Tone or Sound subtone

[saxn00b445]

is subtone supposed to be achieved by moving the bottom lip lower on the reed to dampen the sound? or is it achieved by just lowering/widening the airstream and keeping the embrochure the same?
found you can achieve a subtone by doing both but am not sure if one or the other is better, or if they can both be done interchangably. also i find doing the former (dampening the reed by moving the bottom of the lip lower on the reed) makes the sound slightly more thin and muffled than doing the latter variation of subtone.

 

[Tuppertn]

Ooo, technique stuff. Me likey. I'll be anxious to hear how the real players here respond.

Personally, I think of it more like getting a partial sound with airstream management rather than dampening your full sound. As your airflow ramps up, there's an intermediate phase where only part of the reed is vibrating at a relatively low amplitude. Normally, we start with a strong airstream and transition quickly through that partially vibrating phase. For subtone, it's balancing the air to get the reed into that intermediate phase where is just starts vibrating and holding it there.

I don't know if it's "correct" or not but I prefer to keep a stronger airstream and allow the excess air pressure to leak out the corners of my embouchure. I lower my jaw, relax the corners of my mouth and just lay in a fat, slow airstream like you're trying to fog up a cold window pane.

 

[skeller047]

For subtone, I blow into the mouthpiece rather than through the horn. And less air than for a full tone. That’s just how it feels. I do move my lower lip back a bit (toward the tip of the reed) too, but it’s really mostly about the air stream.