Saxophone technique

It includes how to hold the instrument, how the embouchure is formed and the airstream produced, tone production, hands and fingering positions, and a number of other aspects.

Instrumental technique and corresponding pedagogy is a topic of much interest to musicians and teachers and therefore has been subjected to personal opinions and differences in approach.

Specific aspects of single-lip embouchure technique are described in seminal works by Larry Teal and Joseph Allard.

Santy Runyon was another influential educator on modern embouchure technique, having instructed many of the top saxophonists of the big band era and top jazz musicians including Charlie Parker, Paul Desmond, Harry Carney, Lee Konitz, and Sonny Stitt.

Teal placed relatively greater emphasis on lip tension in forming the "drawstring" or "ooo" embouchure with a good seal at the corners of the mouth for maintaining tonal control.

In historical context, Allard and Teal presented their works at a time when the legacy of clarinet-derived embouchure teaching for saxophonists was still strong, although performance technique was rapidly expanding to realize the full tonal and dynamic potential of the instrument.

It was regarded as standard technique into the first half of the Twentieth Century, when reed instrument pedagogy was geared almost entirely to the clarinet and saxophone specialists were rare.

It is sometimes used for subtoning, in the technique of tenor saxophonist Stan Getz "switched on" by thrusting the jaw forward and drawing the corners of the mouth back.

[4] It is still commonly, and controversially, taught to beginning students as a shortcut to a passable result in lieu of more sustained effort developing embouchure strength and technique.

It gained some currency as a technique when tenor saxophonist John Coltrane used it to mitigate tooth pain while playing.

[citation needed] It has been suggested that this follows the example of Marcel Mule of the Paris Conservatory, one of the early proponents of classical saxophone playing.

[citation needed] Sigurd Rascher, an important German saxophone player, was known for the quicker style of vibrato which was opposite to Marcel Mule's.

In addition to playing the Varitone, Eddie Harris experimented with looping techniques on his 1968 album Silver Cycles.

David Sanborn and Traffic member Chris Wood employed effects such as wah-wah and delay on various recordings during the 1970s.

In more recent years, the term "saxophonics" has been used to describe the use of these techniques by saxophonists such as Skerik, who has used a wide variety of effects that are often associated with the electric guitar, and Jeff Coffin, who has made notable use of an envelope follower.