Why does sax squeak

Can they win the war? La Casa de Papel: Parte 5. Collision symbolVol. Venom 2 Cast. YouTube Channel Instagram Facebook teachers pay teachers patreon. The list is written in order from most likely the reason why they are squeaking to least likely the reason why they are squeaking. Student's bottom teeth are touching the reed.

Reed is not wet enough. Student is playing on a broken reed. Reed must be replaced. Embouchure is too tight, not allowing the reed to vibrate properly. Too much of the mouthpiece is in the student's mouth.

Student is playing on a new reed. To fix each one of these issues, scroll down! Sometimes students bite both sides of the mouthpiece. When students' teeth touch the reed, the mouthpiece will squeak! How to fix this issue:. The truth is the one who is going to know what works for you is you. Having these options allows you to trial and error for youself.

Get a note book and make note about each experience and how you like or dislike each reed. Read up on how to sand and shape a reed. I personally sand every reed I play with Grit Sandpaper on the backside and then rub the top to judt behind the tip a couple of times to get rid of any hard to see imperfection. Make sure you are wetting your reeds.

Often times a dry reed can be the source of the problem. Make sure the reed tip is matching the mouthpiece tip or is just a hair below the tip.

Find you sweet spot. I like the reed right below tip. It is responsive and warm. It is not fingers, pads it is your embouchuire and the mouthpiece.

It is important the throat is relaxed and that you do not close it off and that it open. The closing off of your throat can pinch the sound and cause a squeal also. Watch the video of Jim Snidero on the Rico Website. He is the writer of Jazz Conception and a monster player. He addresses the issues of opening upi your sound and to release the restriction very well. Make sure the neck strap is high enough. Many players straps are to low and need to be raised.

By riasing the strap to where the mouthpiece barely brushes your upper lip, you will position the saxophone in this most appropriate position. I tell my students to ct as if they are trying puch all of the air and their embochure toiward their octave key thumb.

This really helps oopen their sound and that visual immeidately brings attention to the position of the embochure, the air stream, and the head. Hope this all helps. Good Times and happy playing. What causes reed instuments like Saxophone "Squeek:? I am supprised no one caught this.

Your probaby gonna have more air then it can take. Also leaks can cause it, usually more noticable on the bottom end. Also can be caused by biting. For your sitation I suspect a combonation of too thin a reed and biting, probaby caused by frustration from the first problem. I agree.. Rico Royal mpcs are thin so I'd probably try a 3 or a 3. Not very many people I know of start playing alto on a meyer Good luck with the alto, self teaching is hard. I'd think it would be hard not having anyone teach you how to set your embrocure We have no ability to figure it out at all.

I would suggest enlisting the help of a qualified instructor. Rico Royals aren't that good of reeds The jazz selects are but not the regular. You should try Hemke or Vandoren 3s. That mouthpiece isn't that good but it doesnt require much of a strong embrocure, which is good for a beginner. But I would hold on the meyer because that can come in handy in a while.

He's only been playing sax for 3 months, he probably wont be able to handle the 3s, most of my students cant do that either. Your setup should be fine for now, just so long as your sax is setup and working properly. I suggest lots of long, boring longtones paying attention to getting a good tone like I mentioned above.

Ya I said Harder reeds, not 3! Come I was right about thickening the reeds but you guys are going too fare. I play on 2. While learning over the years I spent a lot of time on 3, never using 3. Now that I have good air support I perfer 2. Yes 2. No on the 3 vans or 3. I am sure she it's a she right? I suck on flute. Get winded. Yes, thanks- all good suggestions. I will try the 2. I don't have excellent breath control on the flute either. Yes, scales, scales, scales. Long tones, long tones, long tones.

I need to eventually find an instructor here in Portland, OR. Why is the world so tied into the flute being a 'girlie' or 'gay' instrument? Well I apologize about the mix-up. So what do we do about this?

It's all about detailed, honest self-feedback. Oh and some useful exercises too:. This reason is almost as common as number one, and it's a tricky one because neither you or your teacher can see or even accurately feel your tongue position inside your own mouth. I have my students correct this by relaxing their throat and letting their tongue simply rest in the bottom of their mouth. Make sure you either soak your reed thoroughly, or use a plastic reed which does not need to be wet.

Either solution is fine. The teeth should never be touching the reed. You should cushion your teeth with just a small portion of your lower lip. If the teeth are touching the reed, you will most likely only get squeaks and high notes. As you put more of the mouthpiece in your mouth, it will become easier to play high notes. If you take in too much of it, you will squeak and perhaps only be able to play high notes.

The placement of your lips on the mouthpiece should be at the point where the reed first touches the mouthpiece, and no further. This allows you to have the right amount of control over the reed, allowing high notes to be easy without producing squeaks.

If you put too much pressure on the reed, you may choke it and end up squeaking. There is a simple exercise which you can do to determine how much jaw pressure you should be using. In particular, you are going to be tuning your mouthpiece. Detach your mouthpiece from the neck, but still have the reed and ligature attached.

Then, blowing at the loudest possible volume please use hearing protection! The amount of jaw pressure that it takes to achieve the above pitch for your instrument is the amount of jaw pressure you should be using in general.

Make sure you break in your reed properly, or it may cause squeaks! We have a guide to breaking in saxophone reeds which you can find here. The height of your tongue as you play will affect the extent to which you squeak.

Raising your tongue and thus directing your airstream upward will make it easier to play high notes, but also easier to squeak. Lowering your tongue thus aiming your airstream downward will make it easier to play low notes, but on some notes especially G it may cause the note to crack completely, causing it to squeak. If you are squeaking on a variety of notes, you may want to try lowering your tongue if you naturally keep your tongue high.

If you are squeaking on G in particular, it may be worthwhile to raise your tongue. If you have to do this, however, there is likely another problem with your instrument or setup causing the squeaking. Overall, experimenting with tongue position can be a quick way to eliminate squeaks, but it is usually not the main cause.

If you slur from a C in the middle of the staff to a G above the staff, for instance this particular combination of notes is often prone to cause squeaks , you have to make sure that you press down your index finger and ring finger at the same time. Failing to do so will almost certainly cause a squeak.

If you are squeaking on G in particular coming from C , I am willing to bet that finger movements are part of the problem. These issues tend to stack, though, so there may be some other problem with your instrument or setup as well — but this issue is one to focus on. Leaks are frustrating because they can cause a variety of problems while also being hard to detect.