Upper notes D# and higher are flat on tenor; ideas/tips?

[Anonymous]

i’ve watched a lot of youtube videos on embouchure, read a few books on the subject as well. There are lots of different oppinions on how you should embouchure. Trouble is facial anatomy varies from person to person – Chins can be pointed, round, flat (vary in width by inches) . Lips can be wide, very wide, extremely wide (thin thick etc) and the distance between the bottom of the nose and the chin can vary in height . So taking that into account, what one video might recomend may not be suited to your face, like some say form a nice circle with the lips, others say keep both lips flat etc.. some say use less lower lip, others say take in more mouthpiece,
Your facial anatomy dictates what you can and can’t do.

For me i can’t physically do certain types of embouchures, my four bottom teeth are very sharp and they can easily cut into my bottom lip if i’m not careful. But it’s worth trying out all the variations you come across.
Whatever you choose, you’ll know you have the right one, when you can play low Bb to high F# without changing have to change lip pressure drastically.

However, if you are a Pro, then you can sing the tone, ie low notes loose bottom lip, high notes more bottom lip pressure where the bottom lip pressure corresponds exactly how you sing in different registers.

good luck

[Mel]

When I first got my saxophone, the mouthpiece had a thin Reserve patch on it. That’s where I started. I tried a thick patch and it felt like to much on the mouthpiece so I went back to the thin patches. Currently have a thin Vandoren on it. My teacher challenged me to try playing without one. I didn’t like how my teeth felt on the hard rubber mouthpiece so I stuck with the thin patches. I found it easier to blow with the thin patches also. Good embouchure advice sxpoet. It wasn’t easy for me to get those high palm key notes out. When I first got the E and F out it was with the fingering at the top of the sax. Then my teacher told me I was blowing way to hard to achieve them and that I should be able to blow them without hardly blowing. Low and behold with a little practice I can blow them without hardly blowing. I don’t bite down and I was trying to put too much pressure on my bottom lip. I love the little victories that always happen when learning to play the saxophone. Your mind and mouth come together to make advancements.

[john]

Mel,
some of my mp’s came with a thin patch and I had no problem. So I just ordered some thin patches. Thanks for reminding me about the thin patches

[brother cavefish]

wow ,personally i don’t understand why people even bit the mouthpiece, i have patches just because, but my teeth never touch the beak

[Anonymous]

I use a thin patch, the only problem i find is the adhesive wears out and when the patch gradually starts to move out of position on the mouthpiece, then i have to replace it, usually three times a year.

I’ve never bitten through a patch, all that happens is a tiny air bubble forms on my patch where my top teeth occasionaly bite as i have thin supporting lips.

I know someone who has actually bitten through their mouthpiece. lol

Imagine playing and oops there goes another one. ho ho ho

[brother cavefish]

i like the heavy vandorans .8mm , and i also have some med forestone .4mm —-these are very cool looking and thinner

–https://www.thewedgedistribution.com/product-page/forestone-mouthpiece-patch

[john]

as far as I know, bringing your upper lip over upper teeth is not good. rest your top teeth directly on your mp.
I too have had the problem of biting thru those rubber pads and can’t use them. I get the stuff from my dentist which they use to make dentures (ya the pink stuff) it’s really hard and it’s what Dave Guardala used on his original mp’s.
but, the thing is you can’t just apply it onto any mp. it has to have the proper indentation (like the guardalas) so the stuff has a place to sit in
also, having that rubber pad on the mp makes the contact higher which I don’t like cause it’s not the way the mp was designed.

[Anonymous]

lol – i wasn’t saying to play with a double embouchure ie top lip curled under top teeth while playing.

As you say, The normal way is to rest the top teeth on the mouthpiece and then seal your lips around the mouthpiece.

However some people prefer to bring the top lip down first curled under the top teeth (like if they were going to play with a double embouchure). They rest the top lip on the mouthpiece and bring their top down into contact with the mouthpiece by using their top teeth to push the curled top lip out of the way, and then seal their lips around the mouthpiece.

The difference in the two methods is if you bring the top teeth down first you’re going for a more relaxed ‘O’ shaped embouchure, if you bring the top lip down first, you’re going to tighten up the embouchure by stretching both top and bottom lips horizontaly flat very wide which works well depending on the thickness of your lips. Could be painfull if you have protruding top teeth or huge top teeth.

[brother cavefish]

hmm something to think about, never even paid attention to it really, just played what felt comfortable,

[Anonymous]

Here’s something to think about..

years ago when i first started playing the sax, there were the odd days when i played the sax, and i was making unintentional high pitched squeaking noises on some keys. The obvious approach for me was to either tighten up my embouchure or change the reed or clean the spit out of my mouthpiece – result the squeaks stopped.

That approach was ‘how to stop the squeaking’.

A couple weeks ago (light bulb) instead of doing a lot of randon things to stop the squeeking why not deliberately try to make intentional high pitched squeaks while playing, that way i should then have a better idea of what was the underlying cause, giving more control over the sax.

I then discovered a very easy was to make the mouthpiece squeak on its own, while just playing the mouthpiece..

food for thought

[Author]

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