Start Breaking These 7 Bad Saxophone Habits In 2024
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- Опубліковано 20 січ 2024
- #saxophone #bettersax #badhabits Jay Metcalf points out the 7 most common bad habits saxophone players make and how to correct them.
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The gear rabbit hole is really frustrating and dangerous. I found myself in it last year, until my teacher told me that I don't really need any of it, and as a test to play on my old student setup. I ended up learning a lot from it, mainly that it gear doesn't matter as much the higher level you are, and that the real progress and sound comes from the player, not from the gear surrounding him.
The other bad habit I have is to *not blow enough air through the horn.* It amazes me every time how much richer the tone becomes when playing a bit louder, and with proper air support.
That's fine until a band director complains about the saxes being too loud, though a mouthpiece with a small tip opening helps me cut down on the volume when playing in a concert band.
Clarinetist here, I'm so glad I was taught double lip early. I play single lip for some things and double for others just to avoid biting.
It’s always beneficial to revisit the basics. They are the foundation for everything else.
Bent wrists is the most common problem I see in sax players. Most band teachers don't notice bent wrists and they make alto players play in a bad position so everyone looks the same. Many smaller young players are forced to play in the center of their body which causes wrists to bend badly as the horn hangs waaay down, and some teachers make alto player put the horn off to the side when the kid is too tall... again, causing the wrists to bend badly. Once you start looking for it, you see it everywhere.
Bad habits were the thing that ruined my first try to learn sax. Great video
I was guilty of biting too hard but found that the tension in my jaw caused me to get headaches. I have since learned to relax just to avoid that, but it helped my playing as well.
Great advice J I’ve been playing the silver flute all my life and now I’m playing the sax and I understand from playing the flute how relaxed everything has to be. Now I’m just stepping up to a higher level of that on the sax. I feel like I have a solid grip on playing relaxed.
SUPER USEFUL video!
Jay, as always, very insightful review of the fundamentals. Outside of playing my saxophones "Semi-professionally," I'm a low-handicap golfer, and I see correlations between golf and music. Relax, practice, and play better!
I am just brand new to learning the alto sax. Thank you for these great tips.
Merci Jay ! Tes recommandations sont toujous précieuses ! Happy new year by the way 🤩
this is my first time being early to one of these videos. Love your content man, keep it up!
super helpful thank you i will definetley take the advice😀😄
Relaxation is SO the big bug-aboo. I'm an intermediate player, when I'm relaxed I feel great about my sound and experience!
Good and clear exposed. Congrats Jay!!😊
Great video. Everybody says to play long tones, but many teachers don’t tell you why, or what to use long tones for. I’m learning jazz guitar and all the principles of finding and reducing tension in the hands and upper body translate. I wish you were my saxophone teacher when I was majoring in sax in college!
Really good Jay. I just had my teeth straightened after 40 years and my playing has never been better. Was biting on altissimo notes
Hi Jay, I'm guilty of the biting too hard habit, it has pinched off many a high F! Just teaching myself now NOT to bite harder as I play higher notes. I like your videos, really nice. Thanks
The part of mantaining the sax makes a huge difference! It became so much easier to play the sax that I discover that I'm doing some mistakes with my embochure. It kind renew my joy to play it. Take your horns to a mantainer guys!
1-7 for me again Jay! Great content & thank you so much for posting cheers
Excellent video, the only thing I do correct is having the tenor serviced regularly! 🙂
I owned a Selmer Mark vi, and the upper register was flat, so I'd bite down to bring the pitch up! That habit wasn't broken until I switched to Yamaha!
Love the beanie cap, excuse making player haha. Had a huge laugh
#6 and #1 are also related. For newer players, a leaky horn will cause you to tighten up your embouchure because getting a poor sound out is better than squawks or no sound at all. And we all know student rental horns are always in good shape /s.
It's interesting how many of these tips seem to generalise to other instruments. I'm a 1st Year Uni student studying the Oboe, and pretty much all of that is something I've been told I'm doing wrong (of course, our reeds are substantially more temperamental, but I'm still regularly told to stop giving them such dirty looks)
3 May, Snarky Puppy in Liège-CHECK 🎉 One day I started practicing staccato without having done my daily long notes routine (15’). No amount of practice hours could make up for that. Lousy everything that day: tensions, not being able to focus properly, rhythm of a lunatic… When I journaled this experience in my agenda to plan focus areas to practice on the next day, it occurred to me that I couldn’t ground myself that day. Whilst digging deeper on that, I discovered that starting practice hours with long notes ‘opens’ the state of mind in which I’m grounded, focused, in sync. The state of hypnosis that is. It’s like an opening ritual or meditation session those long notes. Consistency, discipline and intentional creation of right habits are key for total well-being and helps my brain to form new circuits which weren’t there due to ADD. So people: long notes 🎶
Nicely done! Great points Jay, but I you missed my #1 - Shallow breathing. To me it’s all about the air! Deep “yogic” breathing positively affects most of your 1-7 bad habits. Also - Long tones are awesome, but MUST be preceding by a solid embouchure. Long tones played with a poor embouchure just engrains bad habits and poor tone.
From the habits mentioned I think tension (in my shoulders) is #1 for me. Probably #2 is biting too hard (when playing the palm key notes.
I’m auditioning for Berklee soon, any tips or any suggestions for songs? I play alto
Guilty, your honor. On 5 of the 7 counts (I don’t blame my kit and take good care of it-but I’m a sax-criminal on the other counts). I throw myself at the mercy of the court.
Any works on the soprano sax Bettersax reed…🤔🎵🎶🎷
Hello, can you tell me your opinion about the Selmer s80* mouthpiece?
#1...biting, except I bit through the rubber mouthpiece protectors (above). I've managed to stop that now. Learning to relax more too.
Ive done that lol
There is a nice poem called "Habit" on page 11 of the freely available Jazz Handbook by Jamey Aebersold. Worth to read it sometimes.
I've marked my calendar to see a local artist at the Stockfish in Nice end of March 😉
I have recently moved to reeds with strength 3 as I have experimented with several reed hardnesses. I made the transition as I had some problems with softer reeds especially on high G on my tenor and the harder reed eliminated that. It also made it way easier to consciously transition notes between the low and high octave as well as playing with way more dynamic range - piano is way easier on the hard reed as well as forte. So I like the transition, albeit it tires my embouchure way more quickly which makes my practice sessions shorter. I noticed the tendency mentioned here - that I bite down way harder so I can still play on the instrument and it is really hard to combat this.
Any tips for this apart from going back to softer reeds? I enjoy the harder much much better and would like to have longer practice sessions. If my embouchure is tired I now tend to finish the session even if I wanted to practice longer :(
Guilty on all counts. Also I have asthma, and when I miss my breathing pattern and starts to to run out of air I tend to put more pressure on the reed.
is it biting too hard if you press too hard through lower lip to get the tune? Like D perhaps
Great tips. Especially listening. Big fan of live music. Began learning flute, then sax (soprano and alto) because I loved watching the work of Rob Townsend.
Oh. That's the brit saxophonist, not the drummer 😂
@@elizabethcorrigan1557I know him, I’m from Leighton Buzzard, he used to play regularly in town. Nice guy, and a hell of a player.
@@rongibbs390 I'm a big fan of Steve Hackett who he plays with. See them every time they're nearby. Began learning flute because of him and moved on to clarinet and sax. Just love his playing.
Think there is always some difficulty when you have a jaw problem too Jay! Like TMJ…Maybe the double lip embouchure instead? 😁👍
My first and foremost had habit I want to improve: going through the motions while practising, not being critical enough. Playing too long of a passage, instead of focusing on one phrase. Not critical enough of my tone and intonation, articulation, etc. In short, I really need to formulate what I want to focus on, why, how to, and then do it. Easier said then done, though.
Guilty: bite too hard, blame equipment (sometimes true especially on the very old equipment).
I have a guy to check my horn. I have used him for over 45 years. I won't be able to use him too much longer as he is going to retire sooner or later.
My dad bought me an old sax when I was 12. I struggled to play low C - Bb for years, even attempting to fix a leak myself. It never occurred to me to see a technician. I wonder what my music journey over the last 54 years would have been if I started with a properly maintained horn.
Hey Jay. I have a request that I think would be absolutely beneficial to your subscribers that are students of the instrument. That suggestion is that you do a video on mouthpiece tip opening and what a player should look for when searching for a particular sound from their instrument and how tip opening may influence that. Great videos as always from a long time fan and follower of your content. May God give you 10 million more subscribers this year. Your efforts put into your content is more valuable than you could ever imagine..
Thanks. I already made that video. Search the channel for mouthpiece tip opening.
@@bettersax Looking now! Thanks Jay.
Biting is SO tempting when you need to raise the pitch. The upper register of my soprano wants to go flat and so I end up pinching, making everything worse!
If the octaves are compressed (upper register is flatter than the lower register), you probably need to push in a bit. I've had to adjust the corks on the palm keys on my soprano quite a bit to get those notes in tune. High D was flat, while high E was sharp. I use a fairly easy blowing setup on soprano, so my soprano actually takes less embouchure pressure than my alto.
I try not to be tense… but it gets a bit tricky, mostly my hands and shoulders!
"My Mark VI is in the shop" 😂😂😂
I think it's also important or at least very helpful that you don't stay in 1 genre of music you listen to, for example I listen to a lot of metal across the entire spectrum alongside the usual jazz, some metal licks are great over funk tunes for instance
Im very guilty of the biting one
To be honest with number 5 I was overdue for a new reed because it was like 2 1/2 months old
Jay, I do have some of these problem:
-When I play on my soprano, it seems like air is leaking from my far left and right lips. I believed I put too much of tension on my mouth, but if I don't that it won't create any sound on high-pitch/altissimo and it feels too hard to blow. Is it probably because my reed (2.5 V21 Vandoren) and mouthpiece (Yamaha 4C) too hard or too small? I'm thinking to buy Yamaha 5C if it'd allow me to gain more airflow.
-I have watched your reeds video and you cleared the myth of higher reeds size doesn't imply how professional they are, you just need one that comfortable in your mouth. I have been experimenting with lots of classical and jazz Vandoren reeds and it seems like my mouth couldn't handle size 3. It's just so hard to blow. Is it something you gained by experience or long-tone practice to find your reed size sweet spot?
Thank you so much for reading!
I also play soprano and I'm getting better slowly. Everyone's oral cavity, shape of teeth, young and lips are different. So, there is no "one size fits all" solution.
I can share what has worked for me so far, though.
1. Softer reeds 2.0
2. Bigger tip opening 7-8
3. Taking in less mouthpiece and playing with looser embouchre.
4. Holding the sax in such a way to not pinch the tip closing the opening with the reed.
5. Play slowly to ingrain good technique, then gradually speed up.
6. Relax, relax relax. The soprano is a smaller sax and so accuracy and little adjustments are key. Alto and tenor are more forgiving because they are larger instruments.
Good luck.
Hi@@aljerones99. Thank you so much for taking you time to reply my question.
I think I'll agree with you to reduce my reeds size to 2.0. Though I probably would also try Rigotti or D'Addario Traditional for more hearty/round sound for the classical style (I still have my chipped 2.0 Red Vandoren lol)
I'll also increase the mouthpiece size. I feel like there's a lot of constricted airflow that wouldn't allow me to blow it smoothly, therefore increasing its pressure between my mouth and the mouthpiece.
I almost gave up on my soprano because of these problems or if I did something wrong with it. But I'll take time training with it right now.
Thank you so much for your suggestions!
When I play high notes, I open my throat like I'm trying to scream, and that seems to be the right position to make them come out easier. I use a Yamaha 5C on soprano with Rico Royal 3.5 reeds. It's just as easy with the 4C, but the 5C lets me play louder.
I didn't catch any mention of respect for the original melody source. Jazz improvisations are the equivalent of classical music variations which always respect where they started from.
I bite down on the mouthpiece and even with savers on the mouthpiece.. my sound goes bad when I do itherwise
Great video but go easy on the 90s PowerPoint text animations 😂. But seriously, good advice, I'm not a hater 👍
My das played alto sax on the church years ago, last year i tried it and i liked it, the problem is that the freaking saxo haven't gone to a Luthier like in at least 5 years 😭😭😭
mine is bitting too hard on the mouthpiece
some marks are starting to be visible
Definitely guilty of biting and the gear rabbit hole! Yet to figure out how to play top F, F# and altissimo without biting... I've been playing overtones, etc, but still not working :(
What helped me was to work my way up slowly. Start with high B and play long tones on that note without biting. Then go up chromatically playing long tones on each note. If you find yourself biting, stop and go back to high B. As you go higher, the resonance of the horn becomes weaker which makes your oral cavity has more of an effect on the sound, so you'll have to experiment with different throat positions (think vowel sounds) to make those high notes play easier.
@@pikachuchujelly7628 thank you for your advice! I will keep trying!
Do you find that your lip/embouchure pressure on high notes and overtones is the same as lowest notes? Ie. Do you have the same embouchure pressure throughout the whole range?
@@pas0003 It really should be the same lip pressure for the entire range, except to adjust intonation. Getting the correct reed strength helps a lot, too. A reed that's too soft will be flat and difficult to play high notes, while a reed that's too hard will require more embouchure pressure and encourage biting.
Hi there I see your wall you hanged a sax ..I have been looking for one but can not find when I saw that ..yes there must be one..can you please tell me what it is and where to find it..THNKS..I HAVE BEEN FALLOWING YOU FOR A LONG TIME..
That is from locoparasaxo
Thank you..
My worst habit is I don’t play with my right thumb overlapping the octave key…so it’s a big finger movement every time I engage it…partly due to my right thumb was injured years ago and doesn’t really flex….I had no idea I was doing that until I was working on trying to play faster nad couldn’t figure out why…working hard on it now…
Left thumb.
@@bettersax yes! That would be bad if it was my right thumb!
I was taught that it was ok to bite (not hard) with your upper front teeth on the mouthpiece (I have a rubber protector there)?
🥶🎶🎵🎶🎷
How about moving while you play? My sax teacher always said stop moving!
Hmm…#7 could use improvement. fixed the rest over time. Anyone got some ideas of genres or even artists that don’t incorporate saxophone?
Hello
surely it's biting up, not biting down?
Does watching UA-cam when I should be practising count?
Jay biting. The top of mouthpieces 😢
That's also my bad habit. 3 to 5 months from durability than I need a new Teethpad on my Mouthpiece.
My teeth are messed up so I can't put my teeth directly on the mouth piece bc the vibrations are extremely painful
try a double lip embouchure then.
This video has been provided to you by Long Tone Gang.
im john coltrane so i dont have those habits lol
Its the ligature man I swear
Nah man you’re Alex Piano
Guilty, guilty, guilty
You should not be biting at all, you should be using a Double-lip Embouchure. Teeth have no place in proper Saxophone playing
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