A great sax player has mastered the art of bending and shaping\u00a0 their notes to express what they want to convey.\u00a0 It might be a mood, attitude or emotion.\u00a0 There is no doubt that bending notes adds excitement and emotion to a solo.\u00a0 Bending notes on the saxophone is one of the coolest things that you can learn to do.\u00a0 All the great jazz and R&B saxophone players bend there notes in some way.\u00a0 Usually, the most expressive players and the ones who convey the most emotion and feeling in their playing are the ones who really manipulate and shape their sound the most.<\/p>\n
For me, it’s similar to being a great reader or storyteller.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 That’s a great way to get a child to fall asleep fast but a horrible way to keep their interest and attention.\u00a0 You will find that the best storytellers are those that manipulate different aspects of their voice while reading.\u00a0 They talk slower or faster.\u00a0 They talk higher for a women’s voice or lower for a man’s voice.\u00a0 They try to match the sound and style of the way they are speaking with the character that is saying it.\u00a0 If the story is happy…..they sound happy.\u00a0 If it sad, they sound sad.\u00a0 If it is stressful they speak urgently and with some anxiety in their voice.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 They might yell and the child will jump back startled.\u00a0 All these elements are brought together to tell a story in a rich and expressive way.\u00a0 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\u00a0 emotion.<\/p>\n
One of the most common is the bending of notes on the saxophone.\u00a0 In this video, I am showing you the technique I use to bend notes by just using your tongue and throat.\u00a0 Many players will\u00a0 learn how to bend notes by dropping their bottom jaw early on in their development.\u00a0 The technique I am using here is a bit more nebulous and hard to define.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The other problem is trying to understand what is going on within the students throat and tongue position.\u00a0 Many times a student is unaware of what is happening or is even mistaken about what is happening inside their own body.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
Learning this concept has huge benefits.\u00a0 It helps with expression but it also helps with intonation in a great way.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 This frees up your embouchure for vibrato and other tonal aspects that you might want to manipulate.<\/p>\n
I hope you enjoy the video and find it useful.\u00a0 If you have any comments or questions I would love to hear them.\u00a0 I would also love to hear any teaching concepts or illustrations on this subject that you use or have heard.\u00a0 I love hearing new ideas so that I can become an even better teacher!\u00a0 (Feel free to enlighten me on any medical terminology also) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thanks,\u00a0\u00a0 Steve<\/p>\n