this video is about the saxophone embouchure which is everything that's going on
with your mouth when playing the saxophone now it's really important to
get this right from the very beginning as incorrect technique and bad habits
can cause you some big problems and some long-term difficulties so let's get to
it I'm going to demonstrate it first with just the mouthpiece on the neck if
you're a beginner this is a great way to get started just isolating getting a
good sound on the saxophone without the rest of the horn if you haven't already
done so take two minutes right now and go watch my video about how to put a
reed on the mouthpiece correctly the link is on the screen. this is extremely
important to do right before you get started when we put the mouthpiece into
our mouth we're going to have to have our top teeth in contact with the top of
the mouthpiece like that this is going to anchor the mouthpiece to your body to
your head and keep things from moving around now you're going to want to put
the mouthpiece into your mouth about to the point where the reed comes into
contact with the rest of the mouthpiece this is an approximation there's room to
take a little bit more or a little bit less you have to experiment and find
which position works best for you and get you the best results your bottom lip
is going to be between your bottom teeth and the Reed you're going to want it to
act as a cushion for the reed to vibrate on now you're going to close your mouth
around the mouthpiece applying equal pressure from all sides as though you
were closing a drawstring bag this is going to make your bottom lip very
fleshy and bunched up which is what we want now don't bite down too hard on the
Reed you only want to apply firm pressure equally from all sides but
especially concentrate on bringing the corners of your mouth in now we're going
to go ahead and play a notes take a deep breath in
and blow a steady stream of air pushing from your diaphragm all the while
keeping the steady and constant pressure from all sides of your mouth
play that note for as long as you can hold it keep your throat open and
relaxed think of making an AH or an O shape with your throat all the while
keeping that constant pressure on all sides but without biting repeat this
several times and experiment with slightly different placements of how far
in the mouthpiece goes and how much pressure you put on the Reed and try to
get the most beautiful sound you can with just your neck and mouthpiece now
we're going to put the neck on our saxophone and we're going to tighten the
screw and we're going to play some long tones on notes over the whole range of
our saxophone keeping in mind everything we just talked about making a good
embouchure let's start with middle D on our alto
saxophone
you
now practice playing long tones in this way over the entire range of your
saxophone it's normal for the muscles in your mouth and face to get tired as you
play you're going to have to play every day to build strength you'll notice that
as your embouchure tires the corners of your mouth are going to pull back into a
bit of a smile this is going to make your sound get thinner and less
controlled there's no point in continuing to play when you've got a
exhausted embouchure you're just going to develop bad habits the best thing to
do is to take short frequent breaks as you need them I suggest doing something
related to practicing like listening to music so that you can come right back
and get into practicing again once you've recovered I strongly recommend
that all saxophonists begin every practice session by playing long tones
this is to strengthen your embouchure muscles develop control and build a
beautiful sound everyone's physiology is different some
people have more of an overbite some people have more of an underbite lip
size varies from person to person the shape and size of your head and jaw all
contribute to your individual sound every saxophonist needs to play a lot
and experiment in order to find their personal embouchure the instructions are
given here our broad overview they can be applied to everyone but the minut
details for each person are going to vary based on a whole range of factors
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the most out of practicing long tones as well as a whole series of sound and
technique exercises visit bettersax.com for lots more on how to improve your saxophone
playing and reach your goals faster