How do I move my mouth to play low notes on the saxophone?

Question

I'm playing tenor, and my lessons don't start for a couple weeks, but he wants me to get started. I know fingerings but I can't seem to play notes ON the staff. Which is really stupid I know, but I can play the notes above the staff or under it, just not ON. Like when I play concert Bflat scale everything is so high, but I can do the lower one.

Um, if it helps, I used to be a brass player (french horn) and this is my first reed instrument.

Answer 1

You actually don't "have to" move your jaw in order to get those low notes out. It's all about management of air. It will be hard at first so don't worry about it too much. You should already know about that from your experience as a brass player.

One fundamental thing about saxophone's embouchure is that you want to make a seal without dampening the reed's vibration. In order to do that you need the muscles in the corner of your mouth to provide that seal not unlike when you smile and say the vowel "eee".

It's hard to give you a more detailed advice without seeing / hearing you play so I think that's best left for your teacher to address that specific problem rather than follow random advice through the net ;)

Finally, each range of sax will require a different air stream.

Answer 2

I agree with Victor about embochure and tongue position, and you can only get so much info off the net... it's hard to diagnose a problem if we can't see and hear you play!  There are a ton of factors that may be contributing to your problem.  

But here's another thing for you to think about: on French Horn or Trumpet, there is much more resistance against your airstream, just do to how the instruments are built.  The air only comes out in one place, no matter how many valves you have pressed.  On sax, the fewer fingers you have down, the less resistance you have because the air is being vented from every tone hole.  The higher octave (above the staff), even though there aren't as many fingers down, provide a little more resistance do to the instrument needing more and faster air.

Being a brass player, you may not be comfortable getting the mid-range notes out because there isn't any resistance!  The work on these notes are done through your embochure and air... especially playing these notes in tune and making them stable.

Try playing a top of the staff "G".  Hold it, and then slur down chromatically to an F#, and hold it.  Now try starting on the F#, hold it, then slur down to an F.  Continue this all the way to "D".  Pay attention to your throat as you do this... it should have the SLIGHTEST little change.

Now try to play a 3rd space "C"... it will feel dramatically different.  Try fingering a low C (below the staff), but add your octave key... see if you can "hear" the upper C in your head and blow... this may provide you enough resistance to get it out... then try the regular fingering and see if you can match it.  It may take you some time and a lot of practice, but you will get it!

After you can get that 3rd line C out (with the correct fingering!), do the chromatic exercise down again for the range of your horn.  Then try doing it backwards and go up chromatically.  When you can start to get the notes out consistantly, try tonguing your chromatic scale up and down.  

This should give you a little bit to work on before your lesson, and hopefully your teacher will be able to address whatever other issues you may be having.  Be prepared to work on embochure though... switching instruments can be hard on your face for a while! LOL

Good luck, and have fun! :)