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Original tips to the ‘beautiful sound’.
From 25 ways To become a Great Sax Player : Blowout Saxology book.
If you love the tone of the sax check out the secret of ‘The Beautiful Sound’ of Stan Getz.
That tone always sounded effortless. But as Getz himself pointed out, such ease and lightness are the product of hard work and dedication.
I always wanted to take as much reediness out of the sound as I could and hear more of the breath…I like to hear the brass vibrate in the sound, not just the reed.
I like a dark sound.… People think I play effortlessly. I remember doing a record date with Bill Evans and afterwards he said to me, you make it sound so easy, but when
I get right up next to you you’re working hard and making it sound easy.
The effort that Getz mentions here is the responsibility of every saxophonist.
There is no heaviness in such a responsibility because the effort comes from the sheer joy of producing a distinctive and attractive sound on the most beautiful of musical instruments.
An individual tone is attainable by any saxophone player and a beautiful tone is what every saxophonist owes to him or herself.
Getz’s sound was mellow but it was very powerful. His audience was always amazed at how this bittersweet sound could fill an entire auditorium.
Getz said that his top tip for projection of a big saxophone sound was simple. The saxophonist should practice outdoors in the open air with no acoustic to feed back the sound. To compensate for this lack of acoustic the player just has to develop a powerful sound.
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