The Greatest Exercise For Saxophone Sound!
- Magnus Bakken
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
Do you want to learn how to improve your saxophone sound? How to get a better saxophone tone?
You've come to the right place. I've been working as a professional saxophone player for over a decade, and throughout my over 20 years of playing experience I've been through A LOT of saxophone sound / tone exercises.
Let me tell you what I think is THE BEST exercise to improve saxophone tone for beginners and intermediate players alike.
Long Tones & Overtones
When my students ask me for the best exercise for saxophone sound for beginners or intermediate players, there is one long tone exercise that stands out.
It is really a saxophone overtone exercise / saxophone voicing exercise, originating in the legendary classical saxophonist Joe Allard. He was a professor at Juilliard, the New England Conservatory, and the Manhattan School of Music, and although he was mainly a classical player he has taught players like Michael Brecker, Bob Berg, Dave Liebman, Eric Dolphy and Harry Carney to get their jazz saxophone sound. His concepts, including saxophone breathing exercises, overtone exercises, long tone exercises and embouchure exercises are still some of the pillars of both classical and jazz saxophone education.
Working on long tones and overtones on the saxophone can really take care of all the major issues beginner saxophone players face:
A thin saxophone sound
Controlling the high notes on the saxophone
Improving the low notes on the saxophone
Playing the saxophone in tune
Strengthening the embouchure
Learning diaphragmatic breathing
So if you want do develop a warmer saxophone sound, supported by a diaphragmatic breath, and a steady and even embouchure in all registers, then I suggest you begin with this tone development exercise.
Preparing For The Exercise
Begin by playing an F with the octave key on your saxophone. This goes for any kind of saxophone, whether it's soprano, alto, tenor or bari. Now release the octave key, but without changing the pitch. You are now playing the first overtone of low F.
If you're struggling to keep this note in the higher octave, here are a few things you can try:
Raise the middle part of your tongue towards the roof of your mouth, almost like you're saying "Eeeee".
Make sure you're engaging the diaphragm and sending a focused and steady airstream into the saxophone. If this is completely new to you, I suggest beginning with some basic breathing exercises to learn the diaphragmatic breath.
Take the saxophone out of your mouth, sing the high F in that same octave as your saxophone. Now play it again while hearing the pitch you're trying to produce clearly in your mind.
Once you're able to do this, you're ready for the exercise itself.
The Exercise
Now we're going to play that high F, without the octave key, and let it drop down the octave. As you drop the pitch, simply thinking about the note in the lower octave should be enough. Keeping your jaw relaxed, and the corners of the embouchure loose is encouraged.
Do the exercise going chromatically down, as notated below. The pitches in parentheses are the fingered pitched, while the whole notes are the sounding pitches.
Here is what you should work towards as you start to gain more control over the exercise:
Keeping the intonation of the pitches steady as you drop them down.
Keeping the volume at a steady level, also when the pitch is dropping.
Maintaining the same relaxed jaw throughout the drop. If you find that your jaw drops with the pitches, try to keep that relaxed position when starting the next note.
Maintaining the same embouchure as you drop the pitches. The change comes from the tongue and throat, not the embouchure!
Watch me demonstrate the exercise in the YouTube video below, part 1 of my 18 part series on saxophone sound!
Why is this a great exercise for saxophone sound?
In my career as a saxophone player, I've boiled the key elements of a good jazz saxophone sound down to the following:
A steady and well supported air stream.
A tension-free and relaxed embouchure in all registers of the saxophone (speaking mostly to jazz saxophone players, the classical saxophone embouchure is something that I have not studied).
A relaxed jaw (again, this is for jazz saxophone players).
Control over the voicing, which boils down to tongue and throat position.
This exercise, if done correctly, can target both the embouchure, the jaw and the ability to control the voicing - making it a fantastic long tone exercise / overtone exercise for both beginners and advanced players alike.
Learn more about saxophone overtones
If you'd like to learn more exercises like this one, consider subscribing to my Patreon, where you'll find the course Overtones In 12 Weeks.
The greatest revelation for my saxophone playing in the last decades. It will still take some time to get really used to it, but this is just wow!!! - Patreon Subscriber
Each week contains a video lesson, and a PDF with the exercises and practice plan for that week. Required time spent each day is about 15-20 minutes to get the full benefit of the 12 weeks.
The overtones are really clicking now, feels like i have control and know where to have my tounge at when i try to hit the overtones. - Patreon Subscriber
The first weeks lesson is FREE for all, and available on my Patreon. This lesson covers the basics of breathing, including a great long tone exercise to get your breath warmed up before practicing.