So much good content in this video, Scott. I like the reminder about breathing from the diaphragm, but not super deep, focusing the air, and using dynamics in a controlled air stream. Reducing wavery tone with unsteady air is such a big part of getting a good sound. Thanks.
Your straw analogy got me thinking. My next practice will utilize this process. Gerry Mulligan is my fav, but for a big sound.....Harry Carney! With the Duke, I can always pick up that bari.
I kind of noticed that when I was editing the video 🤣😂 I've been playing for so long, sometimes it takes some extra work to make the bad example sound bad.
It totally makes sense that taking in too much air creates too much pressure, but do we need to work toward increasing our lung capacity so that a "normal" breath eventually gets bigger without adding pressure?
I DEFINITELY hear the difference between taking in the right amount of mouthpiece and taking in too little....but honestly, your tone is so great both sound pretty good. I DEFINITELY hear how taking in too much mouthpiece sounds TERRIBLE.
Some air physics. The lungs are driven by diaphragm pressure and can produce about 1.5 psi. This is uncomfortable on your ears and it takes only about 1 psi to produce fortissimo notes. I have measured both clarinet and and sax pressures. The air velocity in the circuit from the lungs to the horn is limited by the smallest pathway which is the reed mouthpiece clearance. The cross sectional area here is vastly less than the mouth, throat or windpipe. So their effect is negligible and inconsequential. The velocity in the oral cavity is determined only by the cross sectional area and that depends where you measure it but it is on the order of 1 ft/sec - less than 1 mph. The notion that there is a high velocity air stream impinging on the reed is ridiculous. The kinetic energy of a low mass material (air) moving at 1 ft/sec is so low it could not possibly affect the reed. At what direction does it strike the reed and what controls that direction. The oral cavity is pressurized by the lungs and the air exits where it can past the reed. Of course the reed opens and closes modulating the flow and velocity at the note frequency. The process is complex and hard to describe in simple terms. The lore about directing and controlling high velocity air streams impinging on the reed is simply nonsense. Changes in the oral cavity like tongue position are essential for sound control, harmonics and altissimo notes but that is because it affect the resonate characteristics of the system not the air velocity. Never the less you have the best sax channel on TH-cam bar none. Your sound and control is extraordinary You skillfully address things that most sax teachers can't touch. Even though I'm not active anymore I still watch your videos.
Hey John, clearly you’re an expert in this area, and while I am by no means a scientist, every time I tell a student to tighten their airstream and aim for the center they get a bigger, fuller and better sound. Sooooo, I’m going to keep doing it 😀😀 Thank you so much for the kind words about my teaching style!
I’m actually fascinated by this topic. John is scientifically right - nothing you do in your mouth or throat affects the speed of the airstream. The hosepipe analogy is incorrect because the kink in the hose is already happening at the reed tip. Faster air only happens when you blow harder. And you cannot affect the direction of the air at the MP tip. The air fills the whole cavity and can only go through the tip one way. Physics-wise you can’t blow up or down or wider or narrower. This is all true. BUT… When you change the arrangement of your vocal tract it has obvious effects on the sound. This is observable to everyone. So physics or not, on a teaching level it’s often helpful and pragmatic to give these instructions. What fascinates ME, is when you say “blow through a straw” or whatever, what is the actual change that happens inside the students’ mouth and throat, and why does this make the sound better? I think, as the student changes the shape of their mouth and throat, it alters the characteristics of the resonance within the vocal tract, which in turn changes the harmonic spectrum of the sound. In this case, emphasising more of the upper partials, creating a brighter, fuller sound. Sometimes I think just having ANYTHING to focus on works!! And at the end of the day, none of it matters apart from sounding good. So if you have to say “Imagine you’re a cuckoo” and they always get a better tone - do it!!! I kinda geek out on this stuff so I loved this video Scott! 👍🏻 PS no matter what you did “wrong” you still got an almost identical sound. It’s like you almost can’t make a bad sound!! My theory is because you did it all with your lip out. If you’d curled your lip over your teeth you might have sounded authentically bad. Interesting though - it’s hard to sound bad when you sound good!!!
@@GetYourSaxTogether Hey Jamie! Yeah, the physics of creating a sound on the sax can run pretty deep, but I've found keeping it simple with really clear directions (blow into the center of the mp with a tight airstream) or a visual analogy (garden hose) works wonders for the desired outcome. I stole that teaching approach from Chris Vadala, who was my sax teacher after college, and without fail, every time I use it with a student, it seems to work. I think the mic was helping my muffled sound example not sound so muffled, but yes, I'm sure you can relate - sometimes doing the "bad" example takes a little extra work when you've been practicing and teaching doing it right for so long 🤣🤣
Hi Scott, John and Jamie, In the wonderful worlds of fluid dynamics and hydraulics, much is made of the transition from laminar flow to turbulent flow. The moment that happens, the speed of the fluid drops dramatically - think of the smooth fast water flowing in a river rapid just before it turns to the churn of the white water. I haven't really seen much discussion about this in our sax forums but I suspect it's useful. The mental images that Scott uses seem to all ensure airflow stays laminar. On the contrary, things that trigger turbulent flow include moving our tongue to create eddies of air (e.g. too much tongue movement, uncontrolled altering the shape of the space near the teeth and the reed tip, poor pressure control of the airstream). Smooth shapes and surfaces allow air flow to stay laminar. So back to you John. Do you know if turbulent flow is a significant factor in sound production?
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So much good content in this video, Scott. I like the reminder about breathing from the diaphragm, but not super deep, focusing the air, and using dynamics in a controlled air stream. Reducing wavery tone with unsteady air is such a big part of getting a good sound. Thanks.
Thanks Dale! I hope you are doing well 😁
Thanks for explaining why to do long tones.
You’re an amazing person I think. I’m sorry I can’t come to your saxophone school, but you are my favorite saxophonist
Great content as usual but I missed the "What's up everybody" that is usually at the beginning of your videos. That always puts me in a good mood.
I've been switching up my intro a little bit 😁
Thank you so much 🙏
When you played the "muffled sound" your tone was still excellent, as opposed to the "too much mouthpiece" example!
I always center my air, that definitely helps. If you heard it live instead of on a mic, you would hear a big difference.
Your straw analogy got me thinking. My next practice will utilize this process.
Gerry Mulligan is my fav, but for a big sound.....Harry Carney! With the Duke, I can always pick up that bari.
I’m going to try implementing this a lot more. Thank you.
mr paddock you have a way of saying things that help me . yes keep doing videos it helps THANK YOU!
Thanks!!!
Scott paddock I wish you could have a saxophone school in Kansas City Missouri, because I’m getting married and I’m moving to Belton Missouri.
I have a Saxophone School everywhere in the world 😀😀 It's all online and has super easy to follow step by step lessons
Kenny G is my favorite saxophonist
Top man, Scott. Another excellent tutorial.
Thank you!!!
Another top drawer video Scott. Excellent & invaluable advice as ever. Thank you so much for sharing cheers 🍻
Thank you!
Scott if you have any pdfs of altissimo fingerings for alto saxophones, I would appreciate it.
Preach Brother! Tone is job ONE! 🎷
👍👍👍
Thanks 🙏🏼
David Sanborn, Cannonball Adderley
Yes & Yes!!!!
Hola. ¿Que marca es tu saxofón...?
But how do you get your sound to be so bright and crispy?
I’ll be honest with you, Scott. But with mouthpiece to much or too little in, still your sound was great😊
I kind of noticed that when I was editing the video 🤣😂 I've been playing for so long, sometimes it takes some extra work to make the bad example sound bad.
Boots Randolph
It totally makes sense that taking in too much air creates too much pressure, but do we need to work toward increasing our lung capacity so that a "normal" breath eventually gets bigger without adding pressure?
I think that naturally happens just by playing the sax, but it's not something that you would practice trying to do.
🎷🎷🎷😎😎😎🎶🎶🎼🎼
🤟🤟
Mr Scott paddock please gift me your alto saxophone and thou shall be bless😊
Sonny Rollins ,big sound
Absolutely! You can hear him a mile away
I DEFINITELY hear the difference between taking in the right amount of mouthpiece and taking in too little....but honestly, your tone is so great both sound pretty good.
I DEFINITELY hear how taking in too much mouthpiece sounds TERRIBLE.
Some air physics. The lungs are driven by diaphragm pressure and can produce about 1.5 psi. This is uncomfortable on your ears and it takes only about 1 psi to produce fortissimo notes. I have measured both clarinet and and sax pressures. The air velocity in the circuit from the lungs to the horn is limited by the smallest pathway which is the reed mouthpiece clearance. The cross sectional area here is vastly less than the mouth, throat or windpipe. So their effect is negligible and inconsequential. The velocity in the oral cavity is determined only by the cross sectional area and that depends where you measure it but it is on the order of 1 ft/sec - less than 1 mph. The notion that there is a high velocity air stream impinging on the reed is ridiculous. The kinetic energy of a low mass material (air) moving at 1 ft/sec is so low it could not possibly affect the reed. At what direction does it strike the reed and what controls that direction. The oral cavity is pressurized by the lungs and the air exits where it can past the reed. Of course the reed opens and closes modulating the flow and velocity at the note frequency. The process is complex and hard to describe in simple terms. The lore about directing and controlling high velocity air streams impinging on the reed is simply nonsense. Changes in the oral cavity like tongue position are essential for sound control, harmonics and altissimo notes but that is because it affect the resonate characteristics of the system not the air velocity.
Never the less you have the best sax channel on TH-cam bar none. Your sound and control is extraordinary You skillfully address things that most sax teachers can't touch. Even though I'm not active anymore I still watch your videos.
Hey John, clearly you’re an expert in this area, and while I am by no means a scientist, every time I tell a student to tighten their airstream and aim for the center they get a bigger, fuller and better sound. Sooooo, I’m going to keep doing it 😀😀 Thank you so much for the kind words about my teaching style!
I’m actually fascinated by this topic.
John is scientifically right - nothing you do in your mouth or throat affects the speed of the airstream. The hosepipe analogy is incorrect because the kink in the hose is already happening at the reed tip. Faster air only happens when you blow harder. And you cannot affect the direction of the air at the MP tip. The air fills the whole cavity and can only go through the tip one way. Physics-wise you can’t blow up or down or wider or narrower.
This is all true. BUT…
When you change the arrangement of your vocal tract it has obvious effects on the sound. This is observable to everyone.
So physics or not, on a teaching level it’s often helpful and pragmatic to give these instructions.
What fascinates ME, is when you say “blow through a straw” or whatever, what is the actual change that happens inside the students’ mouth and throat, and why does this make the sound better?
I think, as the student changes the shape of their mouth and throat, it alters the characteristics of the resonance within the vocal tract, which in turn changes the harmonic spectrum of the sound. In this case, emphasising more of the upper partials, creating a brighter, fuller sound.
Sometimes I think just having ANYTHING to focus on works!! And at the end of the day, none of it matters apart from sounding good. So if you have to say “Imagine you’re a cuckoo” and they always get a better tone - do it!!!
I kinda geek out on this stuff so I loved this video Scott! 👍🏻
PS no matter what you did “wrong” you still got an almost identical sound. It’s like you almost can’t make a bad sound!! My theory is because you did it all with your lip out. If you’d curled your lip over your teeth you might have sounded authentically bad. Interesting though - it’s hard to sound bad when you sound good!!!
@@GetYourSaxTogether Hey Jamie! Yeah, the physics of creating a sound on the sax can run pretty deep, but I've found keeping it simple with really clear directions (blow into the center of the mp with a tight airstream) or a visual analogy (garden hose) works wonders for the desired outcome. I stole that teaching approach from Chris Vadala, who was my sax teacher after college, and without fail, every time I use it with a student, it seems to work.
I think the mic was helping my muffled sound example not sound so muffled, but yes, I'm sure you can relate - sometimes doing the "bad" example takes a little extra work when you've been practicing and teaching doing it right for so long 🤣🤣
@@ScottPaddock I totally agree that the method that works is the best method. You do a bloody good job at that - so, as always, kudos! 👍🏻
Hi Scott, John and Jamie,
In the wonderful worlds of fluid dynamics and hydraulics, much is made of the transition from laminar flow to turbulent flow. The moment that happens, the speed of the fluid drops dramatically - think of the smooth fast water flowing in a river rapid just before it turns to the churn of the white water. I haven't really seen much discussion about this in our sax forums but I suspect it's useful. The mental images that Scott uses seem to all ensure airflow stays laminar. On the contrary, things that trigger turbulent flow include moving our tongue to create eddies of air (e.g. too much tongue movement, uncontrolled altering the shape of the space near the teeth and the reed tip, poor pressure control of the airstream). Smooth shapes and surfaces allow air flow to stay laminar. So back to you John. Do you know if turbulent flow is a significant factor in sound production?