Saxophone - Lesson 1 The RESONATORS How the Saxophone works The second Resonator Experiment PAVE your way to a Superior Tone Getting started Practice Lost in Space Practice Material Practice Studio Lesson : Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ??

SAX 1.1 - How the Saxophone works

The saxophone has a reed that, when made to vibrate , beats against the mouthpiece opening ('window'). This alternately opens and closes the mouthpiece which in turn sets up a vibrating air column in the resonator (the brass part) of the saxophone.

Here is a diagram of the vibration of the low Bb in a straight soprano saxophone :

(All figures in this Course are diagrams. They are intended to explain concepts, not to show instruments, waves, anatomies, etc. realistically.)

When the player lifts one finger, a key pad opens. This reduces the wave length of the vibrating air column and raises the pitch of the sound. As the vibration of the air column changes, the vibration of the reed also changes instantly.

This is an essential point.
Although the reed starts and maintains the energy of the vibration, the resonator determines the wavelength and frequency.

The saxophone operates therefore under the principle of resonator control, combined with an obedient reed.

Whenever the resonator is shortened or lengthened, the vibrating air column changes its frequency, and the reed changes its vibration in sympathy with it.

SAX1.2 - The second Resonator

Once this is understood, the next point is inevitable.
For what provides the energy to start and maintain the reed's vibration ? The air flow from the human body.

By blowing on the saxophone a second resonator is automatically connected to the system. This is the cavity within the body, consisting of the interconnected.

• mouth
• throat
• trachea
• and lungs

This point was experimentally proven by the late Dr. Peter Clinch.   ('Oral tract fluctuations in clarinet and saxophone performance : An acoustical analysis' - Ph.D thesis, Monash University, Melbourne, 1980)

Clinch installed : one sensor in the saxophone resonator one sensor on the reed and one sensor in the mouth of the player. Wave frequency and shape were identical for all three sensors at all times. When the (professional) player deliberately adapted a twisted poor playing position, the wave quality of all three sensors deteriorated markedly and identically. When the player sat in a 'good' playing position the wave shapes improved instantly.

SAX 1.3 - Experiment

Let us conduct a simple experiment on the saxophone.

1. Play on your instrument one tone, the low G for example.

2. Now sing through the mouthpiece the same tone ("daaaaa", a full sound) while maintaining the G fingering on the saxophone.
   
   
3. Then, under continued singing of the low G, change the fingering down to F, E, and D. Then up through E, F, G, A, to B, and finally back to A and G.

In saxophone playing you aim to do the opposite to what you did in the experiment.
You must bring the body resonator in phase with the saxophone resonator.

No matter how good the instrument is, if the body sends out poor vibrations to the reed the overall sound will deteriorate. The body resonator then acts as a mute, it muffles the sound and reduces its quality.

If on the other hand the body resonator sends out the same or even better quality vibrations to the reed than the saxophone, the sound quality will be enhanced.
The tone will be in focus, amplified and projected forward.

The incorporation of tone, colour and feeling are elements exclusively produced by the body resonator.

SAX 1.4 - PAVE your way to a Superior Sound

A good tone requires therefore a well developed body resonator.
A good instrument, mouth piece and reed all can contribute to tone quality. But without a good body resonator the best accessories money can buy will not produce a good tone.

To develop a good body resonator one must work on four aspects.

SAX 1.5 - Getting started

For productive practice try to follow the next three basic rules.

1. Practise regularly.
   You will achieve more by practising 20 - 30 minutes each day than by 2 or 3 hours one day and nothing for the next two days.
   • Try to practise 5 days a week and take 2 days rest. This way you can sustain regular practice for a long time.
   • Keep your sax on a stand. This way you can pick it up any time and not waste time putting the instrument together.
   • Set a regular time during the day for your practice and keep this time slot for this purpose no matter what.
   
   
2. Divide your practice time in half.
   Use one half exclusively for tone practice. Practise anything else during the other half.
   As this course progresses you will need even more time on tone practice, but in due course this will balance out again.
   (Eventually everything you play becomes tone practice, for your awareness of tone will be so acute that it is your prime consideration at all times. This how it should be.)

3. Keep a Logbook of your practice each day.
   Specify the time spent on tone exercises, technique, etudes, songs, improvisation.
   Add the total (in minutes) for each day, and add all totals for each week.
   This will give you a sense of achievement and will help to motivate you to sustain your efforts.

4. Organise all Exercises and Songs in a Practice Folder.
   Each lesson includes new material to practice. Print out all Exercises and Songs and arrange them in a folder in the order as shown on the Practice Folder - Contents page. At the end of the Course you will have a comprehensive series of exercises arranged in the best sequence for regular practice.

Lessons 1 to 4 of this course deal with the basics of good saxophone technique. Use this period to think about and experiment with the concepts presented. From Lesson 5 onwards Tone practice will be full on.

(You can open a new Logbook page ready for printing, by clicking on the Saxophone in the Title Illustration of any lesson.)

SAX 1.6 - Practice

The first objective is to get to know each tone on your instrument as a personal friend.
Each tone is different. Some boom out with ease, others are stuffy and need a real effort to bring them to life.

Start by playing the C major scale over the lower register only. Do not use the tongue, always slur from one note to the next. The exercise consists of four parts.

1.
First play the scale slurred very slowly in groups of 2 notes.

(Clarinet or Piano sounds are used for all Audios. The Sax sounds on Midi are just too awful to listen to.)

Audio 1.1 : Alto - Tenor

SAX 1.7 - Lost in Space

After your scale practice above play Lost in Space, a Pop ballad in E minor (sax key).
The entire melody is written in the lower saxophone register.

There are two different Play-a-Long Midi files of all songs in the Sax Music Library. One track is for the Eb saxes (alto and baritone) and one for the Bb saxes (tenor and soprano). This way the song covers the same instrument range and you can use the same music notation no matter which sax you play.

The melody is very simple, which makes it easy to sing, listen and imagine.
Play with a full sustained straight sound, no fancy stuff. Record yourself on a tape for reference and comparison for the future.

SAX 1.8 - Practice Material