Playing Notes With Octave Key

[Mel]

Well I have to say I am having great fun with my saxophone. It has only been a couple months now. I am struggling with my octave key notes though.. I took the sax in where I rent it from and was told there are no leaks and that the octave holes were free from debris. The sax man told me I need to think EEEEEE – AAAAA with my mouth when playing the octave key. He said it’s not automatic and has to be manipulated by mouthing EEEEE . I play my c scale well with good tones. When I try playing the F scale with B Flat I struggle with the octave notes. Some days I can play F E D C going down. Struggle going C D E F. Some days I struggle to get any good octave notes. I don’t know if I am over trying or what. Before I started to be able to play F E D C one day the octave notes just came out and I don’t know what I did. Any suggestions here?

[Marc]

Hi, Melvin.
Octave key notes usually give a hard time to beginners. Moreover, palm key notes are tougher to master. However, there’s nothing to worry too much about, it’s not you, we’ve all been through that. Saxophones are much like those video games in which the player have no access to higher levels until he unlocks the lower ones by completing certain tasks. Practice and more practice is the key…

First “think” the note to be played, i.e. “pre-hear” it in your brain. You must know how high the pitch should be, much more like singing or -if you never sang, not even in the shower- like whistling. That’s the only way to create a neural-muscular link from your ear to your embouchure muscles.

Check how much mouthpiece you take… it’s a common error to put too much MP in the mouth, which has little effect on lower notes but makes it difficult to sound good on higher ones. Maybe taking less helps you on that. It depends on player’s mouth anatomy, so there’s no a “one size fits all” rule for this.

Breath support is a must, like it is for the lowest notes. Lip pressure around the reed is crucial as well, and more important than on lower notes. You’ve surely noticed that the G (with octave key) is a tricky note to play. It is very “air-demanding” so you can use it to test your breath support. Any other note may forgive certain air weakness, but not the G… it will squeak and screech immediately as air pressure fails.

Tongue articulation needs to be softer, lighter as notes go higher. Try to pronounce “dahh” and “dehhh” as you go up (instead of the “tahh” used for lower notes) and for the highest (palm-key) notes say “heeeehhh” or “fheeeeh”, use what you feel more comfortable with.

Practice frequently… daily if possible. One day you’ll find that you can “magically” play that elusive note the day before was almost impossible. And if you can’t explain why (since “you’re doing the same as yesterday”), it’s that a neural link was established and your embouchure muscles “learned” how to behave. Don’t let that link weakens! Practice often!!!

Good luck… keep up the god work.

[Mel]

Thanks Marc!

Being retired – I practice every day. Long tones – breathing – scales and scale patterns. I have been learning to play Amazing Grace. I play it with the c scale since that is easy, but I am working on using the F scale with b flat.

Mel

[Mel]

Great video on the Blog- High Notes On Your Sax Sound Thin and Flat? By Saxjohnny

Mel

[Mel]

Another great video under Tone Development in the Free Lessons – Octave Exercise by by Saxjohnny.

I had a better day playing octaves. One thing that helped a lot was playing loud. More pressure on the bottom lip also helped.

[Author]

Posts