Lesson

Seal a Reed for Maximum Use

Submitted by curtis.macdonald on Mon, 11/08/2010 - 19:43

This post highlights a simple procedure designed to extend longevity of reeds. My first saxophone teacher showed this to me and it is something that I have adopted as good practice for saving time, money and avoid reed headaches. This is one way to gain a little more control over the consistency of sound a reed can produce. Quality of vibration is what sound production is all about. Best of all, it takes only few minutes.

Every reed has microscopic pores that are the veins of the cane from which it came. To see these pores more clearly dip a new reed completely in water and blow on the butt of the reed and see the bubbles formed on the vamp of the reed. In the image below, the vamp is the part of the reed indicated by the arrow. 

Brand new reeds have these pores wide open which means they absorb all kinds of things like moisture, bacteria and other potentially disgusting things like bits of food, flesh, lip gloss, etc.  Acidic beverages like soda, beer, coffee, juice are the absolute worst. Sealing a reed limits the amount of moisture it can absorb, thus making it less susceptible to deterioration. All it takes is the pressure of your thumb on a moist reed on a flat surface, rubbing down firmly from the file of the reed to the tip. The key here is to apply downward pressure while rubbing upwards to the tip. Repeat this several times. Thumbs may get sore in the process.

Finally, you can check how much of a seal you achieved by once again dipping the reed completely in water and then blowing from the butt of the reed, observing how few bubbles are now forming. Keep in mind it’s rare to completely seal all pores entirely. Doing this procedure along with a simple reed rotation i.e. not playing the same reed everyday, might just save the cost of buying boxes upon boxes of reeds unnecessarily, and gain a truer reed vibration.

Curtis Macdonald
Saxophone, Pro Tools, Ableton, Production

John Beaty's Guide to Saxophone Practice - Part 1a

Submitted by john.beaty on Sat, 08/01/2009 - 00:52

The most important tool in getting better on any instrument is a good practice schedule. This multi-part article covers the 4 areas that I find to be most important when practicing saxophone:

1. SOUND PRODUCTION
2. FINGER COORDINATION
3. ARTICULATION
4. STYLISTIC APPROACH

Depending on the time I have available to practice, I split these four areas up over as little as 30 minutes or as much as 12 hours. It is important to note that these exercises can be applied to all levels of saxophone ability!

AREA 1 - SOUND PRODUCTION

Part 1a - Embouchure and Long Tones

Sound is the most important area of saxophone. If you have a good sound and can only play three notes, at least people will still want to hear those three notes. As a basic starter to making a sound on the saxophone it is important to point out that the bottom lip covers the bottom teeth and the reed sits on top of the bottom lip. The upper lip does not cover the upper teeth and the teeth directly touch the top of the mouthpiece. The top of the tongue should be touching your top teeth in the back, while the mouthpiece enters your mouth at an angle. Try to place the air into the top of the mouthpiece, do not blow directly into the mouthpiece. After you have made a few sounds it is time to get used to producing the sound.

Saxophonists often talk about "long tones". It isn't a big secret, you just play one note for an extended period of time. Place your favorite metronome at 60 BPM and start with G. (If you are advanced start with the lowest Bb and go to the high F chromatically). To practice the long tone start playing soft and crescendo (get louder) over 4 beats, for the next 4 beats decrescendo (get softer). That is a total of 8 beats. Then add a beat to each side, meaning 5 beats while you crescendo, and 5 beats while you decrescendo for a total of 10 beats. I recommend going at the very least 8 beats on both sides, 16 all together. If you feel you need and can take more go for it.

Video example of part 1a:

Jay-Z "Moment of Clarity" on bass

Submitted by jordan.brooks on Wed, 04/22/2009 - 12:49

This song sounds easy but is more difficult to play than it seems (at least for me).  The feeling of the rhythm is swung to varying degrees.  Many drum machines are equipped with a feature that allows you to program in the swing percentage, varying from a straight feel to a triplet feel with different percentages in between.  In this song, Danger Mouse utilizes these different feels stacked on top of each other to make up a rhythmically diverse beat.  The swing feeling is most pronounced in the bass drum, and least pronounced in the drum fills (snare and toms) that sometimes occur at the middle or the end of the 4 bar phrase; these fills are played with a near straight feel.

Sing rhythms along with the song and try to feel the subtle differences between the bass drum and the guitars and the snare/tom fills.  Listen how the different feels flow with the lyrics.  Try playing bass lines that are swung and try playing lines that are straight.  See how each feel with the lyrics and the beat.

Jay-Z - Moment of Clarity

Jay-Z - The Black Album - Moment of Clarity

Ableton Live : Operator Bassline

Submitted by bryan.noll on Mon, 03/23/2009 - 22:36

Gustavo Bravetti made this instructional video for Ableton Live. It's not really for beginners, but it's really great to see how to use Operator to make a nice bass sound. Watching (and hearing) him adjust the ADSR is useful, as is seeing the touch of FM he ads; but what I find so great is how he assigns the frequency of the filter to velocity and then adjusts each note's velocity to hit the filter at different frequencies.

Gustavo's YouTube Page has a lot of useful material, do check it out.

Al Green "I'm Still In Love With You" on bass

Submitted by jordan.brooks on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 14:22

The key to playing a nice bass part on this song (or any pop song with vocals), is to play something that supports the vocals and grooves with the other instruments as well.  It's as simple as that.  Listen to the singer's melody and the rhythm of the drums and try to bridge the gap between them and bring them together in a way that you see fit. 

On this song, I did not play exactly what the bass player on the recording is playing (although he is great) because I wanted to make up my own part.  Feel free to experiment and make up your own parts on songs too.  Don't get me wrong, it is helpful to figure out other people's bass parts note for note sometimes as well, but if you want to make up your own part and supporting the melody and rhythm of a song is your number one goal, then go for it.

Al Green - I'm Still in Love with You

Al Green - I'm Still In Love With You

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