Flute & Sax tips
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From: Denny Strauser on 27 Jun 2008 21:27 Steve, As I was listening to the Astro-Rama rough cuts Jackie sent, an idea popped in my head: Have you ever tried humming into your flute & sax? On flute, it is the Jethro Tull sound. On sax, it's that growl sound.* It isn't hard to do. It doesn't really matter what pitch you hum. I just hum the most comfortable pitch, most of the time. Lower pitches sound dirtier & higher pitches sound warmer. But intensity of the hum will likely have more effect than pitch. Experiment, it will give you another color in your palette. It's sort of like a guitar's fuzz pedal. Another thing I'd like to suggest, is for you to use more air pressure when playing the sax. You should be able, with practice, use more air pressure without getting louder. Try this warm-up exercise: Play long tones starting as soft as you can play, building in volume to the loudest you can play, then coming back down to the softest, and ending the note cleanly. All the while keeping constant high air pressure, keeping your embouchure perfectly steady, and keeping the note as steady as possible (pitch & timbre). Start this exercise in the middle of the horn's range, the easiest to play, then go up chromatically to the highest notes. Go back to the middle & go chromatically down to the lowest note. Another exercise you might try on both instruments is to play whole notes, starting & ending cleanly without changing volume or pitch. Play exactly 4 beats, then rest for 2-4 beats. Play the same note over & over, until you can play them consistently. I make these suggestions because I feel your playing would improve if you used more air pressure (higher wind speed), & if you keep your embouchure more steady. This is true for both instruments, but your flute playing is much better than your sax. On sax, sometimes your air pressure drops, and your tone becomes unsteady. Especially when you play soft, are unsure of yourself, or are preoccupied mentally. And sometimes the beginning of your note is off-pitch because you drop your jaw to begin the note. This is true of many sax players, so try not to feel insulted be my suggestions. This is a good way to warm up on both instruments. You don't necessarily need to do these exercises over the whole range every time. For a short warm-up, only play the most difficult notes, until you can play them consistently. But the more you practice, the better you'll get. Take care, -Denny * You can actually growl into the horn. It gives an even dirtier sound than humming, but it is hard on the vocal chords.
From: Denny Strauser on 27 Jun 2008 21:33 Denny Strauser wrote: > Steve, > <snipped> Forgive me; I did it again. I use Mozilla Thunderbird as my email & NG browser. I failed to notice that AAPLS NG was open in my window when I wrote this email to our wind player. My apology, -Denny
From: Steve M on 29 Jun 2008 18:59 "Denny Strauser"wrote: > Have you ever tried humming into your flute & sax? On flute, it is the > Jethro Tull sound. I beg to differ... The technique of humming while playing flute was something that Ian Andersen (of Tull) copied from the brilliant, late Roland Kirk. I know this is OT, and you didn't mean to send it to AAPLS. But, I get a bit upset when marginally talented people are credited with things that they did not originate, but essentially stole from the truly gifted. -- Steve <snip> McQ
From: Denny Strauser on 29 Jun 2008 19:32 Steve M wrote: > "Denny Strauser"wrote: >> Have you ever tried humming into your flute & sax? On flute, it is the >> Jethro Tull sound. > > I beg to differ... > The technique of humming while playing flute was something that Ian > Andersen (of Tull) copied from the brilliant, late Roland Kirk. > > I know this is OT, and you didn't mean to send it to AAPLS. But, I > get a bit upset when marginally talented people are credited with > things that they did not originate, but essentially stole from the truly > gifted. You may be right, you may be crazy (quoting Billy Joel); who originated this style. Herbie Mann did this decades ago. So, is Ian Anderson the first? Inquiring minds want to know. -Denny
From: Denny Strauser on 29 Jun 2008 19:45
Denny Strauser wrote: > You may be right, you may be crazy .... "But it just might be the lunatic you're looking for ...." Excuse me, sometimes I just can't help myself ... -Denny |