Tonunciation is one of the important skills in saxophone playing, but it is also one of the skills that troubles many saxophone players. Voicing appears in almost every piece of music, so it is particularly important to learn how to pronounce it well.

First of all, we need to understand what pronunciation is.

Tuning is a common performance technique in wind instruments. It is suitable for playing warm, cheerful, exciting and lively tunes. The sound is required to be strong, clean and elastic, and the rhythm should be even and steady. There are many types of articulation: single articulation (including single external articulation and single inner articulation), double articulation, light articulation, air articulation, lip articulation, etc.

Single outward blowing (marked T), on the basis of maintaining the correct shape of the blowing mouth, the tongue naturally upwards, slightly attached to the inner edge of the lip, and quickly retracts when exhaling, allowing the airflow to rush into the mouthpiece to produce a short and powerful sound. , similar to the sound of "vomit".

On the basis of maintaining the correct mouth shape, the base of the tongue retracts to block the upper palate. When exhaling, the base of the tongue moves forward quickly, causing the airflow to rush into the mouthpiece to produce a short burst. A powerful sound, similar to the "ku" sound.

Double spitting is a combination of single internal spitting and single external spitting. The speed is twice as fast as single spitting. Its sound is similar to "Tuku" or "Kutu", which is suitable for playing cheerful and exciting tunes.

Tonunion requires the sound to be strong, clean and elastic, and the rhythm to be even and steady.

Some questions about the use of tongue pronunciation: 1. Tongue and air speed: When using tongue pronunciation, a stable and aggressive high-pressure air speed should be formed to improve the pronunciation effect. On the contrary, if the air speed is unstable and the breathing is loose, unfocused, and uncontrolled, it is not correct chest and abdominal breathing, and the correct breath is not used to play, even if the tongue is used to make sounds, it will not work. Therefore, students must practice breathing carefully and develop appropriate, accurate, stable and aggressive high-pressure air speed for each sound by practicing long sounds. 2. Tongue state, position, movement, and pronunciation principle of blowing during pronunciation: Tongue state during pronunciation - relaxed and natural, slightly raised; position - with the "tip" slightly upward, touching the reed; tip The lower edge of the reed should be small and less in contact with the "two tips"; action - the tip of the front half of the tongue is slightly contracting, and the lower edge of the tip of the reed is slightly touched while working, making " "Tu" or "Du" syllable. The state, position, and movements of the tongue need to be pondered over and over again and practiced hard, so that the sound head can be relaxed, comfortable and natural during pronunciation, and the pronunciation effect can be clean, clear and pure.

The pronunciation should be practiced slowly and gradually to fast pronunciation. The pronunciation principle of "fire" is that the breath should not be stopped during the pronunciation, and the air pressure should always be maintained around the tip of the note. When the tongue touches the lower part of the tip of the reed, When it is along the edge, the airflow cannot enter the flute through the air opening between the mouthpiece and the reed. The tip of the tongue blocks the airflow, so that the reed cannot vibrate, and the pronunciation is terminated. 3. The main problems when pronouncing the sound: First, the tip of the tongue drives The base of the tongue moves forward and backward, which not only delays the movement of the sound, but also moves the neck, larynx, lips, and facial muscles. The overtone effect produces "diu ou" or "dai", and other mixed sounds. , ruins the musical style, it's very bad spitting. Second, if the tongue touches the reed too much, tightly, heavily, and fiercely, the sound produced will be rigid, causing the sound to become abnormal and destroying the musical effect. Third, in the continuous articulation, every time you blow a sound and stop breathing, you will inhale again, which will cause the lips to tighten. The cheeks and neck also move, which makes the sound of the blowing sound rough and unpleasant, destroying the musical effect.

Five forms of pronunciation:

First, single pronunciation method - using three syllables: "tu" (tu), "du" (du) , "La" (1a). "Sudden" pronunciation is often used to play crisp and fast passages. This syllable can improve the stability of the tongue movement when the note is pronounced, and the movement is simple, so this syllable is called the "basic ton". Make each performer produce various expression changes and distinctive musical effects. Such as long, short, fast, slow, strong, weak, but the principle of making "tu" syllables remains unchanged. "Yin" style articulation, also known as "soft overtone", the position and movement of the tongue are roughly the same as the basic articulation method. The head of the note can be slightly flatter, the tip of the tongue can be slightly rounded, and the attack movement should be gentle. , making the sound softer and more coherent. This kind of spitting is often used in the performance of lyrical melody sections and the performance of legato-staccato.

The "la" type of articulation is rarely used, but it is very effective. The tongue is lightly swept along the lower edge of the tip of the reed, and the staccato is very soft and soft, so that you can feel it and it is practical. The inaudible effect is handled with extreme dexterity and subtlety. This kind of spitting fully demonstrates the artistic expertise of a superb performer.

Second, the double-passing method (also known as the compound spitting method) - the double spitting method uses two syllables: tu-ku" (tu-ku) or "tc-ka" (tc-ka) . Double spitting requires the alternate use of two different attack and closing methods. Generally, the two methods of stopping the reed and cutting off the airflow with the pharynx are used alternately. The double spitting method is good at playing fast phrases and requires a single method. Only by having a good foundation in articulation and good control over pronunciation intensity and musical performance, so that the sound rhythm is smooth, the volume is balanced, the blowing sounds are unified, and the mastery is very proficient, can you perform the music well. , use it freely

Third, three spitting methods - use "tu-tu-ku" (tu-tu-ku) or "te-te-ka" (te-tc) -ka) three syllables. This method of spitting can produce extremely fast music like the double spitting method, and is especially suitable for music hook structures in the form of triplet or three different tones repeated. Each repeated "tu" appears to be too prominent, so some performers use other syllable transitions of the pronunciation, such as: tu-ku-tu or ku-tu---Kuo

Fourth, Breathing method - using the "fu" (fu) or "dufu" (du fu) syllable mouth shape. This breathing method is a common breathing method when playing light music. Maybe the mouthpiece is missing, the upper teeth are closer to the front of the mouthpiece, and the lower teeth are relaxed as much as possible, so that the top is tight and the bottom is loose. The hey sound can be directly produced by the breath to produce the sound of "fu" (fu), or it can be produced by the sound of "dufu" (dufu). ), this kind of overtone is mostly used in slower lyrical music.

Fifth, the overtone method (also called roll tone) - the notation term Frullato, the overtone is used as "Tululu..." (tululu...) is played by vibrating the tongue rapidly. This vocalization is rarely used in band performances and is used for special musical effects.