Breathing exercise #3
With
John O'NeillA third breathing exercise: with your palms on your lower back, John O'Neill shows how to feel the breath expand into your back for steadier saxophone tone.
What's in the course
25 lessons (2h 10m) · 1 free
01. Posture
13:20
02. Fingering
4:10
03. The breath
4:12
04. Breathing exercise #1
3:24
05. Breathing exercise #2
4:34
06. Breathing exercise #3
You are here2:29
07. Breathing exercise #4
1:27
08. Breathing exercise #5
2:27
09. Embouchure & your first note
9:46
10. Troubleshooting your first note
9:34
11. Developing your sound
3:43
12. Tonguing exercise #1
4:36
13. Tonguing exercise #2
6:49
14. Final thoughts & practising
1:57
Lesson transcript
Breathing Exercise for Saxophone
So in this next exercise, we're doing the same thing again, but this time I'm positioning my hands so the palms of my hands are on my back like so.
Breathing Technique
-
Breathe In:
- Again, I should feel that my hands are being pushed out.
- This is a little bit more difficult to feel for some people.
-
Feel the Breath:
- You should feel that you're breathing into your hands.
Reflection on Learning
When I first started playing the saxophone, I was always down at the library seeing if I could find any books that would help me understand better what was going on.
A Memorable Book
I remember finding a book called "The Foundations of Singing" by Franklin Kelsey.
- Background:
- This was a book written in the 1920s.
- Franklin Kelsey recommended that when you sing, you imagine that you're breathing in through two holes in the back of your waistcoat.
Of course, that was an age when all gentlemen wore waistcoats, but that image really stuck in my mind.
Visualization Technique
So, you imagine you've got two holes just here, and you're actually taking the breath in through those two holes.
And actually, that really works for me. I can really feel that it's as if I was breathing in through my back. Let me demonstrate that for you just one more time.
-
Breath In:
- Taking the breath in again through the mouth, feeling the hands pushed out.
-
Sound Production:
- Then making your loud, whispered R sound.
Encouragement
And don't be discouraged if when you start doing this, you can't hold your sound for as long as I can. Don't forget, I've been doing this for over 40 years, so I've got pretty good breath control. But you'll get there. Just keep at it. Stay with the exercises.
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Meet your guru
Meet your guru
John O'Neill is the saxophonist behind The Jazz Method for Saxophone - the Schott series that has taught a generation of players around the world to improvise. First published in 1991, it remains one of the best-selling jazz tutors ever written, alongside his companion methods for clarinet and flute.
He came to the saxophone at twenty, while reading French and German at Trinity College, Oxford, after hearing John Coltrane. He went on to study with British tenor great Don Rendell, and took improvisation from Lee Konitz, Warne Marsh and Peter Ind - direct heirs of the legendary teacher Lennie Tristano. A professional musician since 1979, he specialises in jazz and bossa nova and has played London's leading venues, including Ronnie Scott's, while also writing music for film, television, theatre and dance.
A qualified teacher with decades of experience, John has taught saxophone, clarinet and flute privately and in schools, on the jazz course at Trinity College of Music in London, and at summer schools in Spain and the Czech Republic. He still performs and teaches from his home in North London.
