Received a question about saxophone technique.
Hi Neal
I hope this e-mail finds you doing well.
I have a question for you if you have time?
I’m working on slurring, when I go from D to C even though I have released the octave key sometimes I still get the high C? If I tongue the note it doesn’t happen. It seems the sound wave if not broken holds the octave key down??
Could my horn be haunted? Ha Ha!
Is that normal, is it me or the horn? It is not happening all the time. Maybe water in the octave pip?
Take care thanks for your time.
Tim
My response:
Hey Tim,
That’s actually a very good question that you’re asking.
It’s probably not a haunted saxophone or water in the pipe.
You can actually play up an octave from the low notes very easily without using the octave key. You can even play up two octaves or more. We can this playing the harmonic series, also known as ‘overblowing’ sometimes.
When you tongue in between notes, you create a space that allows you to ‘reset’ everything. So pretty much anything will come out cleaner as opposed to slurring it.
You’ll learn a lot by slurring through the music about your technique though.
Going from C to D involves a lot of fingers. Not just one, like going from G to A or something like that.
Are all your fingers moving perfectly in sync?
Probably not.
Slow things down and try and figure out what you’re doing and you’ll be on your way to fixing the problem.
Let me know how it goes.
-Neal
Neal, I suppose finger timing could be a possible cause, but I tend to think it’s more likely a voicing issue or simply a leaky horn.
Tim, If your saxophone has one or more tiny leaks in the pads, those leaks can act like an octave key, keeping you in the high register.
If the instrument is in good condition, then it might be you! Try playing with warmer air. If you can whistle, try whistling a high note and then a low note, and try playing in the low-note position.
Good luck!
Hey Bret,
Thanks for checking out this post and offering your input.
In my case, I have been working on my finger technique and for various note transitions and it often times is that the fingers are not quite in sync with one another. I think that is actually a very common problem. Working on the technique can solve a lot of issues.
That is a good point about leaks triggering an octave response, but he also replied in a subsequent comment that working on finger timing fixed this particular problem. He’s just starting with saxophone and has a new horn.
-Neal
Thanks Neal!
It was my fingers, not being in sync.
I’m not sure I understand “overblowing”?
Is that done by tighting up the embouchure?
I have only been playing a month, I’m not sure my embouchure is strong enough yet, but I am willing to try.
Thanks for your time, and your cool web-site!!
Tim
Awesome, glad that fixed it.
‘Overblowing’ involves using your throat a little differently, nothing to do with the embouchure. You’re ‘hearing’ the note you want to play before you play it and that triggers changes in your throat.
Again, if you’ve been playing a month, don’t worry about it!
You’re welcome.
-Neal
Thanks Bret
It seems to be a finger issue, but there maybe some voicing problems too. I will try your advice with voicing.
The horn is not leaky it’s all me.
Thanks for your input.
I encounter the same problem, but it even happens while playing staccato, so the finger sync is not a problem. I’m new to saxophone and play it for about 2 months. I’m not sure if I do it right, but I prefer to have slightly different blowing technique for low (eg. G) and high pitches (eg. D, E or G’). When playing D with octave key (and notes above), I use “high pitch” blowing and when I want to play C afterwards (without octave key), sometimes it is octave higher than it should be. Usually just thinking about lower sound helps to fix it.