How do you go about developing your own sound? And how do you emulate the styles of other players? London theatre veteran John Franchi explains.
The Set-Up
The first step is to choose your mouthpiece and reed. I’ve been through the whole range of classic and gimmicky mouthpieces. Some of the outrageous ones help for a time (you think) but then become very un-versatile, so don’t waste time on them.
There’s lots of advice out there to help you but this is the setup I use on my instruments.
Soprano sax: I use a modern Selmer E. It gives a clear sound and is good throughout the register.
Alto sax: I alternate between a hard rubber Otto Link 6* and a metal 6*. The hard rubber gets a rounder sound but with practice you can get a similar sound on the metal.
Tenor sax: I use a metal Otto Link 7 star. It’s a classic tenor mouthpiece which most of the great tenor player of the 50s and 60s used to play. The modern ones don’t seem to have the same character as the vintage ones. I occasionally use a hard rubber Link 6 star.
I’ve been tempted to try the loud edgy mouthpieces to go along with the current trend of playing. I ended up sounding the same as everyone else, which is OK if’s that what you want, but if you stick to one and persevere with it you can get as loud and edgy as you like.
A great friend of mine who has backed Phil Woods said he can hardly hear himself play against Phil’s huge sound. Phil plays on a Meyer mouthpiece. Enough said.
Do you Double?
I’ve found that clarinetists who start doubling on sax get the nicest sound on soprano and baritone. A sop can be played with a similar embouchure to a clarinet, and with a fairly open throat they can ideally (in my opinion) sound like an oboe d’amore.
Conversely, a lot of sop players get a strident sound reminiscent of Roland Kirk’s manzello, an eastern-sounding coarse type of soprano.
When we play clarinet and sax we need to compromise. Balance the setup you have on the two reeds so as not to make it difficult to change from one to the other quickly. This may mean getting used to a slightly softer set up on clarinet but it will make it easier for you to keep your sound quality consistent when swapping between them.
Sax Styles
The alto and tenor have more versatile sounds than almost any other instrument, which you can mould to various styles. A major part of developing your own sound is to take inspiration from great players.
Listen and Learn.
On soprano: John Harle gets a gorgeous sop sound. Other varying sounds are Sidney Bechet – very fast vibrato but it’s worth knowing how to emulate it.
On alto: Listen to gutsy players like Charlie Parker (Bird), Sonny Stitt and Cannonball Adderley and try to copy their sound. Likewise players with a more ethereal sound like Paul Desmond, Lee Konitz, Bud Shank, and players with a rougher sound like Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Coltrane.
On tenor: listen to Stan Getz, Sonny Stitt again, Sal Nistico with the Herman band, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Dexter Gordon. Even if you don’t like the sound of certain players it’s useful to be able to copy them.
On sessions that you may be asked for a “Getzy” or Lester Young type of playing (or even Kenny G). Once you’ve managed to get somewhere near the sound of these guys then you will have developed the control to alter your sound to what YOU think is your own sound. By opening or closing the throat muscles and lip position you’ll be able to create a multitude of different sounds.
Clarinet Styles
The design of the clarinet limits the range of styles in which it can be played. The biggest variations in style and tone come from jazz players. In the early days the New Orleans Player had poor quality instruments and probably not very good reeds. Even so a lot of them got a very strident and powerful sound which it’s well worth trying to emulate.
With the advent of the swing era Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw dominated the scene. Goodman was classically trained so his sound was basically smooth. Shaw was a very strong player and it’s said that he played a plastic reed. Great sound though and very individual.
With players that followed like Buddy de Franco, Tony Scott, Putte Wickman and most recently the wonderful Eddie Daniels, the clarinet sound became more open.
Try and get as near to these sounds as you can. It’s not easy but just trying will help you to alter your embouchure and throat muscles.
Flute Style
Flute hasn’t drastically changed its style over the years apart from becoming a lot more powerful and edgy. Wooden flutes produced a softer sound, then came nickel, silver, gold, platinum and combinations of all these.
Some flute sounds these days are so edgy they sound like oboes. For orchestral sounds listen to Galway, William Bennett, Jonathan Snowdon (Robert Dick for outrageously alternative sounds –very entertaining) and for jazz sounds Herbie Mann, Lou Tabakin, Julius Baker, Hubert Laws.
Once you have developed a comfortable embouchure DON’T CHANGE IT!
I once heard a wonderful sound coming from a colleague’s flute and asked if she would give me lessons. This is when I was in the middle of a run of “Witches of Eastwick”. I was playing very well as it was but was so inspired by this player’s sound that I thought I could do better. What happened is that I tried to change my embouchure with drastic results and it upset my playing for weeks!
About the author:
John Franchi has toured and performed with most of the top American singers from Louis Armstrong to Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan. He was the first call lead alto doubler in London for most of the West End musicals from 1980 to 2010 and has given recitals on all of his various instruments from recorder to violin. Although recovering from a long illness which stopped him playing, John is now back in business, coaching and “getting his chops together again”.