The first few months of learning the saxophone are an exciting yet crucial time. For beginning saxophonists, these early weeks often determine whether our students will develop pedagogically or struggle with bad habits that linger for years.
A student who learns to play with excessive tension, poor posture, or poor air production may have difficulty rectifying bad habits later in their musical career. However, students who establish strong fundamentals in embouchure, breathing, and hand position within their first months of playing will find more enjoyment and bolstered progress in their instrumental journey.
This article explores key areas teachers can emphasize during the first months of instruction: hand position and instrument setup, embouchure, articulation, breathing and air support, listening and modeling, and practice habits.
Hand Position and Instrument Setup: Preventing Tension Before It Starts
Physical comfort and correct setup may seem like small details, but they profoundly impact students’ ability to establish proper saxophone pedagogy.
When sitting, I recommend students play with the saxophone in the middle of their body, between their legs, unless they are too short to comfortably play in the center. If a student is too short, have the student rest the saxophone on the right side of their body. Make sure the student adjusts the mouthpiece accordingly so they are not tilting their head sideways to put the mouthpiece in their mouth. When your student is tall enough, have them move the saxophone to the center of their body. This position promotes better finger dexterity by reducing unnecessary arm extension.
The saxophone should hang naturally from the neck strap, so the mouthpiece enters the player’s mouth without the need to raise or lower the head. If the strap is too long, students may crane their necks downward; if too short, they may strain upward. Both mistakes can lead to long-term posture issues and can prevent the lower and higher registers of the saxophone from speaking properly.
Hand position is equally important. The right thumb rests under the thumb hook towards the bottom of the saxophone, while the left thumb stays in contact with the circle on the back of the upper body of the saxophone. The left thumb should be rotated approximately 45 degrees to the right, and the top third of the thumb should be in contact with, but not depressing, the octave key. This ensures young saxophonists can comfortably hit the octave key without moving their entire left hand.
Students should keep their fingers on the front saxophone slightly arced. Many young students may tend to flatten their fingers across the keys, which can cause dexterity issues when students learn faster passages.
Embouchure: Building the Foundation of Tone
It is important to be specific when teaching students about having a firm embouchure. Have the student think about saying “ooo” when forming an ideal embouchure. The embouchure is firm because the corners of the mouth come inward. The top teeth should rest gently on the top of the mouthpiece. Make sure your students are not biting down into the mouthpiece. The bottom lip should be rolled in slightly. The bottom lip’s only purpose is to provide a small cushion for the reed. Many beginners roll in the bottom lip too far, which may cause immense pain from their bottom teeth cutting into their bottom lip. This pain could discourage students from continuing with a music program, so it’s important to prevent this discrepancy in embouchure.
If you do not specify how to make the embouchure firm, most students will say “eee” and pull the sides of the mouth outward. This may cause the students’ lower register to not speak and will cause significant pitch issues in the upper register. Additionally, it makes it much easier for the student to bite down on the top of the mouthpiece. Excessive biting can create indentations in the mouthpiece and lead to the student chewing through the mouthpiece.
I recommend getting a mouthpiece patch for students of all levels to save your mouthpieces; it is easier to replace a mouthpiece patch than it is to replace a mouthpiece. If your class structure allows it, try to have your students model an ideal embouchure using only the mouthpiece and the neck.
Articulation: A Brief Introduction to Starting the Tone
Although it is possible to start a note without articulating properly, this lack of articulation will prevent clarity at the start of the note and cause inconsistencies in pitch. It is important that students learn how to articulate within their first days of playing; if students do not learn how to articulate properly early in their musical career, it may take them months or years to integrate articulation into their playing.
When starting a note, students should have their tongues make contact with their reed. Think about saying “tee”. The tongue touches a little before the tip of the reed and the tongue stays pointed. If students articulate too closely to the tip of the reed, their reeds may break quickly, and their tone may be thin. If students articulate too far back on the reed, their tone will likely become strident and uncontrolled. Finding the proper spot to articulate takes time, guided listening, and consistent feedback.
Breathing and Air Support: Supporting the Instrument
As students take a breath to play, make sure the breath is lower-pitched. If you think about sucking in air as quickly as possible through a very small hole in your mouth, you can hear a higher-pitched breath, caused by tension in the throat. This tension may close off your students’ sound and limit air intake. Also, monitor your students’ shoulders; ensure they are not raising their shoulders as they breathe in. This often results in unnecessary tension and limited air intake.
I split air production into two categories: air pressure and air volume. Air pressure refers to the speed of the air traveling through the mouthpiece, whereas air volume refers to the amount of air traveling through the mouthpiece. When students play softer dynamics, make sure you avoid teaching them only to blow less air. This nonspecific feedback may cause the student to not support the instrument appropriately, which will likely cause the pitch to go significantly sharp. As students play lower dynamics, have them think about lowering their air volume and increasing their air pressure. The saxophone needs a certain amount of air to function correctly, so the increase in air pressure helps support the saxophone while lowering the dynamic. As students play louder, have them think about lowering the air pressure slightly and increasing the air volume. If a student plays with very high air pressure and air volume, this will likely cause an overly bright, honky saxophone tone.
Equipment: The Necessity of Quality Equipment for the Saxophone
Although equipment discussions are sometimes avoided, it is important that your students play with acceptable equipment to produce characteristic sounds. The tip opening is the distance of the gap between the reed and the top of the mouthpiece. Many instruments come with poor, unbranded stock mouthpieces with a very small or very large tip opening. The bigger the tip opening, the more air it takes to vibrate the reed appropriately. The smaller the tip opening, the less air it takes to vibrate the reed appropriately. You can combat the size of the tip opening by differentiating your reed strengths; smaller tip openings require thicker reed strengths, whereas larger tip openings require weaker reed strengths. Many stock mouthpieces have tip openings that are too small, which is why many developing saxophonists produce bright, thin sounds. Mouthpieces that have tip openings that are too large will produce strident, uncontrolled sounds. Regardless of whether your saxophonists are preparing to play classical or jazz repertoire, I recommend they start on a Yamaha 5C mouthpiece and either D’Addario Reserve or Vandoren Blue Box reeds. There are also very few cases in which it is appropriate for a beginner to play anything higher than a strength 3. Most students should start with a strength 2.5 reed, but ultimately, the correct reed strength depends on a student’s comfortable air usage. Students who are not playing on either of these reed brands or playing with this recommended mouthpiece may require different reed strengths.
Listening and Modeling: Giving Students a Sound to Chase
A common challenge for beginning saxophonists is that they don’t know what the instrument should sound like. Many students may use jazz performers as models for tone, which may not be ideal models for a beginner saxophonist in a beginning band class. This is because of differences in brightness of tone, vibrato, and style.
Teachers should regularly demonstrate on the saxophone, even if only for short phrases. Hearing a resonant, supported sound in the same room as them gives them a goal to aim for. You don’t need to play anything intense; hot cross buns at forte will work fine if the instrument is supported with the appropriate amount of air.
In addition, students should be encouraged to listen to professional saxophonists outside of class. Although I cannot include every significant saxophonist on this list, I recommend listening to saxophonists such as Tim McAllister, Otis Murphy, Joe Lulloff, Arno Bornkamp, Claude Delangle, and Valentin Kovalev.
Building the Practice Habit: Small Steps, Big Results
Young students cannot practice for extended periods of time like established saxophonists since they have not yet developed embouchure endurance. In class, it’s essential to talk less and play more; the more time a student is playing, the stronger their embouchure will develop.
Out of class, students should have short, focused practice sessions. Even five to ten minutes a day can be highly effective if structured well. Encourage students to:
- Begin with long tones and breathing exercises
- Practice a technical pattern, such as a scale or fingering exercise
- End with a short piece or melody they enjoy
Make sure to set realistic goals for your students to prevent them from getting discouraged, but don’t be scared to push them. If you never push your students, they will never grow to become the saxophonists they are capable of being.
Conclusion: Strong Beginnings Create Strong Musicians
The first 90 days of playing the saxophone are not just about learning notes on a page. These first few months are arguably the most important because they set up the student for success with sound pedagogical habits for their future in music performance. By focusing on pedagogy and practice strategies, teachers can set their students on paths toward musical success.
