Us & Them – a question

[john]

There’s always ways around it by jumping the octave at certain points BUT…
Those low notes on the alto are much easier than on tenor. This is because the alto requires less air.
If she is struggling on those low notes it’s because she is not putting enough air into her horn. She needs to practice really loud. It will sound a bit ugly at first but eventually playing them overly loud she will have to try to hold it back a bit to smooth them out. Does this make sense?
You gotta get ugly before you can sound pretty!
Tell her to practice them really loud until she can hit them every time. Then, the trick is to play them softer without losing control, this is done by maintaining the air pressure but holding back on the actual volume. This is tricky for beginners and can take some time.
She can work on this by playing her scales as softly as possible without breaking the notes.

[Tim Smith]

Very interesting, Johnny…, horn itself requires less air, but she needs more air for the low notes. I wonder if she’s pushing too little from the diaphragm as a rule, but gets away with it in the mid-to-upper register.

Will definitely be passing these tips along to her. It is very cool to have access to a seasoned pro’s voice on things like this.

Thanks so much,
Tim

[john]

YES! we can get away with it in the easier middle register. It;s the very upper and very lower notes that are much harder to get out with the same air so we need way more in these registers.

[Tim Smith]

Sent your comments along to my daughter, and she is looking forward to working on it. I’m hoping she’ll agree to let me post a video over on the Blog – for some feedback – when she’s ready…

Appreciated,
Tim

[john]

yes that would be good.

[Author]

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