You're Not Using Enough Air

One of the most common mistakes I encounter as a sax teacher is the under-use of air when playing saxophone.   The instrument itself -- basically, a brass megaphone with holes in it -- is an air-hungry machine.

It takes a lot of wind to make any sax work properly, and most of us fail in this regard.

We take little breaths when we want to blow a soft passage...and when blowing loud passages, we generally try to make it all the way to the end without having to stop and take a breath.

Wrong answer.

Now, almost all beginning (and intermediate and advanced players) got the lecture about using your diaphragm to properly breath into one's saxophone (or flute, clarinet, etc.)

I too got that same lecture, when I was about 13 years old, from a fellow classmate named Hollis Gentry, who would go on to national fame with Larry Carlton, Fatburger, David Benoit, and Neon before passing away a few years ago.

"Just bend over and feel around in your stomach. You'll find it - your diaphragm."

That's what a lot of teachers and instruction books said. But finding your diaphragm doesn't tell you how to use it to make your sax tones rich and full.

So here's the solution: you take in as much air as you possibly can before playing a single note. Start by filling your stomach, then your lungs.

Then, play.

The amount of air you allow to come out determines loud or soft. But the point is that to do this properly, the supply of air needs to remain constant.

Yes, this will likely seem strange and feel odd at first, but the way to learn properly is by playing long tones.

Start each note soft, get loud, then bring it back down to soft again.

Then on to the next note. And the next, and the next, until your chops are feeling it.

You'll thank me for this later.