well, you can play in many different postures as you can see in this video.

Het bericht 8 Tips for good posture while playing the saxophone! verscheen eerst op Floor Wittink.

You can find an almost infinite list of exercises and effects in saxophone literature. These exercises can take you a long way.

1.
Sound a tone, and feel what you’re doing with your embouchure. Do you feel your lower lip and the trilling of the reed against it? What about your upper lip? Do you feel anything in your cheeks and where? What are you doing with your chin? Is your jaw relaxed? Do you feel the “back” of your cheeks as if something is moving, for example, near (in) your ears?

Do you feel your oral cavitity and tongue?; find out where your tongue is, high or low, curled or not, whether it’s moving or not. Do you feel the trilling, the resonating of the tone inside of your nose, for instance.
There is no right or wrong in these exercises! Just pay attention!

2.
Sound another tone and move your mouth corners forward and backward. What feels better? What sounds better? How would you describe the difference in the sound?

3.
From time to time vary the position of your tongue as you blow. Move your tongue and feel and hear what happens. You can think about the form of various vowels in your mouth. What sort of differences do you hear?

4.
Sound a tone and make big and then small movements with your jaw down and back again. The tone goes up and down again in correspondence to the movements. Don’t move your jaw forward and keep a good air stream. Can you make the tone drop a half step without making any use of your keys? (for example can you make a B go to a Bb?)

5.
Make the same movement with your jaw downwards in the same manner as in the former exercise, but smaller and faster, as if you were saying “wahwahwah”. Be careful to get a regular pulse. This is what a vibrato is. Change the vibrato faster and louder.

6.
During the time when you are blowing, keep your throat open, as if you are yawning. The tone will be lower; try to make it sound as low as possible and then try slowly to make it go as high as possible. In this way you can make “glides” between different tones.

*You can vary between high and low tones and between blowing hard or soft!

What sort of effects can you make if you have mastered these exercises?

1.
These are the well known “glides” (official name bend/glissando/) which you hear saxophonists doing where the tone is made into a sort of glide for example in the well known solo from Baker Street. Get to the point where you can drag the tone lower with your throat and/or lower lip and chin. You can combine bending with fast runs and make a ‘smear’ but this is another story.

2.
The vibrato is another effect: this consists of vertical movements of your lower lip and chin (as if you were saying “wahwahwah”), naturally very lightly.

3.
You can influence the sound of your tone by where you put your tongue, throat and lower lip. The saxophone by its nature is not completely in tune and in addition you adjust your tuning when playing together. Therefore you are always adjusting your tuning when playing!

4.
Also the color of your tone you want make will affect where you place your tongue, throat and lower lip; after that you need to be aware of your breathing. The atmosphere of the music may ask of you a fierce, soft, hazy or warm tone. All these colors and nuances can be brought into your tone.

Do you have any questions or remarks after reading this article or do you have suggestions for new topics? Let me know and leave your comment!

Het bericht Seven exercises to reach a flexible sax sound verscheen eerst op Floor Wittink.