Notre Dame College Marching Band Woodwind Technique

Notre Dame College Marching BandWoodwind Technique BookAlto Sax

Table of ContentsInformation and -----------Singing ack, Sustain & -----Articulation ------------Physical al ---------------Body ---------------------Finger --------------------pg. 1-2pg. 1pg. 1pg. 1pg. 1pg. 2pg. 2pg. 2pg. 2pg. --------------------pg. 3pg. 4Tone -------------------------Tone Development Stamp ---pg. 5pg. 6Flexability and -------------Technique -------------------------pg. 7pg. 8Green ---------------------------Tech -----------------------------Hal -------------------------------Circle of --------------------------pg. 9pg. 9pg. 10pg. -------------------------------------Sax Only ------------------------pg. 11pg. 12Major Scales Key Signatures Moving by 4th------------------------------------ pg. 13/14Major Scales Accidentals/Full Ranges by Semitone--------------------------- pg. 15/16Sax Fingering ----------------Sax Key Diagrm & Trill ---Sax Trill Fingering -----------pg. 17pg. 18pg 19/20

SingingTuningWe will sing everything we play. Singing helps tohear the correct pitches and greatly improves intonation and style. We will sing the same way we play,beginning with a good breath, and starting each newarticulated note with (tAH). We may occasionallychange the vowel sound depending on range of notebut the important thing is that we are all signing thesame way.LISTEN, your ears are your greatest ally! Hear thepitch before you play it. We will sing a lot to solidifyour tonal center. When in doubt use a tuner. Get toknow the pitch tendencies of your instrument. We willdiscuss this further as the season progresses but certain intervals will have different tunings, certain noteson your instrument may need adjusting. This is all inaddition to the general tuning of your instrument.The vowel sound and artiulation we sing shouldmatch what we would do on the Saxophone. Themore fingers you have down the more Ah the vowelthe less the more Ee the vowel sound. The beginningconsonants should match the style of attack requiredfor each note see ASR Below.To tune your Saxohpone, Check Middle D. Move theMouthpiece out to make it flat and in to make it sharp.All other notes should be tuned by mouth. Jaw pressure makes notes sharper. Air speed makes notesflatter. If pitch is consistently flat in all registers makesure you are putting adequette amount of mouthpiecein your mouth.We will frequently sing during visual oriented rehearsals. Correct pitches are very important!Attack, Sustain and ReleaseAttack is the beginning of the note. It is controlled by the air and cleaned by the consonant sound. A “T” soundis best for a crisp front and is used for Secco, Staccato, Accent and Marcato. A “D” sound is softer and is betterfor Legato and Tenuto in Marching Band. An “L” sound is best for the softest of articulations and is best forLegato and Tunto in Concert and indoor venues.Sustain is the main body of the note and, since it is the longest part of the note, it should be thought of as themsot important part of the note. This is the part of the note that controls loudness. Also, this is the part of thenote that gives the note its tone. Proper air speed is critial to acheiving good tone on the clarinet. Althoughclarinet can be quiet, It is not a quiet instrument. Take care to always play will a big powerful, but not nasalsound. You should strive for the msot characteristic tone possible at all times.Release is how you end the note. For shorter notes, the release is usually part of the attack of the next note, andyou should only think about the attack of the next note to acheive good release. For longer notes with no notedirectly after the release of the note should be acheived by breathing in. There are soft releases and hard releases and the only difference between the two is how quicly the breath in is taken.Articulation TermsSecco - Dry with as little sustain as possible Accent - Slightly spaced with weight Legato - Smooth, Sustain to the next noteStaccato - Space with a Short SustainMarcato - Marked with emphasisTenuto - Weighted with sustain to the next notelift - Boucy with release decrescendoing to the next note’s attack1

Physical FitnessTimingThis is an extremely important part to marching andplaying! You will reach the same physical stress levelas an athlete during parts of the show and it is important to think of yourself as an athlete. You mustprepare as such, don’t wait until August! We will helpguide you in the conditioning process and will discussthis in more detail in the Visual Technique Book.FEET! We will occasionally have you stand still tofocus on playing but 90% of the time you will marktime. The feet must be in time with the Dr. Beat orDrum Major, and your playing should line up withyour feet. We will also take step-outs at the beginning of each exercise. Everything will have an 8 countstart; mark time begins on count 5. We will define themark time and step outs in the Visual Technique Book.Rehearsal EtiquetteRehearsals will start exactly on time so that we can release you exactly on time. If rehearsal begins at 6:00pm,you are expected to be setting up in block at 5:55pm. You are expected to have everything you need in everyrehearsal. The basics are Instrument, Music, Dot Book, pencil, water bottle, and proper footwear (tennis shoesor marching shoes). You are expected to follow the school dress code in every rehearsal, whether on schoolproperty or not. We ask that you stand at standby unless you are told to relax. Standby is a position of readinesswhere we can give instruction without you needing to be set.This will be discussed further in the Visual Technique BookBody PostureFinger PostureEverything about playing the concert in concertshould be relaxed and shold cause no bodily discomfortThis is an extremely important part for technique. Ifyour fingers are not in good playing position you willnot be able to play fluidly and fast as you will needto. Also, bad finger positioning can cause pain andlead to early tendonitis and eventially carpal-tunnelsyndrome.The body needs to be in line forming as many and asstrict of parallel and perpendicular lines as possible.When facing the sideline, the shoulders should beexactly parallel to the sidelines and exactly perpendicular to the yardlines. Keeping these lines is ofthe utmost of importance when setting could playingposition.When the saxophone is down, it should be in front ofyour body parallel to the ground with your fingers onthe keysThe front part of the pad of the finger should insidethe pearls of the saxohone. The fingers should thenbe round and relaxed to form C’s. If held correctly,you can rotate the neck towards your head, look downyour clarinet and see your hands as two joining circleswith your clarinet in the center. you should haveample open space between your palms and the side ofthe saxohone. Make sure to keep your palms close tothe palm keys but press them down.When the saxophone is up the mouthpiece should beentering your mouth in a fairly straight fashion. youshould adjust your neckstrap accordingly, to makesure your mouthpiece is in optimal position. The bottom of the saxohone should be pushed away from thebody with the right hand.2

Ia. Breathing* On the E’s - Replace Exhale with*This exercise is used to facilitate breath control. Breathing is the key to any wind instrument.The breath should be taken in with an open throat and should should then be turned around tothe exhale without closing the throat. Essentially, you should be saying the consonant sound hon the inhale and on the exhale.3

Ib. Articulation - Attack, Sustain and Release1N 5 5 5 5 55555 5 5 4 ?LegatoIM IM IM IM IM IM IM IM IM IM IM5 5 5 5 55555 5 5 4 ?I I I I IIIII I I5 5 5 5 55555 5 5 4 ?TenutoI I I I IIIII I I5 5 5 5 55555 5 5 4 ?LiftedLong AccentAccentStaccato Accent5 5 5 5 55555 5 5 4 ? 5 5 5 5 55555 5 5 4 ?MarcatoM M M M M M M M M M M5 5 5 5 55555 5 5 4 ?M M M M M M M M M M M5 5 5 5 55555 5 5 4 ?Staccato, , , , , , , , , , ,5 5 5 5 55555 5 5 4 ?Secco2*This exercise is used to facilitate breath control through the three main parts of each note.This is known as articulation. Breathing is the key to articulation. The attack should be lessimportant than the main body (the sustain) of each note, and each release should be a breath inor the attack of the next adjacent note.4

II. Tone DevelopmentIIaA G 'E 'C G ' 'E 'G 'G 'G ''5 4 ? B ' ''5 4 ? D ' ''5 4 ? F ' '1 -2 -3 - 4 - In1 -2 -3 - 4 - In1 -2 -3 - 4 - In''5 4 ? '5 4 ? '5 4 ? 1 -2 -3 - 4 - In1 -2 -3 - 4 - In1 -2 -3 - 4 - In5 1 -2 -3 - 4 - InIIbA 'GE 'C 'G 'E 'G 'G E'G ''5 4 ?B ' ''5 4 ?D ' ''5 4 ?F ' '5 4 ?B ' '5 4 ?D ' '5 4 ?F ' '1 -2 -3 - 4 - In1 -2 -3 - 4 - In1 -2 -3 - 4 - In''5 4 ?'5 4 ?'5 4 ?1 -2 -3 - 4 - In1 -2 -3 - 4 - In1 -2 -3 - 4 - In5 1 -2 -3 - 4 - InIIc5A G ' E'C G ' 'E G ' 'G G ' '1 -2 -3 - 4 - In'1 -2 -3 - 4 - In'1 -2 -3 - 4 - In'51 -2 -3 - 4 - In'5 4 ?1 -2 -3 - 4 - In'5 4 ?1 -2 -3 - 4 - In'5 4 ?1 -2 -3 - 4 - In'

II. Tone Development - Stamp ExerciseB B B G B'B B BGB'9 B B BG B '1725G33EBEB B EBE'B B EBB'41B B B'GBG49GBBB 4 ? EB B EB5EBE' 4 ?5B B B 4 ?5B' 4 ?5B B B 4 ?5B'B B B 4 ?5B' B B B 4 ?5 B 'EB B EB5 4 ? EBE'B' 4 ?5 4 ?5 4 ?5 4 ?5 4 ?5*This exercise is used to facilitate embochure and air speed control. The intervals should beslurred as much as possible. When the fingering doesn’t change you should strive for as fluidof a transition between notes as possible. This will give you the maximum benefit for tonedevelopment.6

III. Flexibility and TechniqueG 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 555555555 5 5 0 E5E5E5 5E5 5 5 5 E5E5E55E55555 5 5 0G 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 555 555555 5 5 0 5E5E5 5 5 5 5 5 5E5E5555555 5 5 0G 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 555 5 55555 5 5 0 5 5E5 5 5 5 5 5 55E5555555 5 5 0G E 5 E5E5E5E5 5 5 5 E 5 E5E5E5E5555 5 5 5 07

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Scales Should be played in all keys, at varying tempi at with different articulations. Playing scalesis they key to good technique. Green Scales should be played at slower tempi and then little by littlethe tempo should be increased. After Green Scales are comfortable, Tech Scales Should be startedat a faster tempo and then increased until you reach your limit of being able to play it with all notesbeing even and steady. Push yourself further than you think you can go. Challenge youself to theharder scales more often the the easier ones. This is how you will grow.Green Scales*Play with varying patterns (slur all, slur 3 tongue 1, slur 2 tongue 2, tongue all (legato and staccato), etc.)Play in every key.Tech Scales*Play with varying patterns (slur all, slur 3 tongue 1, slur 2 tongue 2, tongue all (legato and staccato), etc.)Play in every key.9

Hal Flex10

III. IntonationSOPRANOALTOTENORBASS1 E 'G '1 E 'G '''' ''' ''!''''EG'2' ''!'' '''''''''''E ''''''!''''' '''EG!'2''''EE''''EE1 EE 'G''''''''''E''''''''E 'G E'''''!''''E' '''''''2*LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN! Sing then play. This exercise focus on the intervals and your position inthe chord. We will play this at ppp and fff and learn to control the pitch at every dynamic. Play with youabsolute best tone possible and make sure that you are not creating any waves. Even dissonances have acertain place where they ring. listen for an even grinding on dissonances that is still pleasant.11