Saxophone Warmup
Isolate
to train the muscles (breath, fingers, tongue, embouchure), the ear, and the
brain daily. Balance routine
(perfection) with variety (progress). Be
so prepared as to create a ¡°runner¡¯s high¡± for the muscles & brain.
Breathing
Singing
(tuning the ear)
Tone
Technique
(fingers)
Tuning
Practice
plan
Warm-up
(Daily) Breathing
Every
object in the world has a spirit and that spirit can be released by setting it
into vibration.
Fast,
controlled, flexible air allows more control in tone, tuning, articulation,
extreme ranges and other aspects similar to bow control on string instruments.
There
are many breathing exercises from many sources
(singers, instrumentalists, athletes, and self-awareness activities).
Explore them all, use what helps you now, keep a notebook, evolve.
Aspects
that I like include:
-
stretch
inhale & exhale to the max (2 segments in with no exhale between; 3
exhaustive exhales with no inhale between)
-
awareness
of ribcage expansion, posture (shoulders, spine, head, feet, knees)
Warm-up
(Daily) breathing + Singing
If
you sing in tune you play in tune, if you sing right notes you play right notes,
play fast to the ear not to the fingers. Singing
is an indication of what the brain (ear) is hearing.
After
breathing exercises use the same good air flow to sing tuning exercises.
I prefer to:
-
sing 4ths
and 5ths over a sounding tuner
-
see the
notes in your head as you sing
-
each day
vary the starting note and possibly the sequence of starting notes (m2, M2, m3,
P4)
-
try to
sing the first note before turning on the tuner
-
eventually
vary the 4th/5th exercise to other intervals/patterns
-
tongue/slur,
fast/slow
Warm-up
(Daily) breathing + ear + Tone,
saxophone
back to
top
Operate
on the principle that inside every not-so-beautiful note there¡¯s a beautiful
note trying to get out. I want to
figure out a way to get it out. Free that note!
Things
that take the longest, start the soonest. Tone
is a lifetime of work. Tone has a living soul without form.
Like brass players buzzing, or string players beginning
on open strings, or flutes beginning on head-joint begin saxophone tone on the neck
alone.
Embouchure
-
Whistle
position, note corners in, chin flat & down (allowing the reed
to vibrate freely), tongue forward (keeping the back of the tongue down,
allowing air to flow freely)
-
Anchor
top teeth
-
Not too
much bottom lip rolled in (as if biting fleshy part of lower lip without
mouthpiece)
Release
of tone
-
keep
consistent breath support through sound & silence
-
 Londeix diagrams as and calls it a vowel attack
-
Fast,
focused air as if blowing through a straw
-
In
classical articulation only the tongue moves, not jaw, throat or embouchure
Dynamics
Articulation
Vibrato
Changing
notes
Warm-up
(Daily) breathing + ear + Tone +
dynamics (on
neck)
Crescendo/decrescendo
on the neck listening for consistent tone quality.
-
don¡¯t
let tone get ¡°buzzy¡± on crescendo, or flat, or ¡°spread¡±
-
go to
¡°nothing¡± on decrescendo, expand your control and variety of dynamics from
just a few increments to many dynamic increments
-
do 2
segments in one breath, the second attack (release) is crucial to gain control
over air/reed
-
PLAY THE
FOLLOWING ON THE NECK, SOUNDS F ON ALTO
-
be aware
of the dichotomy during the decrescendo (keep air speed, focus further forward)
decrescendo is a smaller aperture, not slower air.
-
Balance
the energy in and energy out. ¡°Sound¡moves against the air current as well
as with it. When tone is produced,
the vibrations are active behind the reed as well as in front¡ The oral
cavity¡ supplies the reed with the necessary pressure to make it vibrate and
furnish a very important resonance chamber.¡±
Tim Mc Allister
¡°The sound of a ¡®wind¡¯ instrument is not so much air flow as it is
wave circulation¡± Ernest Feron
Warm-up
(Daily) breathing + ear + Tone +
dynamics + articulation (on neck), saxophone
back to top
Still on the neck, as in previous (dynamics)
follow this link for more
saxophone
articulation
further
examples of Londeix¡¯s diagrams include:
Warm-up
(Daily) breathing + ear + Tone +
dynamics + vibrato (still
on neck),
saxophone
back to
top
-
the
vibrato should affect pitch minimally
-
think
about vibrating longitudinally along the reed
-
decrescendo
to nothing is very difficult with vibrato & good tone
Warm-up
(Daily) breathing + Tone + articulation + vibrato + changing
tones
Tone
is a solid substance which you modulate, divide, raise, and lower.
-
begin with side key F (sounds saxophone Eb) because it is an extension
of the neck air column
-
after the ¡°simple¡± air stream of extended neck work with more
complex air columns, start next with relating simple airstream notes with the
long fingering of the same pitch (see below).
Warm-up
(Daily) Tone + Technique, saxophone
back to top
By concentrating on precision, one arrives at
technique; but by concentrating on technique one does not arrive at precision.
Hand
position
Speed
Patterns
As the warmup becomes more routine and seemingly
less necessary, for variety try putting technique (or tuning, or singing at the
end of a practice session)
Warm-up
(Daily) Tone + technique, Hand position
-
keep fingers curved, close to the keys and relaxed
-
some people even try double-stick tape on keys/fingers
-
working with a mirror is valuable
-
think of moving only the joint closest to the fingertip
-
do silent exercises, or even away from the saxophone (sometimes
movement, sometimes isometric)
-
think of squeezing the keys, or think of tapping the keys
-
be aware of vibrations in fingertips, lower back, heels of feet.
-
Mazzeo says woodwind players play more accurately when playing with
down-moving fingers. When moving up from F to G there¡¯s an (inefficient)
involuntary downward movement of the LH fingers.
Warm-up
(Daily) Tone + technique, Speed
Like
any professional needing to have a huge body of knowledge to diagnose even
simple problems, we need to have the ability to play anything.
Beyond the physical attributes of hand position,
mental attributes of grouping, anticipating (sound), and thorough
practicing are key. For an example from a piece see Practice techniques: troubleshoot
-
hear (anticipate) landmarks within the scale (hear rising scale in
thirds; hear/see each fifth note in scales)
-
sing (and see in your head) the scales
-
always do patterns forward & backward, and begin on the backward or
mid-pattern
-
practice even the smallest segments (trills, 3-note patterns)
-
keep a notebook, track beginning notes, sequence of scales (circle of
5ths, chromatic, whole tone, grab bag)
-
sometimes with metronome, sometimes with tuner, sometimes with
articulations.
-
sometimes troubleshoot toughest (extreme ranges, difficult key/pattern),
sometimes allow yourself only one time.
-
Sometimes silently finger the scale before playing it.
Warm-up
(Daily) Tone + technique, Patterns
Without
technique there is no art. Yet technique is part of the service economy. It does
not manufacture goods but facilitates their production
Major,
minor scales (full range), broken diatonic thirds, fourths, etc.
Chromatic, whole tone; broken chromatic intervals (CEb,C#E,DF,D#F#,EG¡)
Arpeggios to 7th, 9th or more; major, dominant; minor
& diminished in different forms
Pentatonic, blues
Any of the above in stepwise 3rds or 4ths (1234,2345,3456,4567)
Any of the above into altissimo (I begin with major/minor arpeggios for tuning)
Taffenel & Gaubert (flute), particularly #1
Finger exercises as opposed to tonal exercises (see below)
Patterns from current pieces
With articulations (see masterclass, articulations)
Finger exercises based on finger patterns, not tonality
     and reverse
    and reverse
Warm-up
(Daily) Tone + Tuning, saxophone
back to top
-
daily play 4ths/5ths over a sounding tuner (like singing warmup)
-
wait until after instrument is warm to tune
-
alter pitches with fingerings below, over months our ears will make
adjustments and will eventually not need the corrective fingerings
Warm-up
(Daily), Practice plan
The spontaneity of an artist doesn¡¯t flow from
unrehearsed consciousness. It flows
because they thought about things so hard and honestly that they were attuned to
the puzzles and contradictions which demand a leap of faith, or play.
To
recap the essential daily warmup, always work on
Breathing,
singing
Tone
Technique
Tuning
Plan
for the day:
-
long term factors (reeds, altissimo, circular breathing, doubletongue,
articulations, sightreading, slap, multiphonics), see these topics in masterclass
topics.
-
new piece and/or working on old piece
The
most important decision in a practice session is to plan the next practice
session because:
-
Your practice ideas deserve the superior attention of the beginning of a
practice session, not in the stream of consciousness
-
Practice is more efficient when a pre-determined task is completed and
another is identified. When
finished with the plan of the day, STOP.
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