Saxophone Basic Technique

Seventy-five years since the discovery of Saxophone, saxophone finally began to be used in dance music. Saxophone are designed to have a soft tone, smooth, and balanced. That's why the saxophone to complement the sound of trumpets, drums, and bustle of people talking around the dance bands of the early 20th century. Saxophone mouthpieces made smaller and more parallel, it makes the sound louder saxophone and is perfect for jazz and dance music. Since the process of metamorphosis is the saxophone became one of the main tools in jazz.

Based on the history of development of the saxophone at the top, then in studying the saxophone can not ignore the history of jazz and dance music. Saxophone is one instrument that is still fairly young, as compared to other types of wind instruments like the flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and others. 

Saxophone Basic Technique

Embouchure

In saxophone playing techniques, embouchure formation illustrates the lips, teeth, jaw, and the muscles around the mouth when air is blown through the mouthpiece. Embouchure resulted in an effort to produce a good tone and the ability to control the saxophone well.

In practice, there are some embouchure formation is often used by many saxophonist, but I will only outline one embouchure formation which is currently the most widely used and can produce quality sound and good tone. Too many bottom lip that sticks to the teeth and lower lip too much folded into the mouthpiece. In these difficult formations such as voice and tone brighter (bright), freer, and more flexible.

While embouchure formation at the bottom of the image to produce sounds and tones that are brighter, because the reed vibrations produced can be more free. From this picture, reed remains untouched by the lower lip, but only a small portion of the lower lip that sits between the mouthpiece and teeth. Imagine the letter "V" to find a comfortable position of the lips in order to produce a good tone.

Tongue (à tonguing technique tongue)

Techniques tongue (tongue; tonguing) is one of the basic techniques in playing the saxophone. The tongue is used to provide accent attack or when it starts to remove the air through the mouthpiece.

There are a wide variety of tonguing, but generally use tonguing technique is by touching the tongue to the end of the reed, while saying "dah" when the tip of the tongue touches the tip of the reed.

Breathing

Playing the saxophone technique is a woodwind instrument such as exercise, we must often practice so that the ability to play the better wind instrument line with the good condition of our body. Breathing exercises should be a part of our routine practice in order to increase the ability to control the instrument anyway.

All saxophonist must learn to take a breath from the lower abdomen, because of this section a saxophonist will acquire the capacity of air to breathe, strength, and endurance to control the saxophone.

To practice breathing using the diaphragm, first we have to learn to breathe using the bottom of the stomach to get enough air capacity, vigorous and has the durability to control the blower.