[ingridsfw]

Ive been studying jazz on the bari sax and soprano pretty seriously now for 4-5 years. My main instrument ( for big bands, mostly) is the bari. However, I am a 15 year old girl and am quite small, 5'1-5'2 and about 93lbs. One of the problems I encounter is getting enough air into the saxophone and not playing loud enough. I have tremendous lungs already, but my size is kind of an obstacle. Any tips?

 

[LostConn]

Be very conscious of using your diaphragm for air support. It's not enough to exhale hard using your lungs. You have to push the air out with your abdominal muscles.

At some point in your saxophone career, you may wish to make a decision about which instrument is best suited to you physically. I'm not saying that a small person cannot play the baritone, but it's going to be a lot of work (holding the horn up will be work too). You might find that a more conveniently sized horn better enables you to express yourself musically. Maybe you will become an alto-soprano type of player.

 

[BradWit]

I think mouthpiece choice is also important here. In a jazz band I used to play in there was a small girl who could play bari easily using a smaller tipped mouthpiece. Granted she also played bagpipes so her lungs were pretty good.

 

[Daveyz]

Sitting up straight at the edge of your chair will do wonders for you. It allows your diaphragm to expand to its best potential.

 

[Morry]

You also have to chop up phrases differently when playing bari. Be sure and take a breath at every opportunity. On other instruments, you might wait until the logical end of a phrase to breathe, but on bari, take a breath when ever you have a break between tied notes. There's really 2 parts to breathing - 1) capacity; and 2) delivery. If you take care to make sure you have capacity on hand, the delivery will be very difficult.

 

[wesbrow]

Even us large 210 pound people have to work at providing enough air for the baritone. One can sometimes break tied notes to breath and no one will know the difference. In any event, one must blow through the notes, making long legato phrases where needed. Good luck!

 

[avan]

which mouthpiece and tip size are you playing? reed strenght? I'm 5'3" and I always ended to play medium tip (100-105) with a little softer reed (2H). I prefer the sound and feeling of a 115, but they are not for me.

 

[harmonizerNJ]

To breathe in really well, you need to exhale completely - think of the exhaling as work. How is your exhaling before you inhale?

 

[hakukani]

This guy is all about singing, but it pertains to every musician that uses air to power their instrument.