Snippets from: The Habits of Musicianship A Radical Approach to Beginning Band A selection from: 8notes
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Holding the Saxophone
On finding the right neck strap Go for a Y neck strap, and not for neck straps that are narrow and or have a cushion. The strap needs to be adjusted to that the mouthpiece is in line with your mouth, not too high or not too low, so you don’t have to manipulate your …
Vibrato- Getting started
Unlike vibrato on the flute or violin, vibrato on the Saxophone requires the use of one’s jaw to create the wah wah sounds. Take your hand and place it under your chin- and say Wah wah wah wah etc (to feel the motion that your jaw will be making when you are playing vibrato). Everything …
My Saxophone Journey
My saxophone journey began at the start of semester two of 2019 at Melbourne Uni as a part of my Second Instrument study. During this unit, I have been creating weekly videos of my progress on the alto saxophone, learning under the guidance of Dr Carol Johnson, who has been very patient along this journey! …
Additional resources
Online resources –Learnsaxophoneonline (You can sign up for a free account!) –Edsaxschool (this is youtuber Dr Selfridge’s website, which offers free handouts, practice exercises and saxophone lessons). –Bettersax This gives you a free 6 part course on how to learn to play the Saxophone by ear, using the first five notes. –8notes I absolutely love …
Setting up your Saxophone
Setting up the instrument (tips and tricks from Dr Carol Johnson) Open the case (making sure it’s facing the right way up!) Also be sure that you already have your neck strap on in advance. Make sure the neck is in it’s pocket area- the mouth piece can go in the bell if there isn’t …
Alto Saxophone diagram
Alto Saxophone- Fingering chart
Saxophone Embouchure
Here are a few quick steps on setting up a good embouchure for the Saxophone – Reference ‘EdTheJazzMan‘ Dr Carol Johnson Hook the bottom lip over your bottom teeth (the lip goes over the teeth), just turning it out, ever so slightly (the bottom lip acts as a cushion for the reed to sit on). …
Register jumps
To be able to move between the registers more freely and easily, work on purposely splitting the note without using the Octave key. When using the Octave key, make sure that you don’t move the whole thumb; it can throw the rest of the fingers out of position over the other keys. Just move the …
Alto Saxophone basics 