SAXOPHONE WITH LEOSAX

The Saxophone Standard

2018-05-24T23:52:00.000-07:00

Learning Saxophone is fun when you have great material. Checkout a material from US Army on all saxophone lesson.

SAXOPHONE WITH LEOSAX: Interview with Kenng G

2017-11-25T17:42:00.001-08:00

SAXOPHONE WITH LEOSAX: Interview with Kenng G

Interview with Kenng G

2017-11-25T17:39:00.001-08:00

Improve your tone without picking up the horn

2012-10-10T10:23:00.001-07:00

No Saxophone Required

One way to improve your tone in a way that exercises just about every muscle necessary to form a great sound is the practicing of overtones. But there is something else we can do before we even put the entire instrument together.

And what is that, you may ask?

Of course, I’m talking about playing on nothing more than the mouthpiece and a reed.

The first thing to practice would be to simply hold out a a single note. When you’re first learning to do this, the note you start on can make a difference. Here’s what saxophonist and clinician Paul R. Coats recommends:

For alto sax, have the student match the concert A, 880 Hz that you play on the piano or keyboard (this is the A one octave and a sixth above middle C). For the Bb soprano clarinet, match the concert B one step above the A, 880 Hz. For the tenor sax, match the G one step below the A, 880 Hz. For baritone sax, match concert Eb. For soprano sax, match Bb two octaves and a half step above middle C on the piano.

From there, you can practice simple things such as octave jumps, scales, scales in thirds, simple melodies, improvising, and eventually work up to playing anything you’d normally play on your saxophone.

Making it Happen

Here are a few things you can do to boost your mouthpiece chops:

Go for absolutely no movement of the lower jaw while moving between notes.
Experiment with the position of your tongue to change pitches. If you think of the changes in tongue position as being similar to what you do when whistling, it’ll probably be easier.
Movin’ those muscles in the throat is another necessary part of mouthpiece practice. Practice singing a major scale without the mouthpiece, and notice the changes in your throat that occur with each note. Now make these same changes in the throat while actually blowing into the mouthpiece.
As I mentioned before, you’re going to need a good amount of air to get this working right, so be sure toreally support from the diaphragm when practicing.
Make sure you have the right amount of mouthpiece in your mouth. A good general rule is to put your thumb where the reed separates from the table of the mouthpiece, and put the mouthpiece into your mouth up to the position of the thumb. As you go down in pitch, slide the mouthpiece out of your mouth just a tiny bit. On the way up, move the mouthpiece back into your mouth, again, very slightly.
Make sure to hear the notes before you play them. Your ear will guide the rest of your body towards the right notes.

The Payoff

Practicing on the mouthpiece makes for a great daily warmup to flex those chops before you start in on your normal saxophone practice session. It develops the muscles you need to be in charge of your saxophone tone. Also, since you’re not relying on they saxophone’s keys to change notes, you’re going to end up having to rely on your ear – which is a great thing. On top of all of that, it’s important to learn how to control your pitch without having to rely solely on the lower jaw, so practicing this way almost guarantees that your intonation is going to improve.

Cool thing is that you can take a mouthpiece and reed just about anywhere you go – which is a nice alternative to lugging the horn around anytime you’re away from home and want to get a little practice in.

saxophone history

2009-07-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

Saxophone is an instrument that belongs to the wood wind family is a very interesting instrument.

The history is something any one who is ready to learn should be awe of.....

SaxophoneHistory -->

Adolphe Sax 1814 - 1894

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Sax was a Belgian, who invented the saxophone in 1840. He was musically trained at the Brussels Conservatory in flute and clarinet, and he studied instrument making with his father, Charles.

The History of the Saxophone
The history of the saxophone can be traced back over 150 years. Although this seems like a long time, the saxophone is one of the newer instruments in the musical spectrum. It was invented by and named for Antoine-Joseph (Adolphe) Sax. He was an expert instrument maker and talented musician. The saxophone was patented on March 20, 1846. It has since become a necessity in every band due to its tonal beauty and versatility.
Sax grew up in the trade of instrument making. Sax's father was an expert in instrument making. By the age of six, Sax had already become an expert in it as well. Sax, being the musician he was, became aware of the tonal disparity between strings and winds: moreover, that between brasses and woodwinds. The strings were being overpowered by the winds and the woodwinds were being overblown by the brasses. Sax needed an instrument that would balance the three sections. His answer to the problem was a horn with the body of a brass instrument and the mouthpiece of a woodwind instrument. When he combined these two elements, the saxophone was born.

The first saxophone, a C bass, was displayed for the first time, in 1841, to the famous composer, Hector Berlioz. He was amazed at its versatility, unique tone, and control of dynamics. In 1842, Sax moved to Paris to introduce his new instrument to the rest of the world. Soon to follow was the creation of an entire saxophone family: fourteen different saxophones in all. Each differed by size and pitch. They were the: E flat sopranino, F sopranino, B flat soprano, C soprano, E flat alto, F alto, B flat tenor, C tenor, E flat baritone, B flat bass, C bass, E flat contrabass, and F contrabass. Many of these variations, however, are seldom used or have become obsolete.
The saxophone finally became known as an integral part of all bands in 1845. This is the year of the famous "battle of the bands". The French Army band was still using "traditional" instrumentation. Sax saw this as an opportunity to show the world how the saxophone could improve the tonal quality in all bands. He suggested a contest between an army band composed of the original orchestral instrumentation against a band with an instrumentation that included saxophones. Sax’s band of twenty-eight men, compared to the French Army band of thirty-five, overwhelmed the crowd. That day, the saxophone was officially introduced into the French Army Band and soon to all other bands.
Many composers began to write music for the saxophone, but it was not until about seventy-five years later that the saxophone began to be used to play dance music. However, to do this the saxophone needed to be altered. Originally, the sax was designed to have a smooth, mellow, and balanced tone. This had to be changed so it could compete with the blaring trumpets, noisy drums, shuffling feet, and loud talking that accompanied the surroundings of early twentieth century dance bands. The mouthpiece of the sax was made smaller and more parallel. This gave the sax the loud, obnoxious sound needed for jazz and dance music. Since this metamorphosis, the saxophone has been thought of as primarily a jazz instrument.
Today, many people enjoy the wonderful music produced by the saxophone. The beautiful sound of a sax quintet or a blaring jazz soloist can be heard all around the world. The saxophone has become a part of almost every style of music. It is being played everywhere from night clubs to football fields. The saxophone is truly one of the great musical instruments in our existence.