STEP 3 HOW TO PLAY SAXOPHONE

The way the sound is created is by applying pressure from your lungs to make the reed vibrate. The first step is to put you bottom lip over your bottom teeth. This creates a cushion between the reed and your teeth. Then make a too mouth gesture while using your cheek bone muscles to rise towards your eyes. Although over time you will find your own embouchure (an embouchure is the muscles surrounding the mouth) style, this helps to force you not to put too much pressure on the mouthpiece. Place the mouthpiece in your mouth about where the reed and the mouthpiece meet. Let the reed and mouthpiece gently rest on your lower lip and let your top teeth rest on the top of the mouthpiece. Create the seal with the top lip and corners of your mouth. Equal pressure should be placed around the mouthpiece. Blow into the mouthpiece with a decent but consistent amount of air pressure. Avoid biting on the mouthpiece, this will not get you the right sound and may hurt you. When you blow into the mouthpiece, you want to have good air support by breathing from your diaphragm. You can breathe from your diaphragm by imagining you are breathing from your feet. Your belly should bulge out on the breathe in. Make sure you are not letting your cheeks puff out.  As you get used to playing and using the air more and more, you will want to have a more precise start by using your tongue to engage the reed. One can do this by putting your tongue on the reed and pushing air pressure behind the tongue and then releasing your tongue. This will give you a more precise and clear sound over time. The key elements of a good sound are proper breathe support and good embouchure. Different notes can be achieved by pressing down on the keys. The saxophone is set into two octaves, one with the octave key and the other without the octave key. Refer to the key chart for all of the notes.