Visualising the sound. How to it right?

[Dolce Vita]

Hi there!
Just want to thank you first for site and forum - it really helps!
And my question is about visualisation. Maybe because of the language (my first one is russian) I cannot get it clear from the article on your site. WHERE exactly I should see the sound? WHERE is that line? Is it like a screen in front of me? or should I see the sound going from inside me into the sax and out of the bell. Please help me with that as I believe (and even know from my professional experience in other area) that visualisation has a great power.
Maybe somebody can share some other tips for visualising the sound and how it can improve your play

 

[Phil Edwards]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I think you got it right when you said...

...should I see the sound going from inside me into the sax and out of the bell.

regards, Phil

 

[Dolce Vita]

hhmmm... But where then I see a beginning of the sound? again is it my lungs and then the straight line of the sound goes through the mouthpiece...or it starts at the mouthpiece?

 

[Pee Dee]

It's all in the head mate, going round and round and round and round.........

 

[Pete Thomas]

I would not bother trying to visualise your lungs or mouthpiece, Just the sound. I can understand if this doesn't work well everyone, it works for me and some people but I haven't really researched on how to do it for anyone who is finding it hard. Sorry. But I definitely think the best is to close your eyes and imagine the shapes/colors etc.

 

[Dolce Vita]

OK...First I probably really need to keep the SOUND in my head and after that to visualise that... Maybe that was my problem I tryed to see just a picture and forgot about how it should sound ... But thank you guys for your advises - gonna go now and just practice, practice, practice. That's I think what it is;}

 

[Pete Thomas]

Just thought I'd revive this as it's a very interesting topic IMO.

The original article referenced is this one:

Your own sound: is it bright or dark? How to visualise your sound

Looking the way people describe their saxophone tone, we may all mean different things by bright & dark. What does your sound look like?

tamingthesaxophone.com

 

[Digger2054]

I remember my first saxophone lesson with my current teacher.

"play a note"
"now play it better"
"now play it better still"
"now do it again, but imagine I'm stood over by those tree's, imagine the sound travelling down the saxophone, out the bell, and all the way over there"

Bizzarely it does work. Same as when he plays a note, once I've heard it and know what it should sound like, it seems easier to achieve.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Bizzarely it does work

Yes it does and I must add that to the article. Not quite the same, I have found while playing live it really useful to look at the back of the venue and imagine my sound getting to the people there or hitting the wall. I'll probably never know if it actually affects the "projection" but it does make me feel good and I think I play better for that.

 

[Jimmymack]

Visualising probably isn't the most useful word here, although it's commonly used, I wold have thought hearing, feeling or imagining are better.

 

[thomsax]

When I'm doing all the borings long tone excercises I used to place something in the corner of the room. Play with a full tone so my tone reach out in every inch of the room. When I shot a penalty kick my focus was not on the on ball, the goalkeeper ... I was think about the ball was hitting the net. The problem was that sometimes the goalkeeper was thinking in the way.

 

[jbtsax]

Reading this thread I wonder if "conceptualizing the sound" might be more accurate or useful than "visualizing".

 

[Pete Thomas]

Visualising probably isn't the most useful word here, although it's commonly used, I wold have thought hearing, feeling or imagining are better.

Seems good to me, given the images which you are actually seeing. Or yes, maybe imagining the images. But it's definitely about seeing not feeling.

Reading this thread I wonder if "conceptualizing the sound"

Again no, conceptualising is good, but again it's about actually seeing the sound in images not concepts.

Granted, perhaps it's time I updated the actual images now I have a slightly better grasp of vectors.

 

[Colin the Bear]

I've enough problems playing without geometry.

 

[Jimmymack]

Seems good to me, given the images which you are actually seeing. Or yes, maybe imagining the images. But it's definitely about seeing not feeling.

Again no, conceptualising is good, but again it's about actually seeing the sound in images not concepts.

Granted, perhaps it's time I updated the actual images now I have a slightly better grasp of vectors.

If it works like that for you then that's great, but for me it's nothing to do with images, not visual images anyway and maybe that's not what you are referring to, I'm not Kandinsky. Visualisation in music, and possibly anything come to that, to me is structured abstract thoughts, in this case sound and form.

 

[Pete Thomas]

maybe that's not what you are referring to,

Yes I was referring to images as you can see in the article.

Visualisation in music, and possibly anything come to that, to me is structured abstract thoughts,

Well I was just using the word in it’s accepted meaning, ie as mental images. I can see why you might use the term re: abstract thoughts but I would not specifically use the word visualise. But perhaps visualise is one form of "conceptualizing"

I agree totally this idea as suggested in the article is not going to work for everyone.

 

[skeller047]

I think the idea is if you can form a mental concept of something, your body will do the right thing to make that thing happen. I focus on a spot on the wall, 10 ft. or so away, and try to hear the sound emanating from that point. This helps with “projection” (a conceptualization term in itself), and I’m aware of changes in my body as I focus on that, but describing those changes precisely would be hard for me to do. It’s as if my body were propelling the sound.

All very touchy-feely, and kind of vague, but it does help me, and back when I had students, it helped them too.

 

[Dr G]

I have found while playing live it really useful to look at the back of the venue and imagine my sound getting to the people there or hitting the wall.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If I play to the back of the room, I know that my sound is everywhere in between.