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95 Posts
Hi All,
I'm trying to get full facility in all areas of the horn. At the moment low notes are giving me trouble.
I never have any trouble slurring down to them, even jumps (like a G to a low Bb for example).
However starting them, either quiet, or especially forcefully (think Tower of Power's Gene Kupka on barry - BUP!) is giving me a lot of trouble.
It's almost like the reed doesn't want to start vibrating. When it is I can go to the low notes easily, but when I hit them from "nothing" they usually have a minor squeak at the start (although they come onto pitch pretty quickly (less than a second) and I don't really have to think about it to make this happen.
My horn's not leaking, and I'm definitely pitching the pitch in my mind.
I'm playing a Martin tenor (1953, Committee model I think - "The Martin"), a Pillinger mouthpiece (equivalent to about a metal Link 8* in tip opening), and a LaVoz medium reed. I recently moved up from med. softs because they weren't giving me the control I needed at low volumes and even when I was using them my low notes still weren't good.
The problem happens when I play alto too, though to a slightly lesser degree.
Help would be appreciated here. I've been shedding them but they just don't seem to be getting better. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
-Dan
I'm trying to get full facility in all areas of the horn. At the moment low notes are giving me trouble.
I never have any trouble slurring down to them, even jumps (like a G to a low Bb for example).
However starting them, either quiet, or especially forcefully (think Tower of Power's Gene Kupka on barry - BUP!) is giving me a lot of trouble.
It's almost like the reed doesn't want to start vibrating. When it is I can go to the low notes easily, but when I hit them from "nothing" they usually have a minor squeak at the start (although they come onto pitch pretty quickly (less than a second) and I don't really have to think about it to make this happen.
My horn's not leaking, and I'm definitely pitching the pitch in my mind.
I'm playing a Martin tenor (1953, Committee model I think - "The Martin"), a Pillinger mouthpiece (equivalent to about a metal Link 8* in tip opening), and a LaVoz medium reed. I recently moved up from med. softs because they weren't giving me the control I needed at low volumes and even when I was using them my low notes still weren't good.
The problem happens when I play alto too, though to a slightly lesser degree.
Help would be appreciated here. I've been shedding them but they just don't seem to be getting better. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
-Dan