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“That’s not gong fu.
We stared at each other for a long time, then he raised one eyebrow. I could fix it, if you wanted. I must have nodded, because then he asked me if I could chi ku, eat bitter, the Chinese expression to endure suffering.”
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(pg. 68 Iron and Silk
Playing things on saxophone that are comfortable can be fun.
In fact, you want to get everything you play to be comfortable. That’s when you will sound the best.
When you perform on stage, you want to be comfortable! Otherwise…. you’re probably going to be frustrated and not sound great (or as good as you would like).
Imagine two areas: comfort and panic on a spectrum. It turns out, some discomfort is crucial to improving. But when you experience that discomfort should be in a particular environment.
Frustration
Struggling to play tends to sound bad and feel frustrating. Not be able to play as you wish.
Frustrating because you do not have the control you want.
Not being in control and not even knowing where to go from your current situation can be extremely frustrating. Unfortunately, that is the situation for many musicians. I have been there in the past. It turns out you need to experience some discomfort in order to escape the plateau, the ‘sounding okay, but not good’.
Our minds have mechanisms in which things become habit. And to change habits and sound better, you need to step away from what is comfortable.
Discomfort
Unfortunately, you do not improve when things are comfortable.When things are comfortable that really means you are not thinking about them, they happen automatically by habit. And if you don’t think about something, it tends to stay the same.
There are things you do in your life in which you improved rapidly at first. Take driving as an example. But then you get ‘good enough’ and you do it automatically. You’re not really getting better at driving most of the time after you initially learn it. You just do it and unless there are major problems, your skill level stays about the same.
Taking lessons with an effective saxophone teacher can be uncomfortable. There is the expectation that you practice your instrument before you arrive. Then the teacher will likely be able to hear things in your playing immediately that you don’t always notice.
All the problems get noticed. Then you can work on things.
The teacher likely knows what things are important to spend time on. How to effectively practice.
It may not be ‘fun’ but the results you get are definitely fun. The part where you start sounding better and continue to improve.
It’s all right for things to be uncomfortable in lessons and when you practice. Between comfort and panic you learn and improve.
What you can play expands and music becomes more interesting.
Challenge
You need challenges in order to progress. That means moving away from comfort and towards panic a little bit.
It takes more effort and control. With music, it means really listening and figuring out what to work on.
You don’t want to completely switch gears and go all the way into complete panic though! That is also a problem.
How much you push yourself depends on your willpower and ability to handle challenges.
Bad habits
It’s easy to develop habits which can be good or bad.
Fingers that move inefficiently. A strange position with your embouchure. Not knowing about different ways to articulate. Being only comfortable in a few keys.
Without a sense of direction, which a teacher can provide, it’s much easier to develop bad habits.
Knowing what to do
In the first weeks and months of playing saxophone, it can be somewhat clear what you need to do if you know some of the basics already and are on the path to developing good habits.
If you don’t know how to play any notes, you learn your first notes. Having a teacher and/or taking a beginning saxophone class is important to establish good habits from the start. And working through a solid book can also be helpful.
You learn about the basic rhythms. Then you play some songs with what you know. You start to learn about dynamics and the language of music.
At some point though, you exhaust the low hanging fruit. Learning a new note is a substantial improvement if you only know three notes. Beyond a certain point it becomes much harder to add notes and may not even be the most important thing to work on.
After a little while it can be unclear what your priorities should be. What you should practice. How you should practice.
Taking Action
If music is something you care about then you probably want to sound better.
Sounding better requires stepping away from what is comfortable and putting in some work.
To expand your awareness means focusing on listening and being aware of your sound.
Listening to records of great music and reading about ideas can help.
The feedback on your playing from an effective teacher can be critical to improving your sound. Someone who has learned the saxophone and can hear the things you cannot.
- If you have not done so already, go to the day 1 on saxophone page and leave a comment about how you sounded on day 1 of playing the saxophone. No one sounds great on day one. Check out how some others sounded and read some comments that are there already.
- Leave a comment below about what you are going to do this week to step out of your comfort zone and improve something about how you play the saxophone. (Other comments will not be approved)
Examples
- Focus on a scale that is uncomfortable.
- Go to a saxophone lesson with an effective teacher.
- Sign up for a class.
After you have done those things, go to this page and ask a question to get some help.
am going to try new scales that are not comfortable
Good plan Kenny
I’m going to learn the notes, and the the fingerings to get the notes out of my sax.
It’s going to take some time.
Good idea, will just take consistent practice. You can do it.
I am going to take one line from a transcribed solo and practice it until I can play it fluently and to tempo instead of just playing the bits I can play and always starting from the beginning!
Good plan.
I also will be practicing scales with lots of sharps and flats
Good to get comfortable in those keys (and all keys), you might need to play in them.
I am going to learn the other keys on the sax and use it to develop myself but it would take hard work.
Being more specific about what exactly you are going to learn (Ab, Eb, C#, for example) and the time scale you’ll do it in (two weeks, three weeks, etc) will probably make it more likely to happen.
This week I want to start trying to memorize some tunes and to learn others by ear. I am very dependent on that sheet music, as my original music training emphasized reading.
Good plan to know some tunes. Try and make your plan more specific.
I want to start trying to play by ear rather then written music.
i am going to practice playing on some keys i find so difficult. Also, i will try to be consistent in my practice times.
Good plan, figure out exactly which ones you’re going to do this week and how you’re going to be consistent with practice. That should make it easier to get done.
Start to hammer down techniques for all these classical songs (college auditions, how fun…)
I’m going to focus on tonging this weekend and learn some new melodies. My tonging is way to hard and harsh, I want it to be soft. I think that I need to find a way to only touch the tip of the reed instead of like a whole centimetre of it 🙂
Good to be aware of. Re: your question, ‘tah’ and ‘dah’ types of tonguing are both useful in different situations. ‘dah’ is more legato, ‘tah’ is more of an emphasized attack. Depends on what you want in the music.
Going to work on measure 43-61 on Washington post march,and then once I get the hang of that 61-End.
Signed up for these lessons and practice at least an hour a day.
Going to learn the right mouth position and tonguing technique
I am going to drill in a few new scales and i definitely need to work on taming my vibrato.
Thanks Jordan, think about how you are going to do that specifically.
I will be keeping calm and make little breaks every 20 minutes or so. No matter how hard it will get, I am not the only one who has problems.
I’ve been attempting too much and consequently feeling more panic/frustration than enjoyment. So I got a beginner book and I’m going to work through that before trying anything else. Thanks!
Tried learning lower Bb wow takes some doing
yah i need to work on harder stuff
I am going to sign up for the foundations class to give myself some direction – what i should be focusing & practicing daily
Thanks for signing up Brett. Work through the class. Within that, you’ll see some different areas of focus.
One general guidelines early on is to spend about 1/3 of your practice on scales, 1/3 on technique, and 1/3 on playing music and having fun.
Been playing since Christmas. Playing along with parts of many recorded songs.
This week, I will be working on getting more comfortable with the higher notes ( C-F# ).
Good plan Chuck
No breakthroughs staying in your comfort zone! 🙂
Very true.
Too true this is very good information!!
I am probably way into the ‘comfortable’ stage. I’m sort of comfortable with taking it easy. I’m not young, I’m not going to play professionally ever, I just like putsing around and making noise….Though I do still learn periodically so am always getting better, I simply do not push myself. Which of course is why I am not as good as many are, but I do enjoy my instruments.
I am going to practice my scales with more commitment instead of making excuses that scales are boring.
We are adding a new scale to our daily warm-ups in class and I am going to bring my sax home everyday this week to practice all of my scales. I am also going to talk to the band teacher about possibly getting an after school practice with a tutor or something to get help.
Sign up for a class.
Im really new at playing the saxo alto, i just have been improvising the songs that you posted on youtube, like baker street and careless whisper, now i need to improve my sound, i would love to sound exactly like the original songs
I’ve been playing for about 1 month and i’m having a problem going from d to c on my fingering
I released control and the desire to be perfect as soon as I try something; then maybe I wont get frustrated when I mess up.Plus I think the mindset will be good for when I learn and want to make improvise music, it will be natural.
Am going to get use to my keys & try representing them on my sax button.
I am playing a “The Martin” alto sax my Dad played in the 1930s. After having regrets of not playing my whole life,( I am 74 years old), this sax came to me in a most unexpected way. I have been playing for about a year now and have made enough progress to play some complete songs. I have had 15 lessons from a good teacher over the course of the year and will continue bi monthly . I am determined to play soft jazz within the year and practice 1-2 hours a day. I have learned to read music and with time I will master this too. As of now I play music with the help of the written note/letters.
The biggest challenge I have is playing music as it is written. Music has always been a major appreciation all my life, and I automatically want to improvise when I play. Although I have a natural ability to keep a beat, I tend to add notes to a given measure. Any comments/advice in this regard will be greatly appreciated.
I am slowly learning to play songs , solely by reading only the musical notes as opposed to writing the letters above them. I have found that if I take it measure by measure I can digest it better. Meantime I continue to play with the written letters as well to get better command of chord/key changes and rhythm/phrasing.
PS. Is there a ‘sample’ sax lesson for a more than a starting beginner? I would like to sign up but am unsure of the level of understanding of your lessons. Thanks Neil. I have thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from your site.
This week, I am going to to some shedding on the blues march and maybe practice some improv on it for a concert that is in two weeks.
Work on smoother fingers 30 minutes a day.
I am going to expand on the blues line on your site.
Also work on making low C initiate better
I am gong to improve my practice habits. Will try to pactice 30 minutes daily to improve my playing. I will begin playing major scales and practice playing a favorite song.
I’ll learn to play efficiently in all keys.
I’m going to learn F and G major scales the first week, then D and B flat major the next, reading from manuscript while I play. I’m hoping this will consolidate fingerings and notes – as an ex-clarinet player, I sometimes get confused.
That’s probably a good plan. I also play clarinet (started on it actually).
If you remember the fingers for the clarinet, D on the clarinet (with the register key) is the same as D on the saxophone with the octave key. D, E, F, G, A, B with the register key are the same as on saxophone. It’s just that an octave lower on saxophone uses the same fingers (without the octave key). The highest and lowest notes are a bit different. The octave key simplifies things a bit on saxophone.
Welp….it’s my first week back after a 3 year hiatus. I am going to work on my chops this week. It’s pretty uncomfortable.
I am switching from bassoon to sax. can’t wait to get out of my comfort zone and take on a new challenge
Very good read. I am much determined now to practice the scales with lots of sharps/flats.
Good plan Jerome.
I am trying to find a teacher and get started w lessons. I am going to try some different size reeds. My sax came w 2+1/2 and I think lighter ones might be more effective at this early stage.
That’s a good idea, try a 1.5 or 2.
I’m going to try to sort out a way to practice fingering on a cardboard tube or something, while I’m not strong enough to hold or play my actual sax
Coltrane did something like that with carved wood.
Wow, that’d be nice!
I have to start learning my scales this week, instead of trying to learn melodies,
Cool I just learned something new
First day on the sax, first lesson. I’m trying to connect the fingering with the notes, and it is slow going!
I started to try and learn new scales just the other day…
I put in at least 2 hours practice a day, I really want to improve as soon as possible….
Do you feel you are improving quickly with what you practice?
Still learning the fingering and what notes sound like.
I have to stay out of my CZ studing the cycle of fourth for 3 hours.
Hope that goes well for you.
I want learn Transposition between keys. maybe 4 keys this week.
I’ve played alto sax for many years and always wanted to play a soprano. this week i ordered one to start learning to play it
Very interesting take on approaching any goal… comfort vs. panic. This was mind-opening.
This week I will get a little closer to panic and abandon some more comfort by dedicating 2 solid hours of time to the sax… whether it is actual practice, videos or articles, or reach out to a teacher. Your page is surprisingly inspiring and delightful.
Thank you, Neal. 🙂
I am going to practice the whole chromatic scale, first slowly, having to check the fingering for the more complex notes, but aiming for the point where I can make my way through the entire range (well, mostly, see my second parallel goal) without having to consult the fingering chart, from which point I will try to improve the clarity of tone of each note.
Secondly, atm, I am having difficulty reaching those top notes, the ones that use the left hand palm keys, they come out an octave too low. I will work, in parallel with the overall chromatic scale, to work on embouchure, breath control, etc. to overcome this problem
But between times, I will find music of a suitable level to play along with to finish off my practice sessions, as its important to have fun too, and provide the motivation to keep going
I try to play 20minutes every at least. I’m trying to play and learn notes so I play with a tuner / metronome, I also use a digital recorder to check out what I sound like.
Cool, keep it up. Recording yourself is a good idea.
I’m going to try new scales that are not comfortable and play with a metronome.
I’m trying to play for 1 hour or more every day, also i’m using a metronome to play the scales.
i fell great when playing, sometimes i may tense up but i plan to get over it after some time
Being aware of it is a good start.
im going learn how to play a scale and know where all the keys are on my tenor sax and become better player
Could help. You saw my fingering chart video for tenor?
I’m starting to learn notes and trying long notes for better embouchure.
Cool, just learn them one by one. Long notes can help, as can slow melodies.
i want to sound just like you
Thanks, how long have you played saxophone?
I will be focussed on playing a chromatic scale from low C to middle C, and on playing “When The Saints” in the key of C, as that is what I’ve been practicing on the Bb “little sax” and the fingering is the same as on Tenor. I will take the opportunity now to mention that my wife and I are on this journey together. We’ve only had the saxophone for two days, and my wife was “improvising” for over an hour, but due to medical issues with my neck and back, the neck strap causes me intense pain, I have ordered a harness, hopefully it arrives soon.
I hope the harness helps! I think it should.
Hi everyone!
in my previous comment, I explained how I was discouraged … to be frank, the saxophone is a majestic and imposing instrument … but by meditating, you will find it as an extension of your body, of your soul … it’s true that now I still manage to get a sound out, and even if it’s not really perfection, but i have to go forward: a child is not born knowing how step on his feets 🙂
Thanks Sohelimo
What Bob M. (February 8, 2015 at 4:25 pm) said could have come from me, word for word. I play with a couple of community bands, and occasionally jam with a jazz group, but I’m nowhere near as good as I’d like to be. The pandemic has limited my opportunities of late. I should take the free time to open the fake book and play more tunes that I’ve never played before, then ad lib around those tunes.
Thanks for sharing Ed.
The challenge is just beginning (and i’m not expecting it to end any time soon!)
Keep it up Wano!
This is day 1 and it has been challenging to get the sound to come out correctly. I can’t seem to get the notes out correctly, but I won’t give up. I will encourage myself and keep going. Thank you for your words.
Thanks Van. What notes are you having trouble with?
I’m going to keep practising although I don’t sound great as I know it’s what’s going to help me.
Yes, be aware and listen and you should improve.
I will set a goal to practice at least 30 min per day.
That should help you get better Amado!
Hi! My plan is to relearn the fingerings I’ve forgotten and work on daily drills. I’ll pepper in some muscle memory building scales.
Cool, how’s that going?
Practice more