Saxophone mouthpiece question
I recently received an e-mail from a young player with an embouchure problem.
“How far”, he asked, “should I place the mouthpiece in my mouth?”
My reply was to the effect that it was very difficult to comment without seeing him play and knowing what type of mouthpiece he was using. However I did offer some positive advice.
As a “rule of thumb” I suggested that he should place the mouthpiece just as far as is needed for his tongue to touch the tip of the reed. If his tongue was making contact below the reed, then he was probably taking in too much of the mouthpiece and his tonguing technique would be inhibited.
Personally, I have always found that taking in too much mouthpiece leads to less control over tone, intonation and articulation. This has led to some thoughts on staccato tonguing, something many learners and intermediate players find difficult to execute, and will be the featured article in the next post to Sax Matters Plus.
