How to Play Low Notes on Saxophone (A Breathing Tutorial)

[Music] you have trouble sometimes getting the low notes to come out on your saxophone you're not alone this is something that every saxophone player struggles with in this video I'm gonna go over the most important thing you should be doing to help get the low notes to come out consistently on your horn it's all about breathing and how you use your hair once you learn how to use your air correctly it's not only going to help you improve getting the low notes out on your saxophone but it's gonna give you a better sound across the entire range of your instrument it's going to improve your timing your intonation and just about everything else my name is Jay Metcalf and on this channel I make videos to help you become a better sax player so if you're new here consider subscribing first of all your saxophone needs to be in good working order this means that all the pads are sealing if your horn has got loads of leaks in it you need to go see a repair technician and have it looked at so assuming that your horn is in good shape the key to getting the low notes to come out is all about your air we're gonna start by applying a breathing technique to how we play the low notes on the saxophone and then once you get that together we're going to apply the same thing to the rest of the range of the saxophone going all the way up until you hit your limit we do this because it's while attempting to play the low notes that any poor breathing technique is really exposed your air is the energy that powers the sound of the saxophone so before you blame your mouthpiece or reeds or your instrument for a not-so-great sound realize that even with the best equipment in the world if you don't have proper breathing technique you're not going to sound good also if you haven't already watched my embouchure tutorial video or my reed placement video go ahead and watch those next you need to be doing all of these things correctly for this to work there are links in the description below as well as on the screen some of you may have been sold or read somewhere that you need to breathe from your diaphragm when playing a wind instrument this is true but it's a bit confusing because we're always Barry with our diaphragm all day long that's the only way to breathe so let's dig deeper into exactly what is going on physically inside our bodies when we're breathing to play the saxophone or any wind instrument when we inhale we fill up our body's air tank just like a balloon when you take in air you should see your chest and abdomen expand now when we blow the air out into the saxophone we have to control the release of this air so that there is a consistent air pressure going into the saxophone to keep the reed vibrating I want you to picture an inflatable mattress if it's all full of air and you open the valve to let the air out at first the air is going to come out quickly but the air pressure is quickly gonna reduce and then the air is going to come out slower and slower until you have to squeeze the mattress to get the rest of the air out as wind instrument players we need to use the muscles of our abdomen to push the air out maintaining a constant air pressure so as our balloon empties itself we need to push more the less air we have in the tank the more we need to push so to do all of this correctly the first thing you need to get used to doing is filling up your air tank completely each time you take a breath now I've noticed that most saxophone students are not doing this when you breathe in you want to open your mouth so that you can get the air in quicker and it'll make less noise that way you don't want to be breathing in through your nose because it takes too long to fill up through your nose you want to quickly fill up your air tank allowing your abdomen to expand then your ribcage to expand and then your upper chest as you take in the air you should get bigger like a balloon now when you blow out you don't want to blow out in the same way you would if you were blowing out candles on a birthday cake instead you want to blow out as though you were fogging up a mirror this is gonna help you get two things done automatically number one it opens up the throat and lowers the tongue out of the way so it's going to help you get a more open and sound this also goes a long way to helping get those low notes to come out you'll see what I mean when you try this the second thing exhaling in this way does is it helps to regulate the controlled release of that air practice breathing in both of these ways up against your hand to feel the difference between these two ways of breathing and so I was blowing out candles and as I'm fogging up a mirror now when you try this blowing into the horn he's gonna feel quite a bit different you'll see just make sure you are maintaining a constant air pressure when you're playing the saxophone what we want to avoid is a fast rush of air at the beginning of an exhalation followed by a very weak air stream that results in like a honking sounds that we've all heard from beginner saxophone players it helps me to make a mental picture of a balloon pressed up against my mouthpiece I'm picturing I'm blowing into the saxophone and I'm picturing my body as like a balloon pressing up against the pressing air up against the mouthpiece and the Reed and my job is to maintain the pressure of this balloon against the air pressure against the mouthpiece consistently throughout my exhalation now the way you want to practice this is with long tones this way you don't have to think about anything else except for what you're doing with your air start with low e take a full breath as I described earlier filling up your air tank completely through your mouth then set your embouchure on the mouthpiece and blow as though you're fogging up a mirror maintain the air pressure using the muscles in your abdomen to gradually squeeze the air out of your body visualize a balloon pressing up against the mouthpiece throughout the exhalation repeat this for each note descending chromatically down to low B flat now breathing in this way is totally new to you expect it to take a bit of time before this becomes a habit you're gonna have to spend some time practicing this before it becomes something that you just do bitterly every time you play I recommend you practice this using long tones daily and then for the foreseeable future start with the low notes and then transfer the same breathing technique to the middle register and then up to the limit of your range pay careful attention not to allow yourself to fall back into poor breathing habits like not filling up completely with air or not maintaining consistent air pressure throughout the notes you can then concentrate on applying this breathing technique to everything else you play your saxophone sound is a long-term project so if you want to develop a beautiful sound you have to be prepared to put in the necessary time however starting off with good technique and good habits is going to go a long way towards reducing the amount of time it takes for you to get a beautiful sound if you got some value out of this video please let me know by clicking the like button and in the comment section below I'd love to hear from you about the aspects of saxophone playing you're having the most trouble with and would like me to address in a future video head over to better sax calm to enroll in my free play sax by ear course there are links on the screen and in the description below [Music]

Channel: Better Sax

Views: 167,992

Rating: 4.9626689 out of 5

Keywords: better sax, saxophone, learn to play saxophone, sax lessons, alto saxophone, tenor sax, learn sax, low notes, how to play low notes, wind instrument breathing, how to blow into a saxophone, saxophone breath, jay metcalf, jay metcalf saxophone, tenor saxophone, sax lesson, sax lessons online free, beginner sax lessons, beginner saxophone lessons, tips for beginner saxophone players

Id: Buo8wg1xkvU

Length: 8min 14sec (494 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 31 2018