{"id":1714,"date":"2008-09-23T07:51:27","date_gmt":"2008-09-23T14:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=1714"},"modified":"2012-05-06T08:23:37","modified_gmt":"2012-05-06T15:23:37","slug":"multiphonics-for-saxophone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2008\/multiphonics-for-saxophone\/","title":{"rendered":"Multiphonics For Saxophone"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few years ago I became fascinated with the idea of playing more than 1 note at a time on my sax. I’m not sure exactly why that happened, but it did. (I suspect playing with guitar players who used distortion all the time, started me down the path.) Then while I was in the music store one day I happened to come across a book by John Gross.<\/p>\n

The title: Multiphonics For The Saxophone: a practical guide 178 different note combinations diagrammed and explained by John Gross,<\/em> really said all it needed to. I picked up the book, and was instantly struck by how the diagrams he used made sense to me, and seemed simple to understand. I bought the book, and that began\u00a0my study of multiphonics.<\/p>\n

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Simply put, the term “Multiphonics” refers to two or more notes sounding simultaneously. All of us when we started out, produced multiphonics, but unintentionally! Our teachers, parents, and neighbours were all very glad when we got past that phase, learned how to control our horns, and produced only 1 note at a time.<\/p>\n

With the study of multiphonics, the advancing or advanced player can work on a number of vital areas. In Gross’s words:<\/p>\n

These multiphonics will help build strength, flexibility and endurance if used properly. Even if you never use any of these multiphonics in public I believe they are useful to your saxophone playing. I suggest you try different combination of dynamics (very soft to very loud), amount of mouthpiece in mouth and embouchure pressure (very loose to very tight). Suggested companion books are:\u00a0TOP TONES FOR THE SAXOPHONE\u00a0by Sigurd Rascher; HELLO! MR. SAX! By Jean-Marie Londeix; and, SCIENCE OF BREATH by Yogi Ramacharaka.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is not a book for beginners, or really even intermediate players. You\u00a0need to\u00a0have good and stable chops, and a good grasp of overtones and harmonics.<\/p>\n

I would be lying if I said I could do all the note combinations in the book. I can’t. But\u00a0I use\u00a0the book\u00a0as tool, and pull out of it what\u00a0I need.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, I do play multiphonics in public. I continue to play with guitar players who love distortion, so for me,\u00a0playing solo opposite the lead guitar player in an electric\u00a0Blues band,\u00a0I have 2 choices: Either use distortion pedals, or\u00a0primarily use my throat and embouchure for the distortion effects. I choose the later, so\u00a0multiphonics have become\u00a0one of the\u00a0tools that I use in creating my distortion.<\/p>\n

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…this is just my blog<\/em>. <\/span> My \u201creal\u201d <\/b> website is<\/span> www.bassic-sax.info.<\/a> If you\u2019re looking for <\/span> sax info<\/strong>,<\/span> you should check it out too.<\/span>There\u2019s lots<\/em> there! <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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A few years ago I became fascinated with the idea of playing more than 1 note at a time on my sax. I’m not sure …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[82],"tags":[142,83,200],"class_list":["post-1714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-literature","tag-advanced-techniques","tag-books-literature","tag-multiphonics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t