12 Moons Solo Saxophone Project Day 88

Date: 03/29/2013

Instrument: Tenor saxophone

Location: Home studio in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)

Notes:

When humming pitches that are contained within a multiphoic chord, my brain often perceives that I’m singing a different note than I actually am. This is very unique experience, but today I chose to try and eliminate this occurrence. I used a single fingering today that with virtually any pitch sung, exploded with color. After spending some time working with it, I attempted to sing pitches with a range spanning the root to a perfect fourth below it.

The fingering for this improvisation is as follows:

(Left Hand) B-A-G keys, Low B // (Right Hand) F# key

The maximum volume of this piece is slightly louder than my interpretation of mezzo forte. At this volume I seemed to have the maximum amount of control over my embouchure. Mid way through the piece an extraordinary sound emerged, which I identified as the Concert E an octave below. This is well below the playable range of the tenor, and was a great contributor to the energy in this piece.

-Neil

The image accompanying today’s post by artist KwangHo Shin