SING YOUR WAY TO BETTER SAXOPHONE PLAYING

That's right. Sing.

Out loud.

In the shower, on your morning walks, in the car, wherever.

Why? Because the act of singing does a couple of things that improve our saxophone technique. First, humming a melody over and over implants it in your memory in such a way that recall becomes easier and easier.

Second, singing a melody that you are trying to learn on your saxophone shapes your throat in order to form the notes (and your breath) in order to make them come out of your throat and into the world.

And those two things are Basic Saxophone 101: the shape of your throat through the horn's range of notes, and, how you move breath through the saxophone.

Experiment a little, and sing a tune that has everything from low notes to high notes. Notice as you are singing the different shapes your throat makes for high notes as opposed to low notes, and you begin to get the idea.

This is exactly what we do (or want to be doing) when we play the saxophone: making a 'theeeeeeeee' throat shape in the upper registers, and making a 'the' throat shape in the lower registers.

And singing a melody helps you learn those things without too much effort and it imprints the melody in your memory at the same time.

In the words of one of my wise old saxophone teachers:  "Don't play it unless you can sing it."

It works for me, singing, and it's worked for my students who have added singing to their daily repertoire.