Playing Low Resistance on C2 & C#2 - a Consequence of Soft Reeds ?

[rhysonsax]

Over time (maybe the last 10 years of playing) I have moved towards softer reeds, particularly on tenor and baritone. I am playing 2.5 strength Rigotti and Rigotti-made reeds, where I used to play 3.5 by various makers on both horns. My setup is quite conventional for jazz players - medium to large chamber mouthpieces around 7 to 7*.

I like the tone quality and flexibility that these soft reeds give me and I seem to get plenty of volume throughout the range, although I don't go beyond F#3.

One issue I have noticed is that there isn't much resistance to blow against on the middle C and C#. I guess this is because the effective tube length is at its shortest. The same issue doesn't arise in the second octave, so C3, C#3 and the palm key notes are not affected in the same way.

The lack of resistance means that l feel that these notes can sound a bit weak and wobbly, especially when they are long in duration.

Is this a common issue for "short tube pitches" and has anyone got tips for dealing with it ?

Rhys

 

[Pete Thomas]

I suppose an important question is whether or not this is a bad thing? I also graduated to much softer reeds, but found that the lowering in resistance seemed to be good for developing my embouchure and air support.

 

[Pete Effamy]

Stating the obvious, obviously, but the two approaches are exactly that. I remember being in a clarinet lesson at college and my prof was thinking that he needed to update his clarinets from 1010 Symphony's, to a pair of Buffet R13 or RC that "everyone" played on in the 80's.

On trying each other's instrument we discovered that his was very easy blowing ( I presume normal for the B&H 1010's) and mine had quite a resistance, with a Portnoi BP02 I played on for years. We couldn't imagine playing on the other setup, though the end results were similar - I very much played with a more open embouchure than the norm for a non "English" setup.

Sax-wise, it's less resistant (for me). The difference is merely whether you prefer to have something to push against and help gauge what is going on, or whether you develop towards what flute players have to do with their breathing technique as there is no resistance at all.

The problem you have with certain notes being weak or wobbly is that they lack support, so you'll need to work more on long tones and make sure that your embouchure stays open and doesn't waver.

I don't think there is a "one is better" or you'd be able to pick players out that sit in either camp.

 

[rhysonsax]

I suppose an important question is whether or not this is a bad thing? I also graduated to much softer reeds, but found that the lowering in resistance seemed to be good for developing my embouchure and air support.

With my current setups I am comfortable with the resistance in general and have developed embouchure and air support that work with that, but with these couple of notes standing out as significantly different from the whole rest of the range.

It is this localised and significant difference in resistance that I am wondering about in this thread. Do other people notice the same thing and are there strategies for making those two notes feel more like the rest of the instrument ?

Rhys

 

[Pete Effamy]

The Trevor Wye practice idea springs to mind as a fix - start with a good note and work either side, comparing until they sound the same and then move on to the next.

If there are acoustic abnormalities with the short pipe (JBT’s area) in particular then there should b stuff on the internet about it.

I guess it’s sort of similar to clarinet throat notes - though a bit different as the cylindrical bore and the length:bore size ratio is not kept like the saxophone length:cone.

Throat notes on clarinet are fixed largely with throat and good air, though “resonance fingerings” help enormously.

Sax fix must be about throat and air too, I suspect some get into extra fingers too, but I don’t think it’s needed.

 

[Pete Thomas]

but with these couple of notes standing out as significantly different from the whole rest of the range

I know what you mean. I wonder if it affects flute doublers less having been used to blowing with more or less no resistance.