{"id":35950,"date":"2016-04-07T09:46:03","date_gmt":"2016-04-07T14:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/?p=35950"},"modified":"2016-04-10T13:54:02","modified_gmt":"2016-04-10T18:54:02","slug":"joe-allard-overtone-exercise-for-saxophone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/joe-allard-overtone-exercise-for-saxophone\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Allard Overtone Exercise for Saxophone"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u00a0wanted to share this great saxophone Overtone exercise that Dr. David Demsey<\/a>\u00a0wrote out a number of years ago. \u00a0\u00a0Dr. Demsey studied with Joe Allard from 1977-1980 and is the Coordinator of Jazz Studies and Professor of Music at William Paterson University. There is a great interview<\/a>\u00a0with Dr. Demsey about Joe Allard that any of you interested in the saxophone and Joe Allard’s teachings should read (correction: MUST<\/span> read!).\u00a0 These overtone exercises are based off of and adapted from the teachings of Joe Allard.<\/p>\n

For those of you who don’t know who Joe Allard was or the impact he has had on the saxophone world as a teacher, \u00a0here are some other Neffmusic articles on Joe Allard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Back to the saxophone Overtone exercises.\u00a0 I found these particular exercises referred to on the internet somewhere and after searching for them, found them on Dave Liebman’s website. \u00a0 I printed them out, took a cursory look at them and then put them on a big pile of papers on my desk thinking they were the same old Sigurd Rascher type saxophone exercises I had studied while in college.<\/p>\n

Months later, I came across them again as I was cleaning my desk and decided to try to play through them. No problem I thought, \u00a0I tried the first line and immediately hit a roadblock. \u00a0I couldn’t perform the first two notes! \u00a0You see, the 3 pages of this exercise all have the student play an overtone and then slur down to an overtone below the first overtone. \u00a0Although I had spent a ton of time on saxophone overtones\u00a0with “Top Tones for the saxophone” by Sigurd Rasher in college, I don’t think I had ever tried to slur between overtones. \u00a0The Rascher book doesn’t have any slurs in it that I remember so I put a tiny space between each note as I prepared to voice the next note. \u00a0Adjusting my voicing while playing the note was something brand new to me.<\/p>\n

As I tried to perform this new exercise, \u00a0I thought to myself \u00a0“What the heck? This is hard!”<\/p>\n

I\u00a0found that I could\u00a0somewhat accomplish the task at hand if I dropped my jaw a ton but then I had this huge drop in pitch before the overtone finally dropped lower. \u00a0 At this point, I decided to get some advice from someone who knew what was up so I emailed Dr. Demsey himself to make sure I was doing this correctly. \u00a0 Was it really supposed to be this hard?<\/p>\n

Here is\u00a0a quote from the email response from Dr. Demsey:<\/p>\n

“Hi Steve,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The exercise is:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

– With a breath attack (no tonguing), pick off the highest note of that group. \u00a0This forces you to pre-hear the pitch. \u00a0The tongue needs to be higher in your oral cavity, saying a “ee” shape. \u00a0The larynx is an involuntary muscle so it’s not able to be intentionally positioned; it’s more that you are pre-hearing that pitch, causing your larynx\/throat to position themselves in the same shape they would be to sing that note.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

– Drop down to the lower pitches in the series with little or no embouchure movement. \u00a0It’s all in the tongue and throat positioning. \u00a0You can even feel the “click” in your mouth as the overtones descend. \u00a0Note: in particular, the jaw does not move! \u00a0No jaw drop; it’s all in the tongue\/throat.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

– Keep the whole thing at a SLOW tempo, perhaps 5-7 seconds per pitch. \u00a0Listen carefully to get the most resonant, centered sound on each pitch. \u00a0When that center is found, one can almost hear a very high ringing sound as the overtones all line up. \u00a0Some people describe that sound as filling their head, resonating their head, filling the room, etc.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

– Repeat the whole sequence several times on each exercise, limiting this work to 10-15 minutes per session so as not to strain or overuse any of the muscles involved.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I hope this is helpful! \u00a0Let me know if you have questions – <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. David Demsey<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I added the underline in the above quote. \u00a0 Notice what it says: No Jaw Drop! \u00a0It does not move! \u00a0So although I was accomplishing the task, I was doing it wrong. I went back to practicing.<\/p>\n

As I kept practicing, I noticed that I was starting to have some success with the exercise without lowering my jaw. \u00a0Some overtones are easier to drop than others but I started to feel that “click” that Dr. Demsey is talking about above. \u00a0The frustrating thing for me is that many times it seems like the change happens in it’s own stubborn time. \u00a0I’ll be playing and thinking “down, down,down,down”. \u00a0I\u00a0try to voice the lower overtone and then it finally drops almost of it’s own free will…….<\/p>\n

So, \u00a0as I have been working through these exercises the past month, I have noticed that my facility and focus with the overtones is getting much better. Sigurd Rascher writes about imagining the note before you try to play it in “Top Tones for the saxophone” and that really is the key. \u00a0When I\u00a0was a kid, I didn’t really understand that and thought it was\u00a0just mumbo jumbo but when I started actually being able to get the overtones I realized how right on that was.<\/p>\n

I relate it to singing a note. \u00a0 You have to have an idea of the note you are going to sing in order to cleanly sing it. \u00a0You subconsciously start to voice the note before you produce any sound. \u00a0Try it right now, sing any high note. \u00a0You will notice that there is movement \u00a0with your tongue and throat before you even produce a sound. \u00a0You are getting ready to produce that high note. \u00a0 It’s the same way with the saxophone, you have to learn to voice each of the notes before you play them to get the note sounding the best and in tune. \u00a0It’s not just pushing keys and blowing air. \u00a0 There should be\u00a0an interaction between the body and the instrument when a\u00a0sax players plays. \u00a0 It’s as if they are one!<\/p>\n

The truth is that I am posting this post as much for me as for all of you. \u00a0My selfish goals are to gather some more information from some of the Joe Allard saxophone family out there. \u00a0If any of you have any more insight into what Joe Allard taught you on these exercises, overtones and voicings in particular I would love to hear it. \u00a0 Among the questions that have come up for me:<\/p>\n