Foundationsfor

Saxophone

Ryan LeeWakefield

1Purpose ofthis Book

This book is the first in a series of method books for saxophone. It explains all the fundamental parts of music and the saxophone. This book can even be used before renting or buying a saxophone.

The other books in this series are used at the same time. Each book focuses on one aspect of music or the saxophone and compliments each other.

This series can also be used as a supplement for elementary band programs. A great thing about music is its universality. It doesn’t matter if you’re from America, Russia, England, or anywhere else, music uses the same principles and techniques.

Have fun learning to play the Saxophone!!!

2Table ofContents

How To Put The Saxophone Together ....... 3

Timetable For Learning The Saxophone.... 5

Musical Terms ............................................... 6

Saxophone Tone Production ..................... 9

Tonguing (How to start notes) .................. 13

Fingering Chart .......................................... 14

Technique and Posture ............................. 19Technique and Posture ............................. 19

Reading Music Notation ........................... 20

Where To Next ........................................... 29

Neck Body

Mouthpiece

Neckstrap

Reed

Ligature

3How to put the

Saxophone Together

4

1. Pull the reed out of its case and put it in your mouth to wet it. Keep it there until later.

2. Put the neckstrap around your neck.

3. Put the mouthpiece onto the cork of the neck. You may need to apply corkgrease to the neck in order for the mouthpiece to slide on to the neck.

4. Place the flat side of the reed onto the mouthpiece 4. Place the flat side of the reed onto the mouthpiece with the tip of the reed matching the tip of the mouthpiece. Then slide the ligature over the reed and mouthpiece and tighten it to secure the reed in place.

5. Attach the neck with attached mouthpiece to the top of the body of the saxophone. Align the neck with the rest of the saxophone.

6. Finally attach the neckstrap to the ring in the middle of 6. Finally attach the neckstrap to the ring in the middle of the body of the saxophone and adjust the length of the neckstrap according to your height.

How to put the Saxophone Together

5

Some aspects of learning the saxophone will take more time than others and require different types of effort.

One such aspect is strengthening the embouchure; the One such aspect is strengthening the embouchure; the muscles you use with your lips around the mouthpiece of the saxophone. Strengthening the embouchure is just a matter of spending time playing longtones on the saxophone. Two weeks playing longtones each day will be a sufficient amount of time for developing embouchure strength.

Items such as notes, fingerings, key and time signatures, Items such as notes, fingerings, key and time signatures, and other parts of music theory can be learned through memorization (flash cards) and at your own pace. There are many different things like these to learn in music, so take your time and learn them when they become relevant.

Learning to play in time and with correct rhythm will Learning to play in time and with correct rhythm will require a different kind of focus all together. The best way to learn is through listening and imitation. Chances are you already have a good sense of rhythm and all you need to do is pair that sense with the related musical notation.

Learning music will require different types of intelligence Learning music will require different types of intelligence such as memorization, logic, physical tasks, and most important, listening.

As with all learning, have patience.

Timetable for Learningthe Saxophone

6Musical Terms and Definitions

Here’s a reference of basic terms and concepts that will help you learn music.

Timbre- the quality of sound that refers to an instrument (sound of the flute, trumpet etc) or the brightness/darkness/ warmth/shrillness of a sound, defined by the amplitude of each overtone of the fundamental tone; tone color

Overtones- a set of tones sounding above the Overtones- a set of tones sounding above the fundamental tone at specific ratios, the strength/amplitude of each overtone defines the timbre of the sound

Fundamental Tone- the strong, prime pitch of a sound

Pitch- the perceived highness or lowness of a sound

Tone- a single musical sound defined by pitch and Tone- a single musical sound defined by pitch and duration; a note

Articulation- the use of techniques to modify the attack/decay, connection, duration, dynamic, timbre, or pitch of individual notes creating interest, variety, and style

Phrasing- the ebb and flow of energy through a musical Phrasing- the ebb and flow of energy through a musical statement; techniques of articulation and dynamics direct the energy of the musical statement

7Dynamics- the softness (quietness) or loudness of a sound

Key- the series of tones forming any given major or minor tonality; tones which have harmonic relationships that are transposable to a higher or lower tonic note without changing those relationships. All other tones have a particular relation to the tonic note

Tonic- first note of a keyTonic- first note of a key

Interval- the distance between two tones in the musical alphabet

Melody- the distinct, memorable line in a piece of music, often sounds as the loudest part in a piece

Harmony- the relations of intervals sounding either Harmony- the relations of intervals sounding either simultanteously (vertical), in cadence (horizontal), or in combination. Also, the parts of music that sound under the melody; an accompanying line

Key Signature- pattern of sharps or flats that define a key in notation

Notation- written music

Musical Alphabet- A B C D E F G repeated higher and lower in Musical Alphabet- A B C D E F G repeated higher and lower in reverse order with half step sharp/flat notes in between; the series of keys on a piano/keyboard

8

Rhythm- the flow of notes through time, which have durations relative to a reference point and rate, often grouped together in units

Tempo- the rate of the beat, defined by a rate of beats per minute (bpm) as in 80 bpm, a word (Andante, Presto, etc.) or by a conductor or band member (”1, 2, 1 2 3 4”)

Meter- the grouping of beats into a single unit, often Meter- the grouping of beats into a single unit, often characterized by strong and weak beats

Beat- the pulse of a piece of music; heartbeat, with even duration

Measure/Bar- one unit of the meter

Time Feel- the overall rhythmic sensation of a piece of music Time Feel- the overall rhythmic sensation of a piece of music usually described by vernacular terms (lively, morose, tight, funky, rocking, swinging, etc)

Groove- the danceable, head bopping aspect of a song defined by tempo and meter, often sounding as a pattern

Rubato- a time feel without a groove that can speed up or slow down as the musical phrasing dictates

9

Embouchure

Breath Support

Larynx

Oral Cavity

Sound is the most important aspect of the saxophone. Developing a good sound is the first goal towards playing. There are four areas of saxophone tone production.

Saxophone ToneProduction

10

Breathing is fundamentally important when playing the saxophone. All of your power, nuance, and expression come first from your lungs. It is best to breathe from your abdomen instead of your chest. To check if you are breathing from your abdomen, lie flat on your back and place a heavy book on your stomach. Make the book move by breathing in and out. If you can do that, you are breathing correctly.

Breath Support

The embouchure is the muscles surrounding your lips. It is formed by slightly curling in your bottom lip over your bottom teeth. This acts as cushion against the reed. Your top teeth will rest on the top of the mouthpiece about a half inch from the tip. Once the mouthpiece is in your mouth, pull in the corners of your lips firmly to play the saxophone. You will have to experiment with different amounts of firmness and develop strength in those muscles.

Embouchure

Saxophone ToneProduction

11

The oral cavity involves your cheeks and tongue. In general, your cheeks should not be puffed out when playing the saxophone. They should be relaxed but firm. Your cheek muscles will come into play with your embouchure. Your tongue is used for articulation and the start of notes. It also comes into play with intonation and timbre. Experiment with high and low tongue positions using the “EE” sound in the word heel and the “OO” using the “EE” sound in the word heel and the “OO” sound in the word pool.

Oral Cavity

The larynx is your voice box (vocal folds) that you use to speak and sing. To find your larynx, yawn. Yawning will give a good idea of the muscles involved. Singing vowel sounds (a e i o u) and singing sirens up and down in pitch will show you other ways you can use your larynx. The larynx changes the air volume and speed that enters the mouthpiece of the saxophone, which can change everthing from pitch, dynamics, to timbre. Developing a strong larynx will take you far with the saxophone.

Larynx

Saxophone ToneProduction

Take a drinking straw and blow through it using your abdominal, oblique, and lower back muscles. Blow against a piece of paper and try to make the paper horizontal as long as possible. Do this exercise for five minutes a day for two weeks when you start learning to play the saxophone.

Say for instance you’re learning the piano. You press a key, the sound comes out. Press it harder and then it will be louder. The saxophone, however, has many more variables to its sound. You could play a note on the saxophone and it could sound sharp, flat, or like a dying duck. In the next section, you will be learning about tonguing and the fingerings of the saxophone and finally be able to apply the four areas of saxophone tone production.

12Saxophone ToneProduction

Make a seal; close the opening

To stop a note with tonguing, simply place your tongue back on the tip of the reed before you stop the air pressure (blowing).

Tonguing is a way to start and stop notes on the saxophone. To start a note with tonguing, place your tongue on the tip of the reed, creating a seal between the reed and the tip of the mouthpiece. Next build up air pressure behind the reed and then release your tongue

Tonguing13

14

The next couple of pages contains saxophone fingering diagrams and a fingering chart for the saxophone. The keys in black are to be pressed down and the blank ones are left open. The saxophone acts like a pipe that gets longer or shorter, making the pitch lower or higher. By changing fingerings you change the length of the pipe. The chart goes from the lowest note to the highest note.

Take a look at the following fingerings.

These fingerings use the same amount of pipe but the ones on the right are one octave higher than the left. This is because the fingerings on the right use the octave key. The octave key allows the saxophone to be played in a higher register. The octave key uses the overtone series to accomplish this.

Introduction to Saxophone Fingering Chart

15Saxophone

Fingering Diagram

16

LeftPalm

LeftPinky

RightPinky

RightPalm

LeftThumb

Don’t worry about memorizing all of this. This is mostly for reference.

SaxophoneFingering Diagram

17

C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb

A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E

F F#/Gb G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B

Saxophone FingeringChart

18Saxophone Fingering

Chart

G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B C C#/Db

D D#/Eb E F

Again, this is for reference. You’ll learn these notes one at a time when they become relevant.

19

Here are some items to keep in mind when learning the saxophone.

1. Keep your fingerings on the pearls. Only lift them off to use the palm keys.

2. Don’t slam and squeeze the keys. Only use necessary force to depress each key.

3. Sit or stand upright with both feet flat on the floor.

4. Don’t be your neck down to reach the mouthpiece. 4. Don’t be your neck down to reach the mouthpiece. Adjust the saxophone neckstrap so the mouthpiece comes to you.

5. Don’t life the saxophone with your right thumb. Use the neckstrap to raise the saxophone. Only use your thumb to balance it.

6. Find the smallest movements for switching between each 6. Find the smallest movements for switching between each fingering. In order to play fast and in rhythm, all unnecessary movement must be removed from your technique.

Technique& Posture

20Reading MusicNotation

Sometimes musicians will describe music notation as a foreign language, mostly because, if you learn how to read it, you will be able to play written music with any musician around the world. Music, written out or otherwise, doesn’t qualify as a language. If it did anyone could not only learn it but become a master of it before he turns three or four years old, just like someone’s native language. language.

What written music really is, is a common practice code that has been solidified over time. Learning it requires memorization and building associations with the aural elements of music, aural meaning anything you hear. So let’s get started!

The staff is a five line grid on which notes are placed. When notes are placed on the staff, they are read left to right. Notes can be placed on a line or in a space. Now the saxophone only plays one note at a time but notes can be placed vertically in columns to form chords. The vertical placement of notes represents relative low to high pitches from bottom to top. To assign pitches to each line and space we use a clef.each line and space we use a clef.

Staff

21

Clef

The notes under the bottom line and above the top line are considered notes in a space. G and A are right beside each other because that’s where the musical alphabet repeats. If we need to write music above or below the given five lines, we can add short lines called ledger lines.

A B C A B C D E F

D E F G A B C D E F G

This clef is called the treble clef. It is the only clef saxophone music uses. It’s also called the G clef because the swirl at the bottom of the clef surrounds the note G. Actually, that’s all the treble clef does; it assigns the 2nd line from the bottom to the note G.

Since that note is assigned, we can figure out the rest of notes. Ascending line, space, line, space or descending follows the pattern ABDEFG repeated or GFEDCBA repeated respectively.

24

Rhythm is difficult to visualize. One of the best ways to learn rhythm is to deconstruct a familiar tune and assign terms to it. Here is a childern’s song, “Good Morning To You.” Sing it out loud.

You probably sang these notes twice as long as the others. So let’s notate that by using a different type of note.

So the empty note heads are twice as long as the filled ones.

Pay attention to the highlighted notes

25

They sound like they belong together in a group. So let’s group them.

The black vertical lines are called barlines and each unit between the barlines are called measures. The double barline indicates the end of the song

There are a few more items dealing with rhythm. They are tempo, meter, beat, time signatures, and other rhythmic values.

Next take a look at these groups of highlighted notes.

26

The highlighted block at the top indicates the tempo. Tempo is a rate of beats per minute. This tempo marking means in the time of a minute, 112 beats will occur. So, if the tempo is 120 bpm, each beat equals half a second. In a tempo of 30 bpm, each beat equals two seconds.

The block to the right of the treble clef is a time The block to the right of the treble clef is a time signature. The time signature indicates the number of beats in a measure (top number) and the type of rhythmic value that is assigned to the beat (bottom number). So there are three beats in each measure and the quarter note (filled in note) “gets the beat.”

The first and last measures do not have 3 beats in them. The first and last measures do not have 3 beats in them. That’s because the melody actually starts one beat early and technically comes from the end of the tune. You could sing this tune over and over and that first note ends up being at the end. The first measure is usually called a “pick-up” measure, due to picking up the melody from the end of the song.

Now let’s examine all the relative rhythmic values.

Tempo: Quarter Note = 112 bpm

27Relative Rhythmic

Values

4

2

1

1/2

1/4

1/8

Number ofBeats if

1/4 Note = Beat

1

1/2

1/4

1/8

1/16

1/32

RelativeValue

Whole Note

Half Note

Quarter Note

Eighth Note

Sixteenth Note

Thirty-Second Note

Name of Note

Symbol

28Relative Rhythmic

Values

4

2

1

1/2

1/4

1/8

Number ofBeats if

1/4 Note = Beat

1

1/2

1/4

1/8

1/16

1/32

RelativeValue

Whole Rest

Half Rest

Quarter Rest

Eighth Rest

Sixteenth Rest

Thirty-Second Rest

Name of Rest

Symbol

29Where toNext

Tone Study Book- Learn all the ways to craft the sound of the saxophone

Rhythm Study Book- Learn rhythm the right way, by listening, not arithmetic

Theory Work Book- Master all the Theory Work Book- Master all the necessary music theory

Notation Reading Book- Learn to read music step by step

30

All of these books work in tandem to help you learn music and the saxophone.

Tone Rhythm

Theory

Notation Reading

Tone Rhy

thm Theor

y Notation Reading Tone R

hythm Theory N

otation Reading