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Embouchure - Intervallic Trills |
In Embouchure - Practicing Long Tones, I mentioned how to practice intervals in a manner similar to the practicing of long tones. Practicing intervals slowly first is crucial because when the motion is slowed down the student can really feel how the embouchure muscle works during the interval transition. However, as the student progress, the ultimate goal should be the ability to make those transitions rapidly while maintaining clarity.
Since any musical passage is made up of intervals, if one can play any interval with maximum fluidity, then he can play any musical passage with the same fluidity. This is the idealistic situation, although total mastery is very difficult to achieve. Typical operational range on the Tenor saxophone spans from the low Bb to the first altissimo D, which is about 3.5 octaves with 41 notes, and 820 possible intervals. It is possible to work on every single one of these intervals, however in reality it is unrealistic because one rarely plays any intervals larger than a 10th. Therefore I suggest leaving out any interval over a 10th, unless one specifically needs to play such an interval in his repertoire. In this case there will be a total of 520 possible intervals, which I believe a serious musician can realistically strive to master.
A trill usually refers to a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes. An intervallic trill can be thought of a generalization of the typical trill and is a rapid alternation between any two notes, not necessarily adjacent to each other. Before working on an intervallic trill, it is suggested that the student first practice the long tone exercises described in Embouchure - Practicing Long Tones until the embouchure has developed reasonable strength to support the two notes of the interval individually and can make the transition smoothly when played slow. The student should focus on discovering the embouchure position that requires minimum adjustment during the transition. Then, gradually speed up until the interval can be played as a trill.
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