saxaphone study guide

8/11/2019 Saxaphone Study Guide

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Cody HammerMUSIC 133 Class WoodwindsFall 2013Dr. Walker

Saxophone Study Guide #1

1. “The saxophone was designed and built in the early 1840s by Adolphe Sax, aBelgian instrument maker who is famous for his work with brass and woodwindinstruments.” Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn were threecomposers of this time period.

2. The saxophone is conical.3. Name the seven instruments of the saxophone family.

Sopranino Soprano

Alto Tenor Baritone Bass Contrabass

4. Saxophone mouthpieces can be made of hard rubber, plastic, or metal.5. An extreme overbite is the only thing that may affect a student playing

saxophone.6. Always tell your students to SIT when assembling a saxophone. Tell them to be

careful not to DROP the saxophone when assembling it. The mouthpiece should

go about 1 inch onto the neck of the saxaphone.7. “Check to make sure the tightening screw at the top of the body tenon is

loosened .” 8. True. It is sometimes necessary to add a few drops of key oil on the neck tenon of

the saxophone to get it to slide together more easily.9. “The flat part of the reed should be wet enough to create an airtight seal against

the facing of the mouthpiece.” 10. You can scratch the inside of the mouthpiece and scratches or dents will affect

tone production.11. Key oil should be used on spots where brass rubs together.12. The saxophone is suspended with a neck strap (or harness for bari), although a

saxophone stand is useful for supporting a bari sax.

13. The angle of the saxophone mouthpiece to the body is approximately 45 degrees.14. When being played by younger players that are too short, the sax may be played

off to the side.15. The head should not be tilted when playing.16. For correct hand position, the hands rest in a comfortable position (Like C’s) . The

left thumb should rest on the thumb pad. It should be able to press the octave key



with a rocking motion. The right thumb rest is under the neck strap connector.Fingers shouldn’t be flat on the keys. Left pinky should rest on G# key. Right

pinky should rest on your Eb key.17. There is “Classical” and “Jazz” embouchures. For classical, roll bottom lip in over

the bottom teeth, place the top teeth approximately one-half inch from the tip of

the mouthpiece, and seal the lips around the mouthpiece. For the jazz embouchuremore flexible, manipulate the jaw to affect tone and pitch and to produce accents.They usually produce a subtone.

18. “Take a quick breath, place the top teeth on the mouthpiece, and form anembouchure. Use the tongue to pinch the reed against the tip of the mouthpieceand hold the reed shit. Blow a steady and well-supported stream of air against thereed and take the tongue off the reed to produce a tone. Note that the stepsmentioned above occur very quickly and should be practiced with speed as aneventual goal. ”

19. You stop the tone on saxophone by stopping the air.20. The tongue should touch the reed, just below the tip of the reed, to articulate.

21. List the reminders on p. 350. The embouchure should remain still from the beginning to the end of each

tone. Do not move the lips or jaw until the note is finished. The tongue should touch the reed lightly during articulation. Listen for intonation and tone quality, being especially sure to avoid

puffing the cheeks or dropping the jaw. The neck strap should be set high enough to keep the weight of the

instrument off the lower lip. Thinking “ooh” or “ahh” helps open the throat and produce a warm,

resonant tone. Breathing in rhythm helps set the breath properly

Keep the top teeth on the mouthpiece and bottom lip on the reed whentaking a breath. Relax the top lip and take a quick, deep breath.

Imagine saying “tah” and “dah” while articulating to obtain both crisp andsofter articulation styles.

Steps for tone production are1. Inhale2. Place the top teeth on the mouthpiece3. Set the embouchure4. Close the reed with the tongue5. Create air pressure behind the reed6. Remove the tongue

7. Sustain a steady tone22. The bis key is the smaller button located between the B and A keys, it should not

be used when moving to or from B natural.23. The three basic rules that apply to pitch flexibility on the saxophone:

a. Pitch is more easily lowered than raised b. Notes with longer tub lengths or closed keys have less flexibilityc. The high register is more flexible than the low register.



24. A#/Bb and F#/Gb (and side key C) have chromatic fingerings. Both of thesefingerings are used in both octaves.

25. Once a student is able to produce a consistently focused tone that is clear, warm,and steady you can start to teach vibrato.

saxaphone study guide

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