Tee ta

Tenor Sax · Apr 18, 2007

I'm not sure if this is going to be easy to explain, but here goes.

I have heard mention of attacking notes with open throat and partly closed by using ta, tee or something similar. Is there a written law or guide on how, when, were please.

Chris

Pete Thomas · Apr 18, 2007

Hmm

Throat should be open all the time and the tongue is used to start the note. With tongue on the reed, start note by articulating "too". To stop the note put tongue back on reed. (Tip of tongue on tip of reed ideally IMO, but opnions vary on this)

Linky Lee · Apr 18, 2007

I made a thread a couple months ago when I attended a session run by Rob Buckland.

His advice was a 'Dah' sound should be your standard articulation. Nice open throat etc.

Then different phonetics for different types of accents.

You see you can't actually tongue 'harder' to accent as the tongue moving off the reed is what starts the note. It's either off or on.

a 'Lah' sound is a smoother almost legato tonguing effect.

'Ha' is a more aggressive tonguing etc.

If you sing tunes to yourself as if you were playing them it's like du, bee bo da, ba doodle da bee bo da (Moose the Mooche idea) kind of idea, these phonetics are making the accents. no one sings Moose the Mooche la, la la la, la lalala la la la.

You will notice the more aggresive phonetics like 'urgh' 'uh' and 'Ha' start much lower down near your lungs and lower throat. 'Tee' and 'Ta' start right at the front of your mouth and that gives a pretty rubbishy tone.

The lower down it starts the more it 'fills out' and the more control over the tone you have.

Try some of these and see what works for you.

Tenor Sax · Apr 19, 2007

"If you sing tunes to yourself as if you were playing them it's like du, bee bo da, ba doodle da bee bo da"

This is exactly where my grey matter becomes confused. Lets see if its gone in this time. du,da and accent that start from the tongue are used to produce the tone changes. ?

If it appears a bit dim please excuse me. I have heard mention of accents but never had the Nerve so show my ignorance. (until today) Proves how comfortable this site is.

Chris

gordonc · Apr 19, 2007

OK
Here's another beginner type question:

Many teachers / experts / gurus ..... advise learning to sing the song or tune to yourself, both when playing and when practicing.

Now, that seems obvious and sensible. But what do you hear in your head when your singing it? Assuming it's a tune with no words, or a solo etc.

Do you - or should you - sing / hear "la la lahh , la laaa laaaa" or is it better to learn it by internally singing a series of sax articulation sounds pitched at the note your aiming for? "Tuh ta ta duh doo ahhhh" ?

What do you hear in your head while you play?

Pete Thomas · Apr 19, 2007

I think they mean to do this while improvising on that particular tune, not when you are just playing the tune (as you mare hearing the melody anyway).

This is a good habit to get into, and it really isn't necessary to hear any kind of articulation, just the pitches, but nothing wrong with imagining any kind of articulation. But it IS usful to imagine the words.

(PS - always best to start a new question in a new thread)

Linky Lee · Apr 19, 2007

I find 'da' gives a stoccato like accent. whilst a 'doo' is your bog standard tonguing. 'dah' is slightly elongated and doesn't cut off so quickly and gives a tenuto (spelling?) like accent.

The tongue can't make the accent louder, as I said it's either stopping air flow or letting air flow. It doesn't matter how hard you pull the tongue away from the reed, it won't make a stronger accent.

What will make a stronger accent is how much air you are blowing down the horn when your tongue releases or how fast it is traveling.
Also the volume will affect the accent.

The different phonetics give more or less surface area of the reed covered by the tongue and therefore gives either a heavier or softer emphasis on the beginning and end of the note.