Hi,

I hope some seasoned Sax players out there can give me some advice.

I have rented a Trevor James Alto Sax and and have been playing for 5 minutes several times a day, so that I dont overdo it. So far so good, no aches, sore lips or anything.

But my problem is that I have to blow really hard compared to the flute, which I didnt expect as I was told that it is no more difficult to blow than the flute? I am breathing from my diaphragm (learnt that in yoga) but still end up feeling light headed

Is this normal when you first start out? will things gradually feel easier as my lungs/diaphragm/embouchure get stronger? Im pretty sure my embouchure is reasonably correct as I have been shown by my jazz tutor (although I havent had a lesson yet she did let me have a go on hers to see if I could blow it before I went and hired one!) and also the sound Im making sounds about right to me

How long does it generally take for things to fall into place breathing wise?

Many thanks

I don't plat flute so can't compare the two - the good news is that if you're using loads of breath you're doing something right, lots of air is the key thing in getting a decent saxophone sound.

I too believe that you need more air, in terms of volume, for flute than for sax since so much is "wasted" not being directed into the instrument. The difference that may be causing your problems is that there is no resistance when blowing a flute whereas with a sax the mouthpiece/reed provide resistance so you have something to blow against and a back pressure building up. I think it might just be a case of getting used to the difference between the two, but maybe a sax/flute doubler can add some advice.

Sounds right to me, may depend what reeds you're using too - harder reeds will equal more breath pressure needed... stick to 1.5/2's until you're used to the instrument.

(Golly, seem to be a lot of new saxists all of a sudden...)

Nick

Thanks TSax - good to hear I may be getting something right! I have arranged to see a friend who is grade 8 Sax and not far behind that on flute, to check that I have set everything up correctly - so hopefully she can reassure me.

I am hoping that if I am not doing anything fundamentally wrong it will get easier - otherwise I cannot see me lasting an octave scale let alone a whole piece of music without passing out



Thanks Nick - I am using a 1.5 Rico. Perhaps I am expecting too much of myself too quickly

It might be you are blowing too hard and or preventing the reed from moving by either clamping down on it too tightly or having your lip on the wrong part of the reed.

Whilst you do need to shift a lot of air to get a decent sax tone my impression is that the air moves more slowly than for flute.

When I started sax (after many years playing clarinet and a couple pretending to play flute) I did find it took a lot more effort to blow than I expected, over time though as I developed a saxophone embouchure it became much much easier. I think the difference was that I relaxed my lips a lot especially at the edges and ended up with more the sort of shape a child uses when sucking their thumb.

Good luck and keep trying.

If you're used to playing the flute then the dizzy feeling might be because you are not using so much air for the sax and are breathing in again before you have fully emptied your lungs. If this is the case the light-headedness is a result of too much carbon dioxide. Try breathing out before you breath in.

Ah - do you too much oxygen as in hyperventilating? that would make sense, - I'll try a few notes then make sure I breath right out before I breath back in again.

No, it's the opposite. Too much carbon dioxide. You are lacking oxygen and so feel you need to breath in but because your lungs are full of stale air you can't take in enough new air, so you try to breath in again but have even less room. It is completely counter-instinctual to breath out when you feel you need to breath in but it might help. You get this all the time when playing the oboe. I read somewhere on here (but can't remember where or I would post a link) that someone who had played the flute for a long time before playing the clarinet had the same problem.

Thank you so much - have just tried this and it felt so much better! - alot of work to do on breath control generally though Interesting about the carbon dioxide - it makes sense though thinking about it because I suppose you just cant breath out quick enough through the Sax to get rid of it - so expelling what is left and then taking another breath seemed to work for me. I was then able to start playing longer phrases and work on my embouchure at the same time

Have you tried playing only the mouthpiece and reed?
Might help for getting the feel of it and the air going through.

You should be able to play a concert A* and hold it steady... see how breath works then.




* correct me if my memory is wrong

correct - it is an A for an alto mouthpiece

I've been advised that possibly as a flautist I may be pushing so much air through that the 1.5 reed is too soft and therefore closing the gap too much making it harder to get the air through. So I tried with a #2 - cant say there was a massive difference but I think it did feel slightly easier in general - but I need to break the reed in I suppose. So maybe it is just a case of getting used to the shock of blowing against a reed when Im not used to any resistance with the flute!

My daughter plays Oboe and Flute and did so for a couple of years before starting Sax. It's not really caused breath problems or should I say it didn't until she started playing Bari Sax.

Instruments certainly have differing resistance; flute and oboe may just be at the two extremes of the range, so your daughter had quite a bit of experience! When I started clarinet I was surprised at the back-pressure compared to sax and flute - took a couple of weeks to get used to it, but I don't notice it now.

AL - I wouldn't rush to judgment on this. The saxophone is a new instrument to you - you can expect to have to learn to play it, and for this to take time. But if you're concerned, get some lessons - any competent player will be able both to check over the sax, and see how you are playing - which we can't really do here!