As some of you may know, I've been working with balloons for the past few years as a means of arriving at unconventional sonic outcomes. I recently had a two soprano gathering with Toronto-based soprano saxophonist and improviser Kayla Milmine. We tried out one of her discoveries using balloons which I jokingly called "The Milmine-Method."
In describing how this works, Kayla said, “... basically half of the hole in the neck of the horn has to be uncovered in order to get the sound to play. Also, I cut the part of the balloon off that you blow the air through because it was too tight around the cork - I place the mouthpiece on the very end of the neck so that the rubber and cork don't have too much contact, as it squeezes the cork, and causes it to chip.”
In describing the different sounds produced, Kayla said: “I especially like the multi-phonics in the low register."
When playing the soprano in this prepared state, multiphonics is the default sound between the range of Bb1 - Ab1. Of course, this can vary between set-ups. Also, note that conventional multiphonic fingerings don't work in this context. It is only necessary to use conventional fingerings.
Please see the three-step preparation process below:
STEP 3
This performance was recorded on January 10, 2020, at LIU Brooklyn in the Barbara Elliot Performing Arts Studio.
And thank you to Kayla for sharing her discovery!
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