Tonguing Your Way to a Great Sound!

One of my least favorite things to practice on the saxophone is tonguing. I'm note sure why, but I think it might have to do with the fact that it feels so physical, and the fact that I never been good at it.

Tonguing is, however, great for sound development and tightening the corners of your embouchure. The reason for this (and this is just my theory, not a scientific fact) is that every time the tonque touches the reed, it slightly pushes the mouthpiece forward, causing your embouchure to slightly tighten its grip.

To see it in another way, try this experiment: Take your left hand and grip your right. Next, try to pull your right hand out of the left hand's grip, but never letting your hands separate, and repeat this motion several times. You'll notice that your grip in the left hand gets slightly firmer as this yanking motion occurs. This is sort how tonguing works.

One exercise I like to do on soprano is to play a lot repetitive notes in the lower register. For example, as sixteenth notes play: DDDD,DDDD,DDDD,DDDD,DbDbDbDb,DbDbDbDb,DbDbDbDb,DbDbDbDb,BBBB,BBBB,BBBB,BBBB,
CCCC,CCCC,CCCC,CCCC,BbBbBbBb,BbBbBbBb,BbBbBbBb,BbBbBbBb,BbBbBbBb,BbBbBbBb,BbBbBbBb,
BbBbBbBb

I'll repeat this exercise several times without taking a break, until I physically can't play it anymore, which I usually count as one set. In general, I like to do around four or five sets of this exercise. Buy the end you'll really notice you upper facial muscles and corners starting to burn, which is always a good sign.

As they say,"No pain, no gain."

Solo Monk, Solo Soprano

Being a musician who likes to play in the solo saxophone context, I'm always looking for ways to integrate extended techniques with standard tunes. I find if I can use them when playing over tunes, I can use them in many musical contexts and not have them always function as noise or some type of gimmick.

This clip is from a concert I did at the University of the Streets on Monday, November 2, 2010. That night I performed an hour long set made up of a medleys of Steve Lacy and Monk tunes as well as my own.

This clip is of me performing "Four in One" from the Monk medley. Here I'm utilizing circular breathing and multiphonics.

I hope you like it.

Small Muscle Athletes

Whenever I'm looking for some intensive training on the soprano, I often practice classical etudes. In the past, my two favorite books were "Marcel Mule 48 Etudes d'après Ferling" and "158 Saxophone Exercises" by Sigurd M. Rascher.

However, more recently I've been working out of flute books. Flute etudes tend to have a lot of exercises that are left-hand oriented, not to mention the extended range, which is often in the saxophone's altissimo register.

The big advantage of practicing classical etudes is that you spend longer concentrated periods of time with the horn in your mouth, with little time to breath. So if you practiced a 5 minute etude, six times, after a 30 minutes or so, you've really felt like you've pushed your chops, which is a great way to build up endurance. This is particularly important to me because I often perform solo concerts, which can last anywhere from 30 - 60 minutes.

When practicing these types of etudes, it's good to have two or three that you're working on at a time, since each one will present it's own unique set of technical hurdles. It's like weight training. You don't want a workout where you only work on your biceps. You have to also work your abs, triceps, chest, legs, back, and any place where there are muscles.

And like lifting weights, you also have to let the muscles rest. And once they do, tear them down again. That's the name of the game. As they say, musicians are small muscle athletes

Anyway, give it a try, and let me know how it turns out.

Soprano Saxophonist Gianni Mimmo

Not long ago, I received an email from Italian soprano saxophonist Gianni Mimmo--just one fellow soprano saxophonist reaching out to another. He included a couple of links where I could check out some of his music. Being that I had not heard of him before (which actually doesn't mean a thing) I really wasn't sure what to expect.

As you can hear in this clip with guitarist John Russell, Gianni has a very unique approach, sonically and musically. There are times he plays certain notes that are very Steve Lacy (esque), but he's far from a Lacy clone. He plays like he really enjoys his sound. Which is very important, not just on the soprano, but on any instrument. Improvising that's more sound-oriented tends to sound more inspired.

And I really like the way he's able to play multi-phonics with such a full sound. He makes them sound like big, dissonant chords.

I'll definitely be posting more of his work in the future.

Ciao!

Practicing Wide Intervals on the Soprano

Lately, I've been practicing intervals in minor 9ths. It keeps the embouchure corners tight, helping to control the pitch as well as giving me a lot of flexibility.

An example of this is quarter notes played as Bb1,B2,B1,C2,C1,C#2....The slower this exercise is practiced the better.

In order to tame this "cylindrical shrewd," it's necessary to take a calisthenic approach to practicing.

Practicing wide intervals like this does a few different things:
First, it trains your ears. The fact that they are non-diatonic and wide, makes them especially difficult to hear.

Secondly, it increases your dexterity. Now that you're getting out of the range of the eight-note scale, playing with speed and accuracy requires much more finger control.

Lastly, it strengthens the corners of your mouth. Practicing wide intervals is the equivalent of a weight lifter training with weights. The wider the interval, the more you need to support it with good breath and embouchure control.

The minor 9th exercise is just one example. Also helpful are diatonic scales in 10ths and 13ths. These should be practiced at extremely slow tempos.

Just remember: Going slow will get you there faster.

Subway Soprano: Leviticus Gorey

Here's a clip of my favorite subway musician, saxophonist Leviticus Gorey.

I've had the pleasure of briefly hearing him on several occasions when I was, unfortunately, hurrying to catch a train. Each time I remember thinking to myself, "Man, this cat is killing. I really wish I had more time to sit down and really check him out." It would have been ideal if he was actually performing on the subway car, giving me and all the other passengers a private concert from 14th Street to Jay Street-Borough Hall.

Leviticus has a wonderful sound and a great time feel. He even has a cool jazz-name! It makes me wonder why you don't hear more about him performing above ground. I guess everyone has their own path they're traveling.

I must say, I really respect when someone does choose to perform for therapeutic and artistic purposes rather than to make money and to further their career.

In any case, the next time I come across him playing on the subway platform, even if I'm running late, I'm going sit down and check him out, even if it's just for one tune.

Joe Giadullo (Solo Soprano)

Here's a cool clip of soprano man Joe Giadullo.

Joe is another straighthornist who primarily works in the medium of noise and microtonal based improvisations. I first discovered Joe a few years back after reading a review of his CD, No Work Today: Nine for Steve Lacy on which he credits Steve Lacy for the inspiration for the music. I might also add that it features some very inventive solo soprano work, too.

A little side note: Joe generously sent me a CD of his called Weather, recorded live in Poland (I think, but don't quote me on that), on which he performed a solo saxophone rendition of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme." It's very creative. It gave me a lot of cool ideas.


This clip shows the Evan Parker influence in Joe's playing: circular breathing, while creating a ping pong effect with the various multiphonics. It's an excerpt from a piece called "Dragon Land Bakery," by Sax, Soup, Poetry and Voice, The group also features Nicole Peyrafitte on vocals and Pierre Joris on poetry. It was recorded live on November 10, 2007 at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, NY.

I'm looking forward to posting more of Joe's solo work in the future!