This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Soprano Saxophone Technique, is published on this website in a PDF format. It is very detailed and practical, and it will give you the physical tools you need to take the limits off of your ability to create the accurate saxophone technique you want without sacrificing your body.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)
If I was to give a traditional definition of FOCUS when playing the soprano saxophone, I’d say that focus is ALL of your attention on playing the piece exactly like you want it to sound from beginning to end, with no mistakes and no memory slips.
What I just described is what the Alexander Technique would call end-gaining. End-gaining is performing on the soprano saxophone with all of your attention placed on getting to the end of a piece as flawlessly and musically as possible, no matter the physical or emotional price.
So, when I see a soprano saxophone player performing this way, there are some very consistent things I see being done physically. The saxophone player’s head/torso is usually hunkered down to the soprano saxophone, as the saxophone player tries to guarantee accuracy and no memory slips by focusing like a laser. There is tension in the whole body, as the soprano saxophone player holds it together. The saxophone player’s brow is usually furrowed, concentrating on playing well.
What if we flip this over, and have the soprano saxophone player perform with the means-whereby. When the saxophone player performs with the means-whereby, then the soprano saxophone player is playing with his or her focus on a fully open and upright posture and ease throughout the whole body, as the performer trusts the body to realize the saxophone player’s intentions.
This is performing in the means and not focusing on the ends. The result is a soprano saxophone performance without excess physical tension and poor posture – in other words, not sacrificing his or her body for the result.
The question is, does the soprano saxophone player who plays this way create just as wonderful of a performance as a saxophone player who sits or stands with the determination to play great no matter what? Yes!, and even better, once the soprano saxophone player is willing to let go of a lifetime of playing for the best results, no matter the cost.
This is a very powerful and at times emotional thing for a soprano saxophone player to go through. After years of placing all of your focus, energy, practice time, and performances on trying to guarantee the best possible playing, and then to place your focus on how easy you can make the saxophone, by taking 100% care of your body, this can be a very big jolt to your psyche. But, you’re worth it!
Back to my question: Will you play better from the means instead of the ends? Yes!, because you will actually end up with an evolving technique and evolving performances that keep getting better and better and better. How?
Because, if every time you sit or stand to warm up, you focus on how upright and balanced your posture on the soprano saxophone can be, and how much less muscular work you can do to sit or stand fully at ease on the saxophone, then you’re really in the moment without straining your body.
If, as you warm up, you let go of tension in your arms, hands, fingers, torso, and your brow, as you watch your body do less and less work to create a more effortless and more accurate performance, this is an amazing gift to yourself.
IN OTHER WORDS, IF YOUR FOCUS IS ON HOW LITTLE YOU CAN DO TO CREATE THE MOST POWERFUL AND DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE, THEN YOU TRULY FLIP THE SOPRANO SAXOPHONE PLAYER’S TRADITIONAL DEFINITION OF FOCUS ON ITS HEAD. FOCUS BECOMES AN ACT OF RELEASE, NOT AN ACT OF HOLDING IT TOGETHER.
