Hello, friends. I'm an intermediate alto player, but, since I have been "teaching myself" for so many years without having any real teacher to help me, I am afraid that I may have picked up some bad embouchure habits over the years, that I am now finally trying to correct. This is why I am...

For the past seven years, I have only been studying Classical music mainly on Alto. I recently completed my rounds of College auditions, where I auditioned with the Glazunov Saxophone Concerto if that gives you an idea of my playing ability. I decided to do a 180 and study jazz at the College of...

Hi all. I've been practicing a lot over the past month or more. I am haunted by my past clarinet experience where my lower teeth are crooked at the tops. They are not straight across and the most prominent one is very sharp. Therefore, not only does it cut into my lip which cuts my practices...

Dear friends, I am sure that the question must have been asked in different ways, over the years, but at least I took the precaution of searching YouTube first, and then searching this corner of SOTW before starting this thread, as I still could not find an answer to my question. Even so...

I'm in high school, and it's my first year playing the sax. That might be why. I got a new mouthpiece (Rico alto 3c) and ligature (Rovner dark 1rl). I'm having more issues than I used to, and I can make low notes with a rolled lower lip. The problem is, when I use the lower lip embouchure, my...

Hello everyone, it's been awhile since I've been on this forum, as life tends to take us different directions and then back to a familiar place :-) I've decided to start a YouTube video channel sharing the knowledge I've gained over the last 30+ years of studying saxophone and 20+ years of...

Like many others, I had issues in the inside of my lower lip, but it's not only the teeth-mark: Near the damaged area, I felt poppy seed-sized (or bigger) roughness in or under the mucous, which hindered me from maintaining a proper embouchure. I've changed mouthpiece, and after a while, as I...

I've been playing tenor for about 15 years and have developed what I believe to be a nice sound with a loose embouchure. I don't rest my lower lip on my teeth either (fwiw). My setup: Buescher Aristocrat 156, Phil-Tone Sapphire .080 mpc, Vandoren Java Red 2.5, FL Pure Brass Llg). A few months...

hi, Using an older/used reed produces more hissing. However, a thought occured to me: isn't it a good exercise to use an old reed rather than a good one, to be able to produce a good sound without hissing and having a better embouchure? Seems to me that it would enforce proper embouchure; sort...

Hi all, So I have been starting to practice my altissimo in the last couple of months and things are starting to come out, but whenever I do, I find myself using my teeth Waaay too much to get the sound. I know this is bad technique but for some stupid reason I stuck with it. After practicing...

Bought the above a week or so ago and had it serviced by a respected technician. My instructor can play it but I have a terrible time getting notes above middle G-- i.e., when the sax 'pipe' is short, I get very poor results, sometimes just a weak tone, no tone, or a lot of squeaking. I can...

It improves air support, low note production, note visualization, fingering and many other aspects of playing.

After more than 30 years playing on the Meyer 6M my high school band teacher gave me, I'm looking into moving to a mouthpiece with a larger tip opening. I've ordered a few mouthpieces to try out, in 7 and 7*. I've been recording myself with different mouthpiece and reed combinations, and I like...

In a couple years, I will have to take a 50-60 day break from playing the saxophone or any other instrument (no exceptions, not even a mouthpiece). I'm worried about losing some of my chops during that time. Is there anything I can do to keep them strong, or will I just have to do a lot of...

I have been playing the alto saxophone for nearly 7 years my setup was a yas-23, meyer 6m, and vandoren java green 3 1/2. I found this setup to be kind of stuffy so after doing some research I switched to a vandoren jumbo java a55 and java green 2 1/2 reeds. Then I was able to upgrade to a...

Hello. I am a 15 year old tenor sax player, been playing for about 4-5 years give or take, and I started on jazz last year and I've gotten pretty far. I play on a Yamaha 62 (YTS-62) professional model tenor, and play on a custom sax quest 7 mouthpiece. I won't go into too much detail, but lately...

Hey all, it has been a while. So since my last posts I have gotten much better but there is one thing I am still struggling with. I have a bad habit of loosening and tightening (through lips and jaw) my embouchure as I go up and down the sax. As some of you know, I am primarily a Bari player...

Hi, So, I was playing through Dave Brubeck's 'Take Five' (an arrangement by Paul Desmond) which I plan to perform soon. I've only just realised that I've been playing the semitone grace notes at the start of the solo as bends, as opposed to actually changing my fingering. This makes the...

I've heard that switching to a high baffle mouthpiece before you're not ready can ruin your embouchure. Is this true? If so, around how experienced does a player have to be before starting to use one? Obviously, it will vary from player to player but I'm just wondering. I want to avoid ruining...

My wife and I recently had our first child. It's a crazy time and I am constantly worried about losing my embouchure when I have several gigs coming up, and a wonderful new kid to look after. Bottom line: I've been going through these exercises a few times a day, and it's actually helped me to...