Hello, I've always checked out Sax on the Web for some excellent pointers in regards to my playing. Lately, I have been having some problems myself so I decided it was time to post my own question.
My equipment: SX90R Keilwerth Alto sax, TheoWanne Gaia 8 (reeds vary, currently using Vandoren JaZZ 2 1/2 strenth)
I've never been able to find a decent reed strength down the middle between too soft and too hard. I prefer to play on soft reeds. I've been in college for a little over a year now, and my saxophone professor is telling me that I need to go up in reed strength. I know there is some acclimation that needs to occur when doing this, but after 20 minutes of playing on a hard reed, my jaw (near the jaw hinge/jaw line) will tense up to the point where it becomes unbearable and I can no longer practice, which is discouraging and frustrating me. I am not pinching at all where my bottom lip comes in contact with my teeth; I am still very loose there and am not biting down hard on top of the mouthpiece; I rarely have any pressure from the top and bottom of the mouthpiece. The only way I can describe it is with the same sensation of squeezing your fist over time, your fist starts to cramp and can be very uncomfortable, even painful. That is the same sensation in my jaw-"area." I have talked to my teacher about it, and he said that it will take time to get used to, but it has been a little over 4 weeks now and I have not seen any improvement. I have gone from practicing 6 hours a day to maybe 2-3, which is quite frustrating. No matter how many breaks I give myself, the problem seems to come right back. I believe that it shouldn't hurt this much to play my instrument and something needs to change soon otherwise I will be putting permanent damage to my jawline before the semester is even over.
-So my question is: is this caused from having a harder reed? (I did not have this problem on a softer reed)
-Could it also be caused from playing on such an open mouthpiece in combination with having a harder reed?
-(As a reference, I have a Guardala copy that I also play on maybe once a week that is rather closed in comparison to the Gaia, and have absolutely no problem playing on that mouthpiece, which also has a softer reed set up)
- If there are any of you that suffer from this, is there any way to ease this feeling? I am a big believer in the idea that if you are in pain/uncomfortable while playing an instrument, you are playing it wrong, and I do not want this ingrained as a habit.
-If you guys think it is the combination of this mouthpiece and reed, would you think that a more closed mouthpiece with same/ a bit softer reed would suffice?
Thank you guys for your future replies and I am open to any suggestions any of you may have!
My equipment: SX90R Keilwerth Alto sax, TheoWanne Gaia 8 (reeds vary, currently using Vandoren JaZZ 2 1/2 strenth)
I've never been able to find a decent reed strength down the middle between too soft and too hard. I prefer to play on soft reeds. I've been in college for a little over a year now, and my saxophone professor is telling me that I need to go up in reed strength. I know there is some acclimation that needs to occur when doing this, but after 20 minutes of playing on a hard reed, my jaw (near the jaw hinge/jaw line) will tense up to the point where it becomes unbearable and I can no longer practice, which is discouraging and frustrating me. I am not pinching at all where my bottom lip comes in contact with my teeth; I am still very loose there and am not biting down hard on top of the mouthpiece; I rarely have any pressure from the top and bottom of the mouthpiece. The only way I can describe it is with the same sensation of squeezing your fist over time, your fist starts to cramp and can be very uncomfortable, even painful. That is the same sensation in my jaw-"area." I have talked to my teacher about it, and he said that it will take time to get used to, but it has been a little over 4 weeks now and I have not seen any improvement. I have gone from practicing 6 hours a day to maybe 2-3, which is quite frustrating. No matter how many breaks I give myself, the problem seems to come right back. I believe that it shouldn't hurt this much to play my instrument and something needs to change soon otherwise I will be putting permanent damage to my jawline before the semester is even over.
-So my question is: is this caused from having a harder reed? (I did not have this problem on a softer reed)
-Could it also be caused from playing on such an open mouthpiece in combination with having a harder reed?
-(As a reference, I have a Guardala copy that I also play on maybe once a week that is rather closed in comparison to the Gaia, and have absolutely no problem playing on that mouthpiece, which also has a softer reed set up)
- If there are any of you that suffer from this, is there any way to ease this feeling? I am a big believer in the idea that if you are in pain/uncomfortable while playing an instrument, you are playing it wrong, and I do not want this ingrained as a habit.
-If you guys think it is the combination of this mouthpiece and reed, would you think that a more closed mouthpiece with same/ a bit softer reed would suffice?
Thank you guys for your future replies and I am open to any suggestions any of you may have!