Joe Allard was a world renowned woodwind teacher.  I have heard his name mentioned countless times but I was never lucky enough to take a lesson with him or hear him teach.  I just found these 4 videos on youtube of him teaching some of his concepts to a former student of his.  I haven’t even watched all of them yet but I wanted to get them up here for you to enjoy and learn from.  I’m going to go watch them right now.  I’m so excited!!!!   Enjoy!

Warburton Modular Neck Unassembled

As you can see from the picture above there are threads on each end of the neck.  The tenon and initiator (cork area) screw easily on to the neck.  There are many sizes of tenons to fit any size receiver.  When I received this neck to try Eric Falcon also sent me 11 tenons to try on my Selmer SBA as well as my RSBerkely Virtuoso. It was no problem finding a match for each horn.  Once you have the tenon issue settled then comes the fun part.  The initiators………………

Warburton Tenon

Warburton Initiator

Now the full coolness of this system is in the initiators. The package I received for this review had 11 initiators in it.  Every initiator was different and unique.  The initiators come with little rubber rings that are in grooves on the initiator.  The mouthpiece slides on to the rubber rings and makes a perfect seal.  Believe me, I was skeptical so I tested these thoroughly.  There were no leaks in this system, . The mouthpiece sealed great on the rings and it was much easier than cork to slide the mouthpiece on and off of the neck.  It was refreshing for me to know that I wasn’t crushing down cork every time I slid the mouthpiece on and off.

Warburton Initiators

I have taken the description for each initiator from the Warburton website and posted it below. I also posted a sound clip for each initiator that I tested. Sound clips are the true test in my opinion.  The first clip is of my Selmer SBA with my normal neck and a Lamberson J7 mouthpiece.  All the rest of the clips are using one of the 11 initiators on the Warburton Modular neck with the same Lamberson J7.  I tried to play a very similar phrase and pattern on all the clips although there are slight variations.

The first letter or letters are a code for the model of the initiator.  The number is for the width of the inside diameter of the initiator. 50 stand for .500mm. A SBA tenor neck is around a .50 from what I’ve been told although mine measured a bit larger than that.

Selmer SBA Neck

The Initiator internal shapes are illustrated and described below:

Warburton A Intiator

A – continuous Arc – The Arc shape is the brightest and most powerful shape. It has a uniform timbre while adding brightness and more center to the sound. The resistance and timbre are especially even at full volume. This is an excellent choice for jazz lead playing and more contemporary playing styles when Projection is needed.

A46

A48

A50

F – cylindrical first 2/3 of length then Frc – The Flare shape is the warmest and most flexible shape. The lows in the sound are more prominent and the timbre is easily changed. The lower register is big and warm with an excellent subtone and the upper register is fluid and singing. This is an excellent choice for straight ahead jazz and classical where the use of all possible sound colors is desired.

F46

F50

RT – Reverse Taper large to small – (tenor only) – This shape helps players who have too much middle in their sound. The RT emphasizes the highs while balancing out the mids and lows. This quality allows the player to push a lot of air and not have their sound become harsh or brittle. The palm key notes have a special character to them that none of the other shapes provide.

RT47-46

RT49-48

S – Straight cylinder – The Straight initiators are the most balanced in terms of lows, mids, and highs in the sound. When pushed this shape will hold its center and not break up even at extreme volumes. This is an excellent choice for more contemporary styles.

S46

S48

S50

My Impressions:

• I really liked the RT 49-48.  When I played it I loved it and when I listened back to the recording I loved it even more.  It has a very thick mature sound to it.  It felt like the sound had a lot of power behind it although I was blowing at a moderate level.
• The S series had the least resistance for me.  I felt like I just blew and my air went straight through the horn. This would be good for pop or R & B playing.  I tend to prefer a little more resistance to blow against usually.
  
• I seemed to like the initiators that were larger in number.  I measured my SBA neck and it is a tad larger than the 50 Warburton neck. It is very close.  I think that is why I like the 50 neck size better. They seemed to have a bigger fuller sound to me.
• The A initiators seemed brighter and more focused to me.
• The F initiators had more spread sound to them.
  

The Warburton modular neck is a great invention that gives the buyer the ability to change the  sound of his saxophone by simply changing  a neck initiator.  Each initiator gives a slightly different sound and resistance when playing.   I tried this neck on my RSBerkeley silver Virtuoso tenor saxophone and the different necks made a big difference in the sound and response.

Let me know what you think and which initiator you like the sound of the best.  If you are interested in trying a Warburton Modular Neck yourself visit the Warburton website to get the full details.

For me, it’s similar to being a great reader or storyteller.  The worst thing you can do while reading a story to a child is to just have a monotone voice that drones on throughout the story……..never changing.  That’s a great way to get a child to fall asleep fast but a horrible way to keep their interest and attention.  You will find that the best storytellers are those that manipulate different aspects of their voice while reading.  They talk slower or faster.  They talk higher for a women’s voice or lower for a man’s voice.  They try to match the sound and style of the way they are speaking with the character that is saying it.  If the story is happy…..they sound happy.  If it sad, they sound sad.  If it is stressful they speak urgently and with some anxiety in their voice.  You will find a ton of volume changes while they read to help them convey different emotions to the listener. They might whisper and the child will lean forward to hear.  They might yell and the child will jump back startled.  All these elements are brought together to tell a story in a rich and expressive way.  I find that the great sax players use these same techniques to convey a story to their audience. The best ones use many different techniques to create a mood or  emotion.

One of the most common is the bending of notes on the saxophone.  In this video, I am showing you the technique I use to bend notes by just using your tongue and throat.  Many players will  learn how to bend notes by dropping their bottom jaw early on in their development.  The technique I am using here is a bit more nebulous and hard to define.  As I have taught over the last 10 years I have found this to be one of the hardest elements to teach to a student.  The problem is teaching in such a way that the student understands what I am saying and how to implement it without actually being able to see and experience the movement or action.  The other problem is trying to understand what is going on within the students throat and tongue position.  Many times a student is unaware of what is happening or is even mistaken about what is happening inside their own body.

This video is in response to a great player on the internet who sent me an email asking me to go into further depth about this bending with your throat concept.  He is an amazing player but has never been able to bend notes without using his embouchure and was very curious about the method I use to do this.

I try my best in this video to show you how I can bend the tenor mouthpiece pitch down while I blow by “voicing” the note lower.  I explain in the video how I am not knowledgeable at all about the medical terms for what I am describing (and I’m not so sure it would help students even if I was) but I try my best to describe what is going on inside my throat and mouth.  You can see first hand the affect that this manipulation has on the mouthpiece pitch as well as the sound of the tenor sax as a whole.

Learning this concept has huge benefits.  It helps with expression but it also helps with intonation in a great way.  If you have certain notes that are sharp or a top register that is sharp then you can very easily use this concept to bring the pitch down without using your embouchure at all.  This frees up your embouchure for vibrato and other tonal aspects that you might want to manipulate.

I hope you enjoy the video and find it useful.  If you have any comments or questions I would love to hear them.  I would also love to hear any teaching concepts or illustrations on this subject that you use or have heard.  I love hearing new ideas so that I can become an even better teacher!  (Feel free to enlighten me on any medical terminology also)     Thanks,   Steve

I also have a longer 32 minute full length lesson on this subject “The Art of Bending Notes Lesson” if you are interested in hearing more on this subject.

http://www.archive.org/details/universalmethodf00villuoft

I used the Universal Method a bunch when I was in high school and still have the copy on my book shelf.  It’s 318 pages long and is filled with some great exercises for sight reading, technical finger passages,duets,scales and many articulation exercises.  It’s cool to look at the copy I have because it is filled with my sloppy eighth grade pencil notes all over.  It’s funny to see how obsessive and organized I was even in eighth grade.

I challenge my students to do 5-10 minutes of sight reading a day so if you are looking for material…….check it out.   You have nothing to lose since it’s free!  I’ll probably be using it for my sight reading lessons in the future…………….

MacSax Empyreal Alto Saxophone

• Appearance:

The MacSax Empyreal alto saxophone has a cool vintage look to the finish.  It looks like bare brass and does have some scuffs and marks here and there but that just adds to the vintage look.  If you click on the pictures below they will enlarge so you can see more detail.  It reminds me of when you purchase that “vintified” new furniture and it has marks and scrapes on it to make it look older.

• Build Quality:

I’m not a repair man in the least so I can’t speak with authority about issues dealing with construction and repair  but to me the sax is solid and seems to be made with high standards.  The keys are all nice and firm and it is made of strong sturdy metal.  It doesn’t feel like you will bend a key if you push it too hard like on a few other saxophones I have played.  The saxophone came setup right out of the box and had no leaks that I could see with a leak light.  A couple of things I didn’t like about the sax were that the spring tension seemed too strong for me.  I prefer a light spring tension so my fingers have to work as little as possible to push down the keys.  If I were to keep this sax, the first thing I would do is to bring it to my repairman and have all the springs adjusted to be lighter.  The rest of the key work on the sax was perfect and ergonomically pleasant feeling.  One area  that could be improved for me was the side Bb,and C.  For some reason they slope down away from the high side “E” which made them further from my hand.  Not a big deal, but  I would probably have my repairman bend those keys upward so they were closer to the palm of my hand.

• Tone:

The tone of the horn is compact and focused.  I found it neither bright nor dark but when comparing it to my Selmer Reference alto it does have a more compact and focused sound than my Selmer.  My Selmer Reference alto has a wider more spread sound to it.  The tone does remind me of a really good Mark VI a friend of mine has.  I remember playing it once and thinking how focused the sound was.  I had the same thoughts while playing this Empyreal saxophone.

• Control:

The MacSax Empyreal is great to play and control.  I felt at ease on it right out of it’s case.  The true test of course is playing it to music which I did pretty quickly.  It involved no effort on my part to lock it in intonation wise and play with a rhythm section.  Large intervals were easy to achieve. Altissimo was as easy as my Selmer.  The low notes spoke even easier then on my Selmer.

• Intonation:

Intonation was great. It wasn’t perfect but I have never played a saxophone that was.  This is just as good as the most in tune saxophones I have played including my Selmer Reference and some great Mark VI altos.  Low Bb to middle C# were right on “O” on the tuner.  Perfect. Middle D-E were slightly sharp.  10-20 cents without any adjustment but this is normal for every saxophone I have ever played so it’s easy to adjust to. (You just have to “voice” those notes a bit lower)  The high register was also perfectly in tune.  The first thing I check when I play a saxophone  is the intonation between the octaves.  If I play a B and then press the octave key the note should go up an octave and be relatively  in tune without any adjustment or changes needed from my embouchure.  I have played hundreds of saxes that were incredibly sharp in the upper register.  I’m happy to say that the MacSax Empyreal was perfectly in tune with the octaves.

The MacSax Empyreal alto saxophone is another great saxophone out of Taiwan.  To be honest, if this Macsax and my RSBerkeley tenor are good indications of the quality coming out of Taiwan, I think the big 4 sax manufacturers better make sure they are on the top of their game or they will be losing some serious market share to Taiwan.  This alto plays as good or better than the best alto’s I’ve played over the last 10 years.  I would have no problem suggesting this to a student or fellow player  who was looking for a great alto.  As usual, the truth is in the playing………if you are curious about the MacSax Empyreal alto saxophone try one for yourself.  Their website is  www.macsax.com .  Tell them Steve sent you……………

For this test I’m going to play on a  Meyer alto saxophone mouthpiece with a Vandoren Java #3 reed.  I’m going to play the exact same thing using 7 different ligatures.  In between clips,  I will change ligature while holding the reed firmly to the mouthpiece to make sure it doesn’t move at all.  I will slide the new ligature on and play the same phrase again.  The phrase I’m playing is just a simple G major scale pattern in thirds.  I make sure to go up high and down to the low end.  I also tongue some staccato notes in the middle so you can hear how the ligatures might affect the articulation. I’m trying my hardest to play the line the same every time.

Listen to the 7 clips below (headphones would be ideal) and see if you can hear any differences.  The reed, mouthpiece, saxophone and player are all the same.  The only thing that is changing from clip to clip is the ligature.  They are recorded at 320kbps mp3 as that was the best quality I could get.  Let me know what you think in the comments section as I am very interested in what your opinions are………………Thanks,   Steve

Francois Louis Pure Brass Ligature

Vandoren Optimum Ligature

Oleg Gold Ligature

Marc Jean Gold Plated Ligature

Rovner Dark Ligature

No Name Cheap Brass Ligature

Theo Wanne Gold Enlightened Ligature

I’m playing on an Alpine alto saxophone.  The saxophone has some obvious leaks in it but plays reasonably well nonetheless.  I’m using a Yamaha 4C mouthpiece that has a few small chips in the tip,  a  standard Rico #3 reed and a standard no name metal ligature.  In this clip I’m playing Charlie Parker’s solo on Yardbird Suite from the omnibook.

Listen to the clip and see if you can hear a difference between it and my other alto clips on the site.  It is recorded in exactly the same way and I am trying really hard to play the solo to the best ability.   As I was playing and then listening to the recording it was obvious to me that  equipment does matter and have an affect on me.  If it isn’t optimal then it can affect your sound quality, technique, creativity and even your mood.  You need a horn and setup that helps you to achieve what the sound is that you imagine in your mind but the question always comes up………….when is the time to change gear or make that jump?  I always tell my students that it is when you feel like you have taken you current  gear  as far as it will go.  A  fourth grade student in elementary school doesn’t need a Selmer Mark VI.  Even if they jumped from a beat up Bundy to a Selmer there wouldn’t be that much of a difference if any because the student hasn’t  learned the fundamentals of the horn and  gone far on his musical path yet.  Even adults will come in to take lessons and want to know what saxophone to upgrade to or what mouthpiece to get and many times I will tell them that they have more work to do on their current setup or horn.  To drive home the point sometimes I will play their horn and mouthpiece just to show that I can get a good tone out of it and not squeek.  If you are uncertain of your own situation it’s best to get an outside opinion from a reputable teacher.

In this clip I am struggling a bit with the ergonomics of the horn,  the closed tip of the mouthpiece and even the sound and tone of the mouthpiece and horn.  It has a very one dimensional and flat sound to my ears.  I do believe that if I was on a desert island and this was the horn and setup that washed up on the beach I would do fine with it.  I would practice like crazy and in the end hopefully get the sound out of it that I would want.  That being said,  I’m not on a desert island so I think I’ll stick to my Selmer.  I’m sure you will form your own opinions about this clip and subject while you listen.  I have had a number of people that have asked me to do a recording like this just to hear how I sound on average equipment so here you go.  Anyways,…..let me know what you think.

Marc Jean sent me a ligature for a hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece to try.  When I received it and opened the box I immediately new that Marc Jean is a man that takes pride in his work.  The ligature was perfect looking.  It was brushed gold and had no imperfections in it.  It is a reverse ligature which means that the screws are on the top of the mouthpiece.  On the bottom of the ligature are 2 wooden sticks that are a reddish color.  These two sticks are somewhat uneven and non parallel but Marc told me that this is on purpose and that the reed responds better this way.  The two wood sticks are not flimsy toothpick pieces.  What ever they are, they are harder than the cane of a reed.  I was afraid that the wood sticks would get compressed and ruined but I’ve been using the ligature for about 6 weeks every day and the wood sticks looks great.

OK,  now you might be asking what difference this ligature might make compared to other saxophone ligatures?  All I can give you is my personal experience.  On tenor saxophone I have been using metal Otto Links for the last 6 months and had all but decided to sell my hard rubber mouthpieces.  My favorite hard rubber mouthpiece on tenor is a  Early Babbitt Otto Link that I have been using a Francois Louis ligature on.  The Francois Louis ligature has been my favorite ligature for about 3-4 years now I think.  Well, when I received the Marc Jean Ligature, I wet my good reed and played for awhile using the Francois Louis ligature on my Link.  the reed was as perfect as they get and I was digging it but the sound was a bit dull and dark for me.  I put on the Marc Jean while holding the reed absolutely still so that it didn’t shift at all.  When I played my first note I was amazed!  The sound was brighter, louder and fuller.   The reed seemed a tad bit softer and easier to blow to me.  I was totally excited as the qualities I was hearing were the ones I wanted more of from my hard rubber mouthpieces.  I wanted to post on my blog that day about it but decided to wait and see if it would pass the test of time.   Well, it has.  It has been 6-7 weeks and I love it just as much as I did on that first day.

I loved it so much that I also ordered an alto saxophone ligature clarinet ligature and had the same experience with the alto ligature as the tenor. (I haven’t put the clarinet ligature to the test yet……)  I have an Aizen alto mouthpiece that I was on the verge of selling.  I was using a Vandoren Optimum ligature on it and was having trouble getting the right reed strength on it.  When I used a Java 2 1/2 they were too soft and when I used 3′s they were too hard.  I was getting really frustrated about it.  I had the Aizen mouthpiece  on with a 2 1/2 reed and put the Marc Jean ligature on.  The 2 1/2 was way too soft.  I was surprised how soft it felt.  I put on a brand new Java 3.  They had been running hard so I didn’t have high expectations…………the 3 was absolutely perfect with the Marc Jean ligature.  I put the Optimum back on being careful to keep the reed in place and wouldn’t you know it, it felt too hard again.  I put the Marc Jean back on and have been playing it for the last 4 weeks or so. I was ready to sell the Aizen mouthpiece but I’ve been playing it straight for the last 3-4 weeks.

What I have noticed about these ligatures as they seem to make my reeds blow a tad bit easier.  The sound is a bit brighter and more alive for me. I love that.  How does it do that?  I can only guess.   The only contact the ligature has with the reed are those 2 wooden sticks.  Maybe the reed has a bit more freedom to vibrate and buzz because the wood is it self a little more flexible than metal.  I have no idea.  All I know is that I noticed a huge difference and am happier for it.

Now before you say I am just excited over a new purchase I want to state that I purposefully did not post about these for awhile now because I wanted to make sure that they were the real deal.  I have bought ligatures before for 50-100 and been totally excited and then 2-3 days later think I just wasted my money when I get a bad reed or have a bad day.  For the past 6-7 weeks the Marc Jean ligatures have been great.  I have used them with dozens of reeds on dozens of mouthpieces and I am sold on them.  My next purchase will be one that fits my metal Links.  If you are interested in trying Marc Jean ligatures be sure to check out their website at  http://www.musiquedemarc.com/en/index.asp .   Check out all the reviews from players on that page.  There is also a phone number and email  at the bottom to order one.  Tell him Steve sent you! : )

Obviously, if you look at the picture  you can tell that I have either fallen for the hype or I believe there  are difference that can be perceived when using different ligatures.  For the photo, I rounded up all my tenor,alto and clarinet ligatures ( I forgot to include my soprano saxophone ligatures).  In total I have about 46 ligatures for those instruments.  It made me a bit sick to do it, but I calculated a quick estimate of what these have cost me over the years.  Are you ready………..1750.00  (Excuse me a moment while I cry………….although this is nothing compared to how much I’ve spent on reeds in the last 30 years!).   Obviously, that is a lot of money!  Do ligatures make a difference?  Well, even if they don’t, I have to believe they do just to justify my money spent and not feel like a total fool.

You might think it is hogwash but I do feel and notice a difference in the way different ligatures allow the reed to vibrate.  Some of these differences can be perceived by the listener and some of them can only be felt by the player himself.  I have played ligatures that have made the tone darker, brighter, richer, hollower, more focused, more spread, constrained, brittle, buttery, louder and softer.  Now some of these words are thoughts that only I have had and could perceive.  Others are thoughts and words that others have heard when I played a certain ligature.  The end result for me is that I do feel the ligature makes a difference.  At times it might be subtle and  not heard by the listener but if it is felt or heard by the player then it can make a big difference in how that player hears  their sound and how they perform.

Now I can go into an analysis of what each ligature does and how it changes the response or sound (I will probably do this in the future) but in the end all these descriptions are totally subjective.  You have to play each ligature yourself and judge for yourself.  It is much like my mouthpiece reviews and clips.  I can give my opinion and view on a given mouthpiece but in the end you have to play it for yourself and form your own opinion.

Anyways,  let’s put this to a vote!

Joe Allard (December 31, 1910 – May 3, 1991), a native of Lowell, MA,was a famous saxophone and clarinet  professor at Juilliard, The New England Conservatory and The Manhattan School of Music.  Some of his most famous students were: Michael Brecker, Eddie Daniels, Bob Berg, Dave Liebman, Paul Winter, Steve Grossman, Kenneth Radnofsky, Bill Pierce  and many many others.

I found reading this both fascinating and enlightening.  Many of the tips on reeds I had never heard before. I love how relaxed it all feels when you’re reading it.  The more relaxed and natural everything is the better.  Thanks so much to Gary Jones for writing this out and making it available to the saxophone community!

Lesson 1

first thing is to do this exercise for a week with just a reed. no mouthpiece no horn.

holding the end of the reed in your hand, place the reed on your lower lip like you are going to play it. just let it rest there. relax your mouth totally. no tension in you lip at all.
your lip is straight across and slightly turned over the top of your lower teeth.
no downward tension on the reed, it just lays there. the only tension is the weight of the reed.
reeds aren’t very heavy.
your lower lip goes right aginst your teeth with your lip as an uninvolved cushion between reed and teeth.
mouth sort of open like you have an invisible mouthpiece in there.
now practice blowing over the reed like that. just like you are playing the reed on an invisible mouthpiece.
you just use your lungs to push air but don’t involve any of the muscles in your mouth or face.
when you blow over the reed your lip and mouth don’t respond in any way.
the most important thing is that your lower lip doesn’t respond by curving around the sides of the reed in any way.
no clamping down on the mouthpiece, there isn’t any mouthpiece there to clamp down on.
your bottom lip is completely relaxed like you are asleep.
practice blowing like that.
this is what it should feel like to blow the saxophone.
keep a reed in you pocket and do it alot.
the other thing from the first lesson was breathing exercises.
we were in an urban environment where we walked alot but you could just as easily do this  sitting down.
when you are walking breath in through your nose for 5 steps. hold your breath for 5 steps. breath out through your mouth for 5 steps.
eventually work your way up to 20 steps in, 20 steps hold, 20 steps out. eventually you might like to do some empty counts after the exhale and before the next inhalatin.
as the air goes out you can restrict and controll the flow like a flute embouchure. the exhalation is an even steady long tone.
if you practice this while stationary just pace your breathing by counting like a walking pace.
this is to develop good breathing but also for relaxation both mental and physical.
You can’t play music if your head is full of mental chatter.
later for added layers of concentration you can count repetitions. you could for instance do 3 groups of 12 different 20 count cycles or whatever like that.
this would corespond to the multiple layers of concentration needed to keep track of complex jazz forms.
one of the things we are trying to do is union of mind and body. you hear or think a sound and it comes out of the horn.
just like speaking. the breathing exercises are yoga exercises. yoga means union.
eventually the head space the breathing exercise puts you in starts to become a mental state you learn and can use when you play.
In keeping with this theme there was a hatha yoga pose to practice that first lesson.
much to my suprise i was instructed to get on my back on the floor in the practice studio and do the sivananda  yoga posture Setubandasana  “the bridge” or “bridge-building pose”. (bridge the gap between body and mind)
picture:

Its basically about opening up and stretching your lower abdomen.
concentrate on how you are breathing when you do this.
learn to breath in deeply by drawing your diaphram down.
only at the end of your inhalation is there a need to expand the chest.
its important to do the exercises but also to understand the reason why you are doing them.
at the end of this lesson George told me to get the book “top tones for saxophone” by Sigurd Rascher
and to get a single bevel reed knife.

Lesson 2

ok, so now that we have the proper embouchure it’s time to put the reed on a mouthpiece.
First we have to prepare the reed.
this is going to be hard to describe so i made pictures and you should ask questions.
the purpose of this is to get the reed to seal properly.
Soak a new reed in a glass or bowl of fresh water for 15 minutes and then lay it out on a mantle or table somewhere upside down to dry.
after it dries lay it upside down on your left index finger. It might help to wet your finger so the reed will stick.
hold the reed knife in your right hand and put it on the reed near the bottom. put your left thumb behind the knife blade for support.
with a counter clockwise twist of you right wrist and with you thumb for guidance and support for the blade, work the table of the reed until it is flat.
your thumb and index finger work together to control the pressure on the reed. you have to keep the knife pressure even left to right and the motion is scraping not cutting.
this takes some practice.
picture:

you want to flatten about the first two inches of the reed (tenor reed). the most important part is about half way up where the mouthpiece table ends and the mouthpiece window begins.
you want the whole area of the reed on the mouthpiece table to be flat and not warped or curved.
you  know the reed is  flat when the material comes off the reed evenly all the way across.
material will come off only the high points at first.
after you get the reed flat get a clean piece of high quality paper and put it on a perfectly clean flat hard surface.
place the reed on the paper flat side down. put the tips of your  first 3 fingers along the center back of the reed.
rub the reed counter clockwise in a circle 100 times to polish and seal the flat side of the reed.
picture:

now rub you finger or thumb along the top, cut  side of the reed  from the vamp to the tip to seal the top. rub allot like 100 times.
you are trying to seal off all the open pores on the top.
this will seal the reed and make it into a solid object. a freshly cut piece of cane like all plant stems is a series of tubes.
these tubes conduct air and water so an unsealed reed can’t seal on the mouthpiece properly.
at the end of your playing session you can check the seal on the flat side of the reed.
take the reed off of the mouthpiece carefully and look at the reed and mouthpiece.
The reed should have a sharp line where the area above the mouthpiece window is wet and the fibers might be swollen.
below that, the area of the reed on the mouthpiece table should be perfectly dry. the table of the mouthpiece should be perfectly dry.
picture:

you can if you want also shape the tip of the reed to fit the mouthpiece tip exactly. this will help the seal as the reed vibrates.
line the reed up to the tip but below it so you can see what it needs. take the reed off the mouthpiece and hold a piece of very fine wet or dry sandpaper in your left hand.
you can get a little stiffness out of the sand paper if you need to by making a little bit of a curve with it as you hold it in the air. don’t put the sandpaper against something just hold it out in the air.
now rub the tip of the reed against the sandpaper side to side (in a line edge to edge). don’t put any stress on the reed tip. shape the reed tip to match the mouthpiece tip.
picture:

When you put the reed on the mouthpiece line it up so a little sliver of the mouthpiece tip rail is showing above the reed.
In the actual  lessons we started with vandoren #5 reeds and cut them down to proper strength but that’s too extensive to describe here and i was never good enough at it to fully understand what was going on.

Lesson 3
OK now that we have a reed on the mouthpiece lets play.
for this week play only the mouthpiece without the horn.
before you put the mouthpiece in your mouth.
close your mouth and relax as much as possible.
feel how your tongue is against the roof of your mouth and the sides of your tongue are against your upper teeth.
now open your mouth a little and let your tongue fall down so it cuts your mouth cavity in half.
spread your tongue out so it covers your upper teeth on both sides at least partly and seals against you teeth.
this does not apply to the front teeth, the tip of your tongue pulls back a little and will direct the air in between the reed and mouthpiece tip.
also your tongue is positioned perfectly for tonguing.
hold your hand up to your mouth and blow against it to feel how the air travels above your tongue.
the air travels faster because you have reduced your mouth volume by half.
don’t put tension in you tongue when you do this. you can do it and still be perfectly relaxed.
now put the mouthpiece in your mouth and remember the feel from the first week of playing with only the reed.
the upper teeth rest directly on the mouthpiece without any biting or pressure.
when you play air should be leaking out of the corners of you mouth because your lower lip is straight across and not curving up the sides of the reed.
eventually some of your upper lip might come down and fill the gap and stop the leaking but the leaking is not a concern.
use the leaking as a sign you are doing it correctly.
the reason why this is a good thing is if your lip touches the side of the reed it would kill the free vibrations of the reed.
your lower lip acts only as a fulcrum point for the reed to vibrate from. your lip shouldn’t dampen the reeds free vibrations in any way.

ok now here is the real good stuff.
practice singing  a note or an interval or series of notes.
think about how you body automatically adjusts itself to make the different notes when you are singing.
this is the same mechanism you are going to use to play the different notes on the mouthpiece.
never change your mouth position in any way and keep your mouth perfectly relaxed and use the way you sing with you vocal cords to
practice on the mouthpiece. play scales, play songs, whatever.
what you need to do is imagine each note fully before you play it.
take the mouthpiece out of you mouth and sing what you want to play.
then imagine the same sounds as they are going to come out of the mouthpiece reed combination.
then play what you imagined on the mouthpiece.
when you are playing one note and you want to change to another note develop a mental image of the new note before you try to play it.
the mental image should include pitch, tone, and volume.

now you get to play the horn.
stand up straight and imagine that you are hanging from a string that is attached to the top of your head and and to the ceiling.
then use the neckstrap to bring the horn to your mouth. find just the proper adjustment for the neckstrap.
you will be surprised how much proper posture effects tone, just like when you are talking.
don’t hold your head too high or too low. image you are relaxed and speaking to someone in a direct and honest way.
that’s how it should feel when you play, like you are standing and talking.
now when you put your hands on the horn curve your fingers and put the tips of you fingers directly on the pearls.
don’t hold your fingers flat like you see so many players do.
the tips of your fingers should never lift off of the keys accept when you need to use side keys or whatever.
To get a feel for this and train yourself about the way it feels you can put a little piece of double sided tape on the pearls so your fingers stick to the keys.
think about the amount of energy that goes into pushing down the keys. never squeeze hard on the keys only push them closed
only with the smallest amount of energy needed to overcome the springs and make the key go down.
sing a note and squeeze something or push hard on a flat surface with just one finger and you can hear the tone of your voice change.
never lift your fingers, you never have to actively lift your fingers just withdraw the energy used to overcome the spring and let the key springs raise you fingers up
as the keys open by themselves, get a feel for this because it’s a very powerful concept.
you don’t lift your fingers you just stop pushing down and the springs raise your fingers for you.

Now on to the book “Top Tones for Saxophone” by Sigurd Rascher.
The main goal of this book is tone and intonation development, the secondary goal is extended range into the 3rd and even 4th octave of the horn.
you have to work on these exercises some every day and the progress will most likely be rather slow at first.
the first set of exercises on pg 6 are long tone exercises. They are all important and well documented in the book.
outside of the instructions was the lesson to do the long tones soft to loud to soft.
this is the most important for developing intonation. you should do this some each day.
when you get to the loud part in the middle of the long tone really let the tone open up and get huge but not blasting.
The main idea here is pitch. you might want to use a tuner. The pitch as you crescendo and decrescendo needs to stay perfectly steady.
skip the exercises on pg 7 about uniformity of tone, because we don’t agree with the use of pressure on the reed as presented in the exercise.
then the page 8 and 9 exercises on tone imagination and ear training are very important and should be done some each day.
for instance you can do one line on page 9 very carefully each day and the next day start on the next line in a continual rotation.
Now comes the all important overtone exercises pg 12 – 18. again just take a section each day to work on.
when you do the overtone exercises it is very important not to adjust your embouchure in any way.
you play the overtone exercises perfectly smooth with no breaks between notes and no articulation and no adjustments to your jaw or lips.
If you use cheats like tonguing or embouchure movement then you are defeating the purpose.
the point is to develop the vocal way of controlling the tones like you practiced on the mouthpiece.
don’t worry about how these turn out at first just try honestly to do them and let it go.
The end result will be you can easily present the overtone within the tone of the low note and then take away the lower tone and isolate the overtone smoothly just like you are singing.
It will also be possible in the end to do the exercises as multiphonics simply adding the higher notes to the lower ones and keeping the lower notes going or taking away the lower notes as you like..
the purpose in doing this is to be able to control tone  color like you can with your voice.
tone color on the saxophone is a matter of adding or bringing out certain partials in the sound and lowering or decreasing others at will.
eventually this will be accomplished by simply imagining the tone you are going for.
its important to never play a note on the saxophone without first imagining the note in every aspect, tone, pitch and volume first.
It is this very act of imagining the note that will bring your body on board with the mechanisms to produce the tone.
eventually this will lead to the mind body connection we talked about earlier where you simply have to imagine music and your body will automatically create the music for you
without you having to think about it. the saxophone will eventually become just an extension of your body and therefore an extension of you mind.
just like the long tones the instruction, different from the book, was to also do the long tones with all manner of crescendos and decrescendos.
you will find over time it is easier for instance to crescendo into a downward overtone movement and decrescendo into an upward overtone interval.
you should also practice doing the opposite changing notes downward and the very softest point in a decrescendo and changing notes upward and the very apex of a crescendo.
these crescendo decrescendo exercises added to the overtone exercises will really help turbocharge the chop building aspect of the overtone exercises.
one more point is that the overtone exercises in the book only use the low note fingerings because all notes on the saxophone are extensions of these few lower fingerings.
there is never any need to do overtones on higher fingerings. it would be possible to play any music using only the few low note fingering say up to about D.
It might even be a fun exercise to try to play some music using overtones and only the low note fingerings.

i think that’s about it. if you follow this basic style you should consider yourself a joe allard school saxophone player.