What should I pay attention to when learning saxophone for beginners?

SAX saxophone is an independent invention of adolf saxophone. The word "saxophone" means "the voice of saxophone"-to be exact, the voice of adolphe sax. Sheila's "phone" is mainly related to human voice, so the saxophone is often called a "singing" instrument. In fact, saxophone is a very flexible and expressive instrument, which may only be surpassed by human voice. Can move people from both inner and emotional aspects. As a "singing" instrument, saxophone is incomparable to any instrument with mechanical devices. This is always reflected in its classic repertoire. Few people doubt that saxophone is an excellent jazz instrument. If jazz originated from the labor horn and blues singing in the19th century, then a "singing" instrument like natural saxophone must be very suitable for playing jazz and pop music. It is worth noting that it took a long time to be adopted by jazz musicians. What kind of whistle is suitable for beginners? Because the quality of whistle directly affects the sound quality, timbre and playing state, it is very important to choose a good whistle. Beginners should generally choose a moderately thin whistle (a whistle that is too thick is not suitable for novices because it requires a large airflow and strong control of the labial muscles). At present, the No.2 or No.2 and a half whistles sold on the market are enough. When buying, you must choose the products of professional manufacturers. Of course, if you have the conditions, you can use imported whistles. Their quality is really better, but ordinary beginners can use domestic whistles with better quality. Compared with other woodwind instruments, the acoustic principle of saxophone is larger, which is of great significance to its acoustic characteristics and the player's control response. Its conical tube makes its sound wave full of overtones, but its fingering system is as simple as a flute. Like other large-caliber instruments, its pitch is easy to establish, and its contraction in the blowing direction is not only easy to form a unified tone on the whole instrument, but also easy to expand the' normal' range of two and a half octaves. Large-diameter official accent combined with length is easy to produce pitch. In addition, in order to divide the pitch into scales, a larger sound hole is needed. For the player, this result means that there is an effective excitation medium, and the player can control the volume and pitch flexibly in a wide range, which has a great influence on the sound quality. Understanding some principles related to the characteristics of a tapered tube with one end terminated and the complexity caused by the requirement of generating multiple pitches on the tube will help players gain control and avoid common mistakes in equipment collocation. The saxophone also needs preheating. Too low temperature of saxophone will lead to poor function and low pronunciation. In this case, all sound holes can be closed first, and then some air can be blown into the pipe to warm the pipe at one time. If the instrument becomes too cold during handling, you can use the method of stuffing towels into the trumpet to speed up the heating process. The wrong way to breathe can be observed from a sleeping person who is lying on his back and taking a deep breath. When there is only slight breathing activity, the amount of breathing is much smaller than the amount that fills the lung volume, and there is only the feeling that air enters and exits the upper part of the lung-this situation should be avoided when playing wind instruments, because such air storage capacity can neither play long sounds nor support the exhalation of the diaphragm. Proper breathing requires continuous sound, and the airflow into the instrument obviously comes from the lungs, so breathing is very important for playing. Inhalation should be done before we loosen the music and there is enough air left. Inhalation should be done through both sides of the mouth, not through the nose, so that a large amount of reserved air can be quickly maintained. Physiologically, air is sucked into the lungs through the downward movement of the diaphragm, that is, the muscle wall of the lung base. Exhale is produced by the upward movement of the diaphragm, which compresses the lungs and forces the air out of the body. The position of the diaphragm is not the extension of the chest but the extension of the stomach. The feeling of breathing correctly When breathing while playing, try to find a feeling that your stomach is expanding outward. If you need to take a deep breath, you should probably keep up with the expansion of your chest. Therefore, there should be a feeling that your lungs seem to be filled from the bottom up. When you exhale, that is, when you blow into the saxophone from your lungs, try to find a gentle pressure from your stomach (lung base)/chest (lung top). The aim is to establish the required air velocity as quickly as possible and keep it constant. You should have a feeling that you should not only "blow" air into the saxophone, but also "pass through" it. This breathing process can ensure sufficient and uniform airflow into the instrument, so that the musician can remain stable, without fluctuation and "fulcrum", and other parts of the body can also have sufficient oxygen circulation when playing. In a word, it is physical exertion. The influence of airflow on volume and sound quality comes from the fact that the airflow of the player constitutes an energy source, which directly affects the speed of airflow passing through the whistle and the final volume. The reaction force of the whistle fixed on the nozzle platform constitutes an excitation system, which determines the vibration of the air column contained in the nozzle cavity and tube body. In addition, the mouth also constitutes the external connection of the whistle, and affects the brightness and timbre of the basic treble. The strength of sound depends on the amplitude of vibration, while the pitch depends on the number of vibrations per second, that is, the frequency. Like other pronunciations, the air column may produce pitches of different frequencies and intensities at the same time, so the ears hear complex music. Blow and vibration are very important for players to understand the contribution of these elements to sound. The platform of the mouthpiece and the surface of the whistle in contact with it must be absolutely straight, so that only the minimum binding force is needed when fixing the whistle. In order to minimize the vibration suppression, a variety of sentry rings are designed for selection. The part formed by the frame extending from the edge of the platform to the top must be very smooth to ensure that the vibration is propagated without distortion. An opening is formed on the tangent plane, and the propagation starts from the vibration of the whistle in this cut, and the vibration propagation is refracted to the spring chamber through the deflector. If the deflector is raised (as is the case with many jazz whistles), it will be refracted several times before entering the spring cavity, which will strengthen the overtone or enhance the high-pitched end of the sound spectrum. The position of the throat when playing saxophone When air comes out of the lungs, it must pass through the throat and mouth to reach the saxophone. The main function of this part of the body is to avoid forming a narrow area in the airflow, that is, the bottleneck, which blocks the airflow. The influence of internal bottleneck often leads to unnecessary tension of diaphragm to compensate, or the change of sound quality, usually in a bad direction. Musicians often say that opening the throat is not a problem for most areas of the trachea. Our life depends on an open trachea, in fact, it can't be closed. The upper part of the throat is a dangerous area, and the back of the mouth is a tracheal entrance. This part can produce the feeling of "closing the throat". To avoid this, some players imagine opening their throats like yawning. Player's equipment: Jazz player Joshua Lederman's equipment configuration: treble saxophone: Selmer Mark VI treble flute head: Selmer soloist hard rubber G (bakelite) treble whistle: Van Doren 2 alto saxophone: Selmer Barr. Advanced action alto flute head: Meyer New York USA 6 (bakelite) alto flute piece: Vandoren semi-tenor saxophone: Selmer super-balanced action alto flute head: metal Otto Link 9* flute piece, it takes a while for a flute piece to understand its advantages and disadvantages. The dry whistle will vibrate badly, so you'd better wet it before using it. You can put it in your mouth for a while, or put it in a glass of clear water for a few minutes. 1. Relax the checkpoint. 2. Put the wet whistle under the checkpoint. 3. Make sure that the whistle is in the correct position of the flute head. Tighten the screw of the whistle, not too tightly, or the whistle will vibrate badly. According to the performer's experience, the real culprit of the internal bottleneck is actually the tongue, which tends to bow in front of the throat entrance or in the upper space near the mouth. Syllable training method is a very useful tool and can be used as a practice mode. The tongue position formed when the vowel AH (ah) or OO (oh) is pronounced can make the air flow unimpeded. On the contrary, when pronouncing EE (clothes) or IH (yeah) sounds, the tongue will lift up, which will reduce the airflow, change the characteristics of vowel opening, and make the relaxed characteristics restricted and tense. When playing saxophone, you can use the tongue position when spelling these syllables, because the tongue feeling is basically the same. Sometimes, there are many reasons to use a more tense voice, but most performers use a more relaxed and transparent voice. The basic principle of making this sound is that the tongue stays in the position of ah. No matter what method is used, the tongue should always be in a low position and extended state in the mouth, and should avoid the airflow channel. The tip of the tongue can be closer to the whistle-this can lengthen the tongue and increase convenience, so you don't have to go far when you need to use it to pronounce. Mouth most saxophone players put their upper teeth directly against the top of the mouthpiece, which is generally located in a quarter or a third of the inclined plane of the mouthpiece near the tip. The lower lip is close to the whistle, and under the lower lip, the lower teeth gently abut against the lower jaw, which usually narrows the opening between the whistle and the mouthpiece slightly. The lips seal the perimeter of the whistle and mouthpiece, so that the airflow can directly enter the instrument without leaking from both sides of the mouth. The muscles around the mouth and cheeks should be tight enough to keep the sound concentrated, and the cheeks should not protrude unless it is necessary to make a particularly wide and thick sound. The combination of jaw and muscle pressure should form a feeling that the mouth shape provides annular support for the work of whistle, mouthpiece and airflow. It is a stable valve, which adjusts the air flow by gathering the air column and making the tip opening form a certain caliber. The main problem of the mouth shape The main problem about the mouth shape may be: How hard is the mouth holding the saxophone? The oral pressure around the mouthpiece and whistle is at least within a certain range. Because, if the clamp is too tight, the tip opening will be completely closed and the whistle will not vibrate; If the clip is too loose, the airflow will pass through the saxophone, but no sound will be made. Once the sound is produced within the required pressure range, the pressure of the mouth is determined by several factors: the hardness of the whistle (the harder the whistle is, the greater the pressure is needed), the design of the mouthpiece, personal comfort, personal preference for sound quality and the need to adjust the pitch (tight mouth will make the sound higher; If the mouth is loose, the voice will be lower). From the experience gained by players and teachers, the common problem is that the mouth is too tight, and the air forms a bottleneck when entering the instrument. In this way, the color and power potential of sound are limited, and the tone is always high. It should be remembered that the opening of the nose tip is generally narrow, which can generate enough resistance to adjust the airflow without being subjected to excessive pressure from the mouth. Tremolo is an expression, which can add a sense of * * * to music sounds or phrases. It adds a continuous fluctuation to music, giving people the illusion that the voice using vibrato seems to be spinning or flashing, which is precisely "trembling". Physically, vibrato is formed by slight and regular fluctuations in tension or pitch or both. The speed of ups and downs is determined by the context of the music sound/phrase and the preference of the player. There are many techniques to play vibrato, such as changing the tension support from the diaphragm, or changing the sound quality without changing the pitch by vibrating one or several keys. However, up to now, the method that has been used for the longest time is based on mouth shape-slightly changing the pressure of chin/lower teeth/lower lip on whistle and slightly moving chin up and down, so the pitch can be relatively raised or lowered.