Inspiration Perhaps

Embouchure Formation

Your embouchure is the way you apply your mouth to a wind instrument.

1. Slide a piece of paper inbetween the reed, and the mouthpiece until the paper cannot slide any firther. Don’t force it to go down.
2. Draw a line where the paper goes down to. This is where you’re going to be placing your bottom lip.
3. Say “Whee”, and hold that position. When you have that position, keep it while trying to also say “too”.
4. Cover your bottom teeth with a small amount of your lower lip.
5. Place your mouth on the mouthpiece with the reed, and place your bottom lip at the line where you have drawn on your reed.
6. Place your teeth directly on the top of the mouthpiece. Put support around the mouthpiece equally. Your chin should be flat and pointed. Check in a mirror to make sure your embouchure is formed properly.
7. Play long tones daily, to form a superb embouchure, and develop a strong beautiful tone.
8. DO NOT puff your cheeks out.

TUNE!

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Practising Tips

1. The saxophone is definitely a very loud instrument, and you don’t want to completely irritate your parents, try playing in your closet with your clothes, to absorb your sound and not annoy your parents.
2. Breathe from your diaphragm so that your tone is nicer, and so that you can hold notes for longer.
3. Twist the mouthpiece so you don’t need to turn your head, which allows a steady airstream.
4. Practice deep breathing and long notes, and in time you’ll be able to play very long notes with ease.
5. Practice your scales. Chromatic scales, and arpeggios of every major and minor scale.
6. Play for 15-30 minutes everyday.
7. Play at different tempos. Slow to increase tone, and fast to increase intonation.
8. Find a piece of music that you enjoy, and that is fairly challenging and get really good at. Try playing it five times through without any errors. If you make one error, no matter how small, you go back to the count of zero. This will improve your concistency.
9. Practice cut time pieces.

Alto Saxophone in Music

Intonation

All saxophones have notes that are inconsistent. 

1. Low Bb through D# are typically sharp.
2.  Low E through middle C# are flat.
3. Middle D through high F are sharp.

The way you can correct these are by either using alternate fingerings, or change your embouchure to provide the proper tuning for these notes. Be sure to not sacrifice tone for the intonation.

Breathing Techniques

Caring for your Instrument

1. Use cork grease only when absolutely needed. Rub the cork grease into the cork, when you do apply it.
2. Do not leave the reed attached to the mouthpiece when not in use. It will shorten the life of your reed, and collect germs.
3. Clean out the inside of your instrument after each use.
4. Do not leave your neck strap attached to the saxophone when not in use.
5. Always put your saxophone back in its case, or on a proper stand when not in use.
6. Always pick up your saxophone by the body, and not the neck because the neck can easily fall off.
7. Avoid eating drinking or chewing gum while playing, or before playing.

Assembly

1.       Select a reed and start getting it wet in your mouth.
2.       Put the neck strap on your neck, and ensure it’s tight and safely secure.
3.       Put the mouthpiece on the sax neck about halfway. Use cork grease if      absolutely needed.
4.       Take the reed and place the flat side along the mouthpiece, and tighten the ligature around it. The tip of the reed should go right to the edge of the mouthpiece.
5.       Put the alto neck on the alto body, and tighten the neck screw, snugly but not too tight.
6.       Adjust the alto saxophone to your liking.

Tips and Tricks!

1.   Long notes to practice daily will improve your tone and everything.

2.   Memorize all your scales !

3.   If your alto is sounding “spitty”, just either blow hard (safely), or suck out the spit. Also, you can take the mouthpiece out and blow the spit out that way too.

4.   Do NOT drop your saxophone ever!

5.   Place the alto saxophone (If you’re tall) in between your legs. If doing so would require you to bend your wrist awkwardly, place the alto on your right side.

6.   Use a number 3 reed, and as your mouth muscles develop, get a higher number, as the higher up, the harder the reed gets.

7.   Overall, have fun !