octave slurring

[oudai]

hi
good morning every one ,,,

I play sax for almost 4 months ,,, self learning ( because i live in country they dont play this kind of instruments ,, so we dont have teacher for this instrument )
I have 4c mouthpiece and 1.5 vandorin reed ,,

I have some trouble with slurring between the octave ..
what i mean exactly when I play ( low g ) then i want slur to octave ( high g ) ,, it's fine here ,, but when I slur again form high g to low g ,, the sound will be in high g ,, unless if i toungh ..

my sax is okay there is no leak ,, and I can play the note with and without the octave with toungh ,,,

so I think the problem from me not the sax ,,
so could some will help me for some advice or excrice ,,,

best of regards ,,

 

[jbtsax]

What you are experiencing is common. One idea that helps me is that I feel as if I am playing the low octave before the note changes. In other words think low G as you are playing the high G, then release the octave key.

There is a test that you can do to see if your embouchure is too tight. Play low A with a big full tone, and as you are holding that note flick the neck octave key with your free hand. If the note goes to high A and then in a second or two comes smoothly back down, your embouchure is correct. If it stays on high a for a long time before dropping, your embouchure is too tight. If the high A sounds flat and flabby, your embouchure is too loose.

 

[oudai]

What you are experiencing is common. One idea that helps me is that I feel as if I am playing the low octave before the note changes. In other words think low G as you are playing the high G, then release the octave key.

There is a test that you can do to see if your embouchure is too tight. Play low A with a big full tone, and as you are holding that note flick the neck octave key with your free hand. If the note goes to high A and then in a second or two comes smoothly back down, your embouchure is correct. If it stays on high a for a long time before dropping, your embouchure is too tight. If the high A sounds flat and flabby, your embouchure is too loose.

coool

also I found this the body octave key is not adjusted very well .. now i did the adjustment and i can slure better than before ..

thanks my friend

 

[Jazzaferri]

practicing long tones and the overtone series will help immensely. Never to early to start this IMO

 

[kevgermany]

Think about breathing as well. It needs to change as you release the octave key. Just backing off a touch helps a lot.

 

[Pete Thomas]

In an ideal world, the octave key would act as an octave key. Often people at first think that it is like any other key and when pressed or released then the note changes automatically. But very often some subtle change in airstream and/or embouchure is needed to get the octave (which is an overtone or harmonic see here)

You'll probably notice that it's possible to play up an octave without pressing the octave key, in fact on other woodwinds such as flute there is no octave key, and switching between the fundamental and overtone is done with airstream/embouchure.

As you will notice the octave key causes a small tone hole to open on the neck or body (depending on which note you're playing). This is not a normal tone hole, it merely facilitates the switch to the first overtone (one octave).

Slurring up will often be easier than slurring down, especially if the instrument has any leaks (which can often be undetectable even with a leak light as they could be due to leak at the neck tenon or body to bow or bell joint)

In fact it's a very good exercise to try slurring octaves without the octave key.

 

[Tiberius]

...In fact it's a very good exercise to try slurring octaves without the octave key.

I find it ironic that as an "improver" i now try deliberately to do all those things i did accidentally as a beginner 🙂

 

[oudai]

thanks guys for your advice and support ^_^