Sax & Flute Lessons By Alastair Ingram

read moreI think the playing of long tones is absolutely essential to a fine tone. There is nothing that I know of, that will refine your tone as quickly. When playing long tones, you take away all the other aspects of practicing, like music reading, keeping up with up a metronome, etc, and you strip it down to the one thing that we strive as musicians to do. That is, to produce a well centered, focused, full and pleasing tone. The playing of long tones should not be thought of as an endurance contest. It is not about how long you can hold a note for.

read moreThe first thing about doing scales that I would suggest is to do the scales up as high as you can go, only playing notes in that scale, and down as low as you can go, using only those notes in that scale. G major would go up to high E and down to low B. Doing your scales one or two octaves up and down is alright in the beginning, but you should try to play all scales over the entire horn, you get much more bang for your buck. By doing this you are practicing scales in areas of your horn you might not get a chance to play in very often.

read moreWell, where do I begin? How about the beginning. First of all, there are only twelve notes in the entire world. That is assuming you're not from India, where they have twenty four. The "musical alphabet" as I call it, is A through G, just like the regular alphabet, except when you get to G you go back to A. There is no H. All the flats and sharps are in between. As you go up in pitch, you are going forwards in the alphabet. As you go down in pitch, you are going backwards in the alphabet. Have you ever heard the phrase " Every Good Boy Does Fine?" Maybe, maybe not.

read moreThe word "embouchure" is a French word that translates to "opening into." Players of woodwind and brass instruments use this word to describe the formation of the lips, oral cavity, the tongue, jaw structure, and muscles surrounding the mouth used in the production of tone on their respective instruments. The first, and most obvious, function of the embouchure is to keep air from leaking out of the mouth while playing. The second is to provide enough pressure on the reed, from the lips, to put the note in tune and keep it in tune.

read moreReeds are one of the most important factors in developing and achieving a fine tone on any single or double reed woodwind instrument. I sometimes tell my students to think of them as if they were tires on your car. It's the only contact you have with the road, so it's important that they work well. It's also important that they be of good quality and that they are maintained well and taken care of properly. It doesn't pay to skimp on the cost, because as with most things you buy, you get what you pay for.