Welcome to this episode of the Sax School Online Podcast.
We’re discussing our favourite and most effective saxophone warmups that don’t take loads of time. Plus we’ll be sharing our go-to warmups to quickly get back in shape after a break.
Joining me today from the Sax School tutor team Fred Vigdor and Joel Purnell.
Hey, if you do love learning how to play saxophone better and you enjoy the podcast, if I could just ask you to share it with one other person, it would mean the world to us. It would just help us to reach more friends like you.
Warmups are a great topic for today. They’re so often neglected, but any pro player will tell you just how important they are, especially if you’re short on time. So we’ve been doing this for decades. And I thought it would be useful today to share our saxophone warmup favorites, to make the learning process a little bit shorter for you. So I’m looking forward to digging into that to help you make the most of every practice session.
News from the team
N: But before we do that, I’d like to know what you guys are up to. So, Joel, what’s been going on in your life the last week or so?
J: Oh, well, I’ve been doing some practice, as always. And I’ve been focusing on a piece of repertoire by the sax player Mark Turner.
Joel’s Practice Challenge
J: It’s called Lennie Groove, and it’s absolutely horrible! It’s like the best technique workout ever. It goes through the full range from low B flats and C’s very quickly, all the way right up into altissimo G sharps and B flats. And it’s relentlessly in 5 4 through the entire thing.
So, rhythmically, it’s challenging. Technically, it’s challenging. It’s just challenging! But I love stuff like that. I love finding things where when I try and play it, I can’t even play the first bar. And I know that if I work on that for long enough then I’m going to improve.
So that’s what I’ve been up to. But there’s a great version on YouTube with Kurt Rosenwinkel. It’s on one of his albums as well. But the Kurt Rosenwinkel and Mark Turner version on YouTube is spectacular. Amazing.
N: Ah, cool. I love working on things like that too.
F: Joel lives for the struggle. I just wanted to say that.
J: It’s true, I do.
N: But that’s where the gems are, right? That’s where you find the little magic things that unlock your progress. When you try to play something that’s just at the start so impossibly difficult. And then a couple of weeks down the track or a couple of months down the track, you realize, ‘oh, I can play some of that.’
So that’s a sign that we’re developing. Yeah, I love that. I’ll have to. Could you send me a link to where I can check that out? I’d love to have a listen.
What about you, Fred? What’s been driving you crazy this last week?
Fred’s Reading Recommendation
F: Well, I’m not doing anything nearly as challenging as Joel. I’m just reading a book. Although that can be challenging as well. I’m reading Stanley Crouch’s book called Kansas City Lightning, which is about the rise and times of Charlie Parker.
F: Stanley Crouch is an African American writer who co-founded the Jazz Lincoln Center program with Wynton Marsalis and used to be a writer for The Village Voice.
And this is interesting because it’s about Charlie Parker. It’s not quite what I expected, because it gets into his life in Kansas City, and maybe a brief period of when he came to New York for the first time, and then went back to Kansas City, and it ends there. It talks more about his influences in Kansas City and the culture of the whole music scene in Kansas City and all the people that he grew up with. And he interviewed Bird’s wife and anybody that he could find.
So it’s an in-depth study into how he became who he was, way before anybody had discovered him. It’s really interesting – not what I expected. There’s supposed to be a part two where he does deal with Bird’s rise, and all that. But he hasn’t even met Dizzy Gillespie or any of those characters. So it’s just a different take. I’m enjoying it.
N: Wow, that sounds fascinating as well. I think it’s fun to learn those back stories about the players that we love. I think it helps us to understand a little bit about the way they think, and to imagine what their experiences might have been like as well.
The Sax School Weekender
N: Well, that sounds a lot more artsy and educational and dedicated than my practice. This last week or so I’ve been working on things for our Weekender. I’ve even put my Weekender shirt on this morning just to get me in the mood from that last Weekender.
So I’m still working on Weekender music. Because that’s coming up in about six weeks or so now. It’s our bi-annual live get-together for our Sax School members, where we get people from all around the world to come and join us for four days. So I’m busy writing music for that.
Nigel’s Practice Challenges
N: I’ve also been working on some intonation things. Over the last few weeks been working on a transcription that I did of a Nigel Hitchcock classical piece. And it goes into some real altissimo stuff, but with big leaps when we’re going up there. And I’m struggling to get some of those notes in tune. So I guess it kind of ties in a bit with what we’re talking about today with saxophone warmups, because I’m working on intonation in my warmups and applying that to the altissimo stuff.
And the other thing that I’ve been doing, which is fun, is Fred, you told me about that Backpocket Grooves app recently, and I’ve been getting into that. Pretty cool and very handy. So if you haven’t checked out Backpocket Grooves, I suggest that.
By the way, I only use it on my phone. Do you use it on an iPad as well or just on your phone?
F: Yeah, you can use it on any iOS device. And you know, you can change the keys and you can add different segments. It’s a very cool little app. It’s somewhat limited, but it’s got some cool grooves. That’s the big thing I like about it most – the good funky grooves.
N: Yes Fred. it’s not like maybe using a Session Band or Band in a Box, but the grooves themselves are very good. Yeah. And so it’s quite inspiring to just jam along with.
Favourite saxophone warmups
N: Okay, so let’s dig into this topic of warm-ups and our favourite warm-ups. So these are the things that all of us go to in our daily practice.
I’ll tell you what, I’ll get started because I’ve got a favourite warm-up that I’ve been working on for quite a while. You know, what inspired me to start exploring this style of warm-up was an interview we did for Sax School with Jeff Kashiwa. It was maybe three or four years ago. And it’s something that he told me that he works on all the time. I thought, ‘well that’s interesting. I feel like I should be working on that too’, and so I do. My warm-up is all about is focusing on the low notes first, so starting on the low Bb, B natural, and C, and working in octaves and fifths from that first note.
The idea is to get a great sound that I’m happy with and in tune with the low notes. I try to keep my embouchure set as I’m playing those low notes, and then I move up in intervals up my range, without changing my embouchure.
So obviously you need to make little changes in the back of your mouth with your tongue. But I’m trying to keep my embouchure set so that I’m minimising that movement, as I move up and down the range. And that helps with things like I mentioned earlier that I’ve been working on, where there’s lots of leaps and I’m going up into the altissimo, because there’s less movement happening now.
Low Notes sax warmup
N: So the way I do this is I put a drone on using a tuner like Tonal Energy Tuner. And if I was starting on my Bb, I would put a drone on that is for that Bb tone. Then I’ll play a nice long note on the low Bb.
And then I’ll do the octave Bb. Then back to the low Bb. After that I’ll go up to the second octave F. Back to the low Bb. And then the to the third octave Bb, and then back to low Bb. Then keep working my way up the range.
And then if you want to add an extra layer onto this, the next thing that I like to do is that whole process again, but then incorporate an overtone note as well.
So I’ll play my low Bb. Then I’ll play my 2nd octave Bb. And then I’ll play the overtone – so fingering low Bb, but getting that 2nd octave Bb out. Then I’ll go back to the low Bb, and then up to the F. Then play the F as an overtone, and so forth and so on.
N: So it’s a great exercise, and if I spend 5 to 10 minutes doing that, it opens everything up for me. And it dials in my tuning. It dials in my mouth position, which helps me to feel comfortable.
What about you, Joel? What’s your favourite go-to?
Joel’s favourite sax warmup
J: Well, I have a few different ones that I like to do. I’m a big fan of doing these kinds of exercises, which are just meant for one thing – to warm you up – but if you can cram some extra learning in there while you’re at it, then that goes a long way as well.
So, the one I’ve been doing recently is I’ve been taking the different triads that you get through a major scale.
So, for example, in the key of C major, the C triad, D minor, E minor, F, G, A minor, and the B diminished triads.
And I’ve been playing them as what are called open voicings. So I’ve been playing the root, then the 5th, and then the 3rd. For example, low C, and then the G above it, and then the E above that, and then working through those in order.
J: This is great. It does some similar things to your version, Nigel. I end up practising a 5th at the beginning, and then I’ll get some major sixths and minor sixths. And then at the end, I always play down the octave. Ao basically I go root, fifth, third, and then third the octave below, and then that leads me to the next note in the sequence.
And I’ll just do a couple of keys a day with that, and either use a tuner, or I like to put on what’s called a dominant drone. It helps aurally as well. So, if I’m doing it in the key of C, then I’ll put on a nice low G drone under it. So you’re kind of pitching relative to something, rather than thinking about the green light on the tuner, if that makes sense.
But I enjoy that exercise. It gets you playing some big intervals. And also I like this because they’re usable. You’re connecting them with structures that you might use in improvisation as well. So that’s the one I’ve been doing recently.
N: Yeah, I love that. By the way, we‘ve made a PDF for you with our favourite warm-ups, so you can try them out yourselves. You can download get the PDF here..
N: So, just to be clear then, Joel, let’s say you’re starting in the key of C, you’re doing the C major triad 1, 5, 3. And then you’re doing the D minor, and then E, F, G, you’re working up that way, up the scale. Is that right?
J: Yeah, that’s right. And going all the way up. As you do it in different keys, try and start with the triad that you can fit lowest on the instrument, if you can. So if I was doing it in the key of F, I’d probably try and start with the Bb major triad IV of F major, so I’m using my full range. And if I’m feeling particularly ‘warmy uppy’, if you like, then I’ll continue that right up into the altissimo range as well.
N: Wow. Fantastic. So, Fred, what about you? Yes. What’s your favourite go-to warm-up?
Fred’s favourite sax warmup
F: Well, mine ties in with both of yours in a way. I like to use the TE tuner, the Tonal Energy Tuner, but I use it a little differently than a lot of people do. And that is that I do it with my eyes closed.
Because like Joel was saying, a lot of people are kind of obsessed with the green tuner and you’re adjusting …But as we all know, intonation is not a spectator sport. It’s not a visual art. It’s all about your ears. You can do this with pretty much any of the warmups that you guys have been talking about. What you do is, you close your eyes, play your exercise. And when you think you’re in tune, then open your eyes and see where you are on the tuner.
So you’re not constantly looking and adjusting. You’re trying to get the feel of what it sounds like when you’re in tune. And, I feel like this helps with pretty much any of the saxophone warmups. And when we get to the next segment, I’ll tell you about a warmup that you can use to supercharge this.
N: Awesome. I think we should have that printed on Sax School shirts. “Intonation is not a spectator sport”.
F: You know, everybody thinks that it’s like the Olympics and you’ve got a judge and he’s telling you what your numbers are. And it’s not about that. You have to learn what it sounds like when you’re playing in tune. Not what it looks like.
N: Yeah, I love it. So, hey, just a quick reminder too that if you do want to improve your sax playing this year, remember to go ahead and follow the podcast so you don’t miss out on any of the future episodes. We’ve got some fun ones planned for you that are coming up.
And, hey, if you’ve got a spare minute and you’re just wondering what you’re going to do with your spare time and you’re feeling inspired, you could leave us a five-star review. We’d appreciate it, wouldn’t we? That would be awesome. Sure. You’d make us very happy. Always.
Getting back into shape after a break
N: Okay, so we’re humans just like everybody else. Occasionally we take a holiday and maybe put our saxophones down for a couple of weeks. And then we’ve got that pain – is that the right word? – when you come back to playing. You’ve got to try and get your skills back in shape. That’s always a challenging thing to do as a saxophone player or probably for any instrument too.
But I’ve got certain things, I’m sure you guys do, that I like to do to get myself quickly back in shape. And I think that’s an important thing to share with you guys listening today as well. Because maybe this will give you some ideas of things that you could do. So for me, I’m going to be greedy and jump in first.
Nigel’s tips
N: Whenever I find myself in that situation, the thing that I love doing the most that I find gets me up and running quickly is using something like that Back Pocket Grooves app that I mentioned before. And simply spending time in my practice working on blowing over a simple groove.
So, there’s probably two things I do. The first thing is that – playing over a groove. So, it could be over a blues, it could just be over a single chord groove. And I’m taking time just improvising. I’m being very mindful about my timing. Because the thing that I find I need to dial back in when I’ve had a break, is getting my flexibility around my range and, my sense of feel and time.
So I keep it simple and just focus on grooving over – a groove!
The second thing I work on is I put a heavy focus on intonation. So lots of interval practice working with a tuner, or with a drone, and trying to dial that in.
So what about you Joel? What’s the thing that gets you back in shape quickly?
Joel’s tips
J: I always like to just do some free, open improvisation. So, I maybe think about a couple of tonalities, a couple of modes, a couple of chords, whatever pops into my head. I’m a bit kinder to myself, I think, Nigel, than you’re straight into it with the tuner. I just like to kind of find my inspiration again. So, I just stand there, I shut my eyes, and I listen to myself playing the saxophone with a focus on getting across my range.
So I’m just getting used to all that, and the pitching and all that kind of stuff. I’m just trying to find the beauty in it again and reconnecting with the instrument.
And then I’ll do maybe a similar thing to what you mentioned. I’ll probably just put on a tune and I’ll play a tune. And I use that to kind of make sure once again that my timing‘s up to spec and also my intonation. It’s that contextual intonation when you’re playing along with a backing track.
I always try and make sure it’s a real backing track, like an Aebersold or something like that, where it’s an actual band on there rather than a kind of something else.
So I’m just getting that negotiation of tuning back, and listening to it. And once again it’s enjoyable. I’m rediscovering probably an old tune that I’ve not played for a while.
So those two things for me just kind of get me going again. And then I’ll get back into my usual routines and my tuning triads or whatever it is I’m working on – my next Mark Turner head.
N: Brilliant. What about you, Fred? What’s what’s your secret go-to exercise?
Fred’s tips
F: Well, we’ll probably all agree on this, that the first thing that I’m going to feel when I haven’t been playing for a while is the actual muscles [in my embouchure]. And you can do this with pretty much any long-tone exercise.
I included this exercise that I call the pivot point exercise in the PDF. And basically you start on middle D. And you go down a half step, and then you go back up to middle D. Then you start on middle D again. And then you get down another – now a whole step. And you go on until you’re playing an octave from middle D to low D.
But the secret to this is not taking the mouthpiece out of your mouth while you’re doing this. You’re breathing through your nose. So you’re keeping your embouchure engaged the entire time. And it’s hard to do it at first because you’re so used to breathing through your mouth when you do this.
You can feel those muscles. It kind of supercharges whatever kind of long-tone exercise you’re doing because you’re not giving yourself a break. And then when you start to feel that burn, as they say, you could let the blood go back into your muscles, and then start where you left off.
And you’ll find that it’ll get things back into shape a lot sooner than just doing normal long-tone exercises.
N: That’s kind of like your equivalent of doing a plank but for your embouchure.
F: Absolutely.
J: I think it’s interesting how different it is for all of us – what we feel that we need to do when we come back to the saxophone. I think that’s important to point out. We all have our different struggles when we come back to the instrument after a break. Some people’s embouchures feel a bit tired, some people’s breathing, some people’s intonation. So, it’s just about finding something that gets you back into playing at the end of the day.
N: And it’s great when you’ve got those things in your pocket that you know will help you. Because that speeds up the whole process. Yeah, fantastic. I hope that’s all been helpful to you.
And don’t forget that we have got the PDF with those exercises we’ve mentioned today – just click below to download yours.
Sax School Member Question
Our member question this week is from Simon Lee and he sent in this.
Simon Lee: Hi Nigel, I’m finding a lot of my notes are out of tune. So my question is, which note should I be getting in tune to start with, before then trying to adjust the other note’s tuning through lip control, lip pressure and that sort of stuff?
N: Okay, I think this is a great question from Simon. And I do think there’s probably more than one answer to it, depending on what your frame of reference is as a saxophone player. But, hey, Joel, have you got some tips for Simon on this one?
Tuning Tips
J: Sure. Now you’ll, you’ll hear loads of different kind of opinions on the best note to tune a saxophone to. Some people think that using the open tube is a better way of doing it.
Personally, I like to tune to a G on the saxophone. Whichever G it is – the saxophone G is not a concert G. And it’s just because it’s right in the middle of the tube.
And this is the point for me. It’s probably one of the first notes you ever learnt to play. And for that reason, I think it’s probably one of the notes you feel most naturally relaxed on. Because that’s what the saxophone is all about. It’s about being relaxed. Relaxed in your embouchure, relaxed in your posture. Everything’s about being relaxed.
So picking a familiar note, I think, is a great idea. So I tend to just play a long G.
However, this is the key thing when it comes to tuning up, which was part of the question. And Fred’s touched on this already. Don’t trust your eyes. So, I like to do what I call a blind tune-up.
J: So, I put my tuner on. I’ll pick this note that’s most comfortable to me, so in my case, this G. And I’ll shut my eyes, and I’ll just blow it as naturally as I possibly can, for a while – like a long tone.
And when I feel comfortable and I think I’m settled, then I’ll open my eyes and I’ll immediately clock whether that pitching is sharp or flat. I stop, I adjust the saxophone, I shut my eyes, and I repeat.
And I will do this for ten minutes if necessary, to make sure that when I open my eyes and I see that I’m in tune, I’m doing that in the most natural way possible on the instrument.
And then from that point on – go for it. Keep your eyes open, and play those other notes if you’re going to work with a tuner. But at least you know that initial place where you’ve started is in tune, it is natural, and now everything’s in the context of that.
I think otherwise what tends to happen is you think, ‘right, I’m going tune up to this note,’ you put on that tuner, you blow the note. It’s red, or whatever colour it goes when it’s out of tune, and you tend to just react to it. It’s one of your senses, and you’ll react. That visionary sense will react, and it’ll change your pitching.
Interestingly, from the point of view of the way our brain works, vision is a higher priority to our brain than sound, unfortunately, for us. So we do tend to react to what we see, and that might mean that we end up biting to get that note in tune.Then every note we play, we’ll have to bite on.
So I think that what I call the initial Blind Tune-up Routine is super-important, on a natural note for you. And then you can crack on and work on your tuning.
Next Steps
N: So if you’d like to revisit the episode today, you can get the full transcription from the whole show today, episode number two, and that’s going to be over at saxschoolonline.com/podcast.
J: And if you’re not already a Sax School member, then check out saxschoolonline.com. There’s absolutely loads of stuff in there that’s going to get you going with saxophone. There’s thousands of lessons. And there’s so much going on in there every single week. We’d love to see you in there.
Next time on the podcast
And Fred, what have we got coming up next week?
F: Well, Nigel, I’m glad you asked. Next time, we are going to talk about what it’s like as a touring musician. Something I know a little bit about. And I hope you can join us.
N: I hope so, too. I’m looking forward to that conversation. But for now, thanks so much for joining us, and keep practising hard. We’ll catch you next time.