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Following up from my previous post on the "E" throat position, I'd now like to share with you my thoughts on attacking the reed. By "attack", I mean creating a separation between a given note and the note(s) immediately before it (or, if it's the first note you play, between silence and the start of that note). I've gotten the best results in my and my students' playing by thinking of just two consonant sounds* to encapsulate almost all of the attacks you will find in jazz: D ('dee") for an un-accented note and T ("tee") for an accented note *there are, of course, a variety of ways to attack or otherwise start a sound on the saxophone: double-tonguing, slap tonguing, and a lot of innovations you'll find in contemporary Classical saxophone, Avant-garde music, and "beatbox" style (see: Derek Brown), but for the most part D and T are sufficient when dealing with classic jazz and bebop  In the chart above, you see the many ways that humans can speak sounds. In speech, D and T are referred to as the Alveolar Plosives. This means that these consonant sounds are made by touching the blade of the tongue (the part of the tongue just shy of the tip) against the alveolar ridge. See below for the anatomy:  Applied to saxophone playing, these D and T attacks are great because they use the least amount of distance between the tongue and the reed, and they cause the least amount of change from the ideal "E" tongue shape. You can see below that the throat and body of the tongue remain even and open as the tip of the tongue moves to achieve the D and T consonant sounds:  Applied to learning jazz, I highly recommend using these sounds to "verbalize" (scat) your lines as part of your practice, and to think them when tonguing the reed.
In my next post... I will be discussing how the D attack mixed with the sound N (to ghost notes) can get you playing with a more authentic jazz articulation style. If you have any thoughts you'd like to share on saxophone tonguing, please feel free to respond to this email. Thanks for reading and stay tuned! Jake
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 The first phonetic sound I recommend for building an authentic jazz saxophone articulation concept is "E". I find that this is the best place to start when considering the shape of the tongue for playing saxophone. It allows an even airflow, from the back of the throat all the way to the embouchure, while leaving the tip of the tongue in a ready position to attack the reed. Why Not "Ah"?I used to think that "Ah" was best because I'd had teachers in the past say you need to "open" your throat for a bigger sound. But "Ah", from a physiological standpoint, actually obstructs the back of throat. In the chart below, we can see the shape of the tongue and throat for all different vowel sounds.  In the first two images on the bottom row—"hod" and "hawed", the "Ah" type of tongue position—you can see that the throat is actually blocked by the back of the tongue. AND, the tip of the tongue is closer to the lower teeth than it is to the roof of the mouth. In this position, more range of motion is needed for the tongue to reach the mouthpiece. This limits your ability to articulate faster lines with precision and accuracy, and this means that you have less options for style when playing uptempo/double-time. "E" As the Best SolutionIn the diagram above, you can see the shape for "heed"— the "E" tongue position--that the throat is fully open, the curve of the tongue is nice and even, and the tip of the tongue is in an ideal position to tongue the reed.
Please feel free to share your thoughts with me on this and what your experience has been with tongue height, throat shape, and any effects it has had on your playing. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more! —Dester |
AuthorJake Dester is a Brooklyn-based musician with over 20 years' experience. Archives
June 2023
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