Understanding the role of the facial muscles, lips, and teeth in creating the sound is
essential to producing a quality saxophone tone. Most importantly, these components should work together to form an embouchure that controls the speed and evenness with which the reed vibrates, without inhibiting these same vibrations.

With this in mind, think of the lower lip as being a firm mattress upon which the reed rests.
The objective is to provide support for the reed without pinching or biting with the lower teeth. This means that the teeth should be pulled down while maintaining constant firmness with the muscles in the lower lip and corners of the mouth.

It is important that the muscles controlling the upper and lower lips be focused inward rather than stretched in a smiling position. This inward focus should result in a round or oval-shaped embouchure that seals around the mouthpiece. The difficulty is keeping the lower lip firm during this process.

One way of knowing that the teeth and facial muscles are in the proper position and
functioning correctly is that the chin should be flat when the embouchure is sustained. This
position may be achieved relatively easily at first, but students often have difficulty maintaining control over these muscles while playing. For this reason, I have included some exercises for achieving, strengthening, and playing with the correct saxophone embouchure.

A common saxophone embouchure exercise involves closing the teeth in a relaxed manner. Without biting, press the upper and lower lips firmly together. Keep the corners of the mouth
in place and the lips pressed firmly together as you separate the teeth as far as possible. Sustain this position until you feel fatigue, then rest and repeat the process. Done daily, this exercise
will serve to strengthen the muscles used in forming your embouchure.

A variation of the exercise described above is also helpful in setting the embouchure for playing. Close the teeth without biting. Press the lips firmly together. This time separate the
teeth enough that you can stick the tip of your tongue between them while keeping the lips pressed firmly. Retract the tongue and push the lower teeth forward (assuming you have a
slight overbite) into the lower lip. Keeping the teeth in this position, separate the lips and place
the mouthpiece into your mouth with the upper teeth resting on the top of the mouthpiece
and the lower lip making contact with the reed. Focus the corners of your mouth inward to
close securely around the mouthpiece. Be certain that the chin stays flat and the lower teeth down during this process.

Another important consideration in setting the embouchure is knowing exactly how much mouthpiece to place in the mouth. Hold the mouthpiece sideways so that you can see the
angle at which the reed and rails of the mouthpiece come together; then place your thumbnail at the intersection. This marks the approximate amount of mouthpiece that should enter the mouth. Listen to the tone when you play. If it is thin or dead sounding, you may need to place more mouthpiece in your mouth. If the tone has a duck or goose-like quality to it, chances are that you have too much mouthpiece in your mouth. By listening for the sweet spot, you will eventually learn to feel the right bite on the mouthpiece.

Visit the "Free Stuff" page at www.randyhunterjazz.com to download a couple of pages of embouchure exercises.

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Randy Hunter Jazz www.randyhunterjazz.com