Beginner Low g sounds like a high g

[Semolina Pilchard]

Hello all, just an update and a request for advice if that's ok?
Firstly, I am well into my second year with my horn and loving every minute of it. Not studying for exams but my tutor tells me I'm playing at a grade 2-3, whatever that means. So deffo progress being made. Just need to find the time to practice.

I'm plodding along nicely, and at least I can hear where I'm going wrong even if I'm not technically gifted enough to correct them, yet!

It's lovely to be able to pick up my horn with the confidence that I can at least get something credible out of it.

And I am enjoying my new found interest in jazz music.

But I have a niggling frustration, when I play a high G, then remove my thumb off the octave key, the note stays high. My tutor says it's a common problem and he suffered similar when learning on a tenor. He advises me to relax my embrouchure a little but this only works now and again and is very hit and miss. The problem happens both on tongued notes and when sliding from high to low.

Any advise warmly received, thanks in advance.

 

[Veggie Dave]

He advises me to relax my embrouchure a little

He's right.

but this only works now and again and is very hit and miss.

Practise. Hours and hours of practise. The biggest surprise that comes with playing the sax is the discovery of how frustrating it can be. It is worth the time, honestly.

 

[jbtsax]

This is a common issue for saxophone players---especially those who play tenor. First of all it is not a good practice to tighten the embouchure for the high notes and loosen for the low ones. The same embouchure tension should be used throughout the range of the saxophone.

There is a good way to see if your embouchure is too tight to begin with. Play a low A and with you free hand flick the neck octave key open momentarily. If the note goes to high A and stays up a long time, the embouchure is too tight. If it goes up to a flat and flabby sounding high A it is too loose. If it goes up to an in tune high A and drops back down after a second or two, the embouchure tension is correct. Another way to check is to play the mouthpiece and neck (crook) apart from the saxophone. The note produced should be an E concert (piano note). If it is higher, the embouchure is too tight.

If the embouchure checks out ok, there is another area to check. On the saxophone, the back of the tongue can act like an "octave key". When the tongue goes to an "EE" shape, it tends to make the note go up an octave. This is especially true of low G. A way to address this problem is:

• Sing low G on an "AHH'
• Blow that pitch on your airstream like an airy whistle
• Play that note on the sax with the same air and feeling in the mouth and throat
• Hold the low G as a long tone to get the "taste" of that note

Once the low G is well established, without using the octave key, slur the note to high G and back by making the tongue alternate between "AHH" and "EE". It can also be tongued using "Tah" and "Tee". You will eventually be able to play either note at will without the octave key.

The last suggestion is when you are playing a high G and know it is going to low G in the music, blow the high G with the feeling of low G so when you release the octave key, the sax will go where you want.

 

[Colin the Bear]

Check both octave mechanisms are working and switching. Finger G with octave and alternate G to A. You should see the neck octave alternating with the body octave. Make sure both are closing. Before you play, open and close all pads. The ones that are closed at rest sometimes dry stuck and aren't sealing. Don't forget G# and C#.

Once you're happy the instrument is ok. It's just down to practice and following the above advice

 

[Semolina Pilchard]

Thanks for the useful info. Practice seems to be the main thing, possibly something I'm not doing enough. A tight embrouchure sounds about right, as my tutor has said. I think in my excitement of hitting high notes I might tighten up. The advice has certainly given me something to try. Many thanks.

 

[davidsol]

Hi Semolina, I have been having the same problem as you, I've been learning from scratch for the last 6 months. Two things seem to have helped me, pushing forward more lower lip, starting from a bit nearer the end of the MPC and separately putting a little pad on top of the MPC which can distort the sound a little, at least to my ears but I've found that when I remove the pad, I have less problems with the unwanted octaves on the lower notes in general. I think my breathing has also improved, concentrating on the "warm air" effect, breathing from low down in the lungs. I'm not sure if what I'm doing is wrong, I also relax the embouchure a little for lower notes, especially the D so I hope I'm not leading you astray. I find it very difficult to keep exactly the same embouchure for low and octave notes.

On another note (sorry) I was at a village festival last night and there was young girl playing amazing tenor effortlessly on polkas and the like, made me wqnt to give up !

Best wishes, David

 

[Eoe]

i solved that problem by getting a better sax lol