Is FAULTY TONGUING Ruining YOUR Sax Playing? Let’s Fix It…

Interesting view Jamie,
I've always used a little behind my tongue tip...
I'll try this out and see what happens👍🏾

Great video! Thanks. Just leave out the annoying piano😀

At 7.25 Do you really just touch the reed with the tip of your tonge? Do you not bend the tip inwards?

well im all messed up. All my life. 30 years of playing sax I have never tongued the reed. I tongue the top of my mouth. No wonder I still suck after 30 years.

Very good. I had been working on that and this will help!

Great saxophonist and easy tutorial.Thank you

Master this and your girlfriend will think you're French.

This tip of the tongue technique is almost impossible to do with a soprano sax or mouthpiece.

I have gotten so much better thanks to you and I am a dedicated saxophone player I am only 11 years old but practice over two hours a day. you and saxexplained have helped me grow as a saxophone player. thank you so much.

Good job😊

I always wondered how panda car sirens worked.

Great video.

Muito interessante! Tenho percebido uma melhora na minha afinação e articulação com a estabilização da língua, o que se confirma pelos exercícios sugeridos nesse vídeo,. Existem pouco conteúdo sobre esse assunto, muito obrigado, foi muito útil para mim.

great explanation, thank you

Great video. The issue that I have is 1) that my middle c# is out of tune and 2) sometimes I lose high notes😢.

Hey Jamie, great lesson video, enjoyed that!

Absolutely spot on about the tongue, and how that might be perhaps reason 1. that a lot of saxophonists could sound way better. You can have all the dexterity and technical facilities in the world, but if this part isn't rightly done, you'll keep a sloppy sound. The other way around (great tongue independance and usage for sound/phrasing + a basic facility in technique) will get you much better overall sound , imo at least :)

Thanks for these great lessons to the online sax community, appreciated! You are helping saxophonists spread better sounds which in turn can "infect" new people that love saxophone. 🎷

Thanks Jamie, very informative. Helps me a lot in my sax journey. Question if I may please? Understand people have different anatomy. But most often, our tongue sits naturally where its tip touches the back of lower teeth. So when you put the mouthpiece into you mouth, that's probably about close ~2 cm or so. At that position, the tip of tongue is probably aligning close / heading the middle of the reed(just estimating here). For it to touch the tip of the reed, tongue needs to back off, or curl up perhaps. Usually this can be achieve by using words such as "la-la-la" instead of ta-ta-ta. Just not feeling natural to me, but i guess it's down to practice. What do you think? - appreciate for the advice. Thanks a lot.

Wait wait, are you saying tip of the tongue to tip of the reed? Not what Im teaching my pupils, completely wrong in my opinion. Contact happens slightly behind the tip of the tongue, half an inch maybe. Tongue is in its natural position, you just open your mouth and when you put in a mouthpiece the tip of the mouthpiece comes exactly on the part of the tongue it needs to touch. Tip of the tongue touches lower teeth. I was expecting more from this channel...

I've done both tip and anchor. For me anyways anchor is now my go to.. whatever works for you! Were all different

Hey jamie, thanks for such an informative video! I was wondering if you tend to keep the back and middle of your tongue humped for the whole range of the horn, or just for the low and high notes? I've heard a 'ayyyy' (flat tongue) position is advisable for the mid range notes. Thanks again! 🤟🏻

❤❤❤

That was fantastic! Thank you, Jamie!

Your vid’s are amazing!!

Amazing lesson....You helped me a lot. Thx.

Sooooo.... does this mean we can do lip scoops now?

Thank you very much,sir.
I Always enjoy and learn from your videos.
(A small suggestion,if I may :the music in the background is a bit distracting.
I think we could do without it;would love to focus solely on the sound of your voice imparting your knowledge)
Looking forward to your next videos.

This is so scientific it made my High School Chemistry teacher retire lol. Love the way you teach, it's almost an "athletes way" to get a more solid tone.

Bang on advice here Jamie, just spent 3 months practicing articulation along to Jean M Jarre Oxigen 4, plenty of Triplets in there to highlight the shortcomings , can now play the entire piece, it's a critical part of playing. Being to be able to identify your weak points also helps, these videos really help in that area 👍🏼😎

more scoops than an ice cream parlor as my teacher says It sounds terrible and best to avoid , record your self on your phone ! it may surprise you if your an intermediate player like me . just being aware of it is a start in the right direction.
great advice Jamie.

A comment not related to the topic but presentation which also occurs more and more everywhere on even serious news/commentary podcasts such as The Guardian and that I guess is the assumption that the listener will turn off if there isn't more stimulation that the spoken content. For example the news item could be reporting on some catastrophe and in addition there is dramatic music. So Im listening and very interested in the tonguing topic and I have to turn off the attention grabbing wonderful fast moving piano. Im thankful that it is turned off when you are actually demonstrating.

thanking you. As prior to sax and I still do play a lot of flute, Ive often wondered why the flute tonguing techniques are not used on sax ie nit touching the reed at all but tongue hitting just above the top teeth which for me also works well.

Are you spying on me! This lesson was key for me. Thanks. blessings

Thanks 👍

Hey Jamie great lesson as usual. Could you do a video on ghost tonguing.

Brilliant, Jamie! Between this and last Sunday's videos, you've hit the two things my teacher @rolysax has worked on with me for the past year: tight embouchure (former clarinet player here, trying to break the habit of a lifetime) and strident articulation. The one word he has drilled into me is "RELAX" (intensity is also a hard habit to break for a former military member--ha). Thanks for your excellent, detailed videos--key leaf tongue and all! 😜

Everyone's mouth shape and tongue are different and work a little differently. There is no "one way" to articulate. The end result is what is important. Listen to good articulation and practice until you get desired sound.

Thanks good value, good teaching!

Love the out-take 🤣🤣🤣

That ol' Scott Paddock teaches tongue totally differently, tucking the tip of the tongue down behind the lower teeth and touching the reed with the hump of the tongue. You're both amazing professionals so whose method to chose and follow?

Great video. But I think the piano jingling in the background could be left out, it is distracting from the content.

Great video as usual! Can'wait to try this exercises out!

Great