The Complete Guide to Saxophone Sound Production
by David Liebman (Videocassette VHS)
Caris Music Services
Box 7621G
Stroudsburg, Pa 18360
Playing time: 2hrs, 23 mins
$74.95
This VHS video tape is intented as a video version of Dave Liebman's recent book titled Developing a Personal Saxophone Sound (reviewed in my May/June 1990 column). Both the book and the video center on a dicussion of the airstream as it originates and travels through the body and the saxophone. Both take many concepts from the great teacher, Joe Allard, who had a profound effect upon Liebman's playing.
This video begins with a detailed discussion and demonstration of breathing techniques, then devotes substantial amounts of time to the larynx and throat, and the effect of various lip and teeth positions on the sound. Joe Allard's famous overtone exercises are demonstrated by Liebman from a student's point of view, pointing out possible points of difficulty and their remedies. There are also a number of useful tone-matching exercises. The final portion of the video features brief discussions of reed, mouthpiece, and ligature options, as well as an interesting demonstration of such special effects as subtone, simultaneous playing and vocalization, quarter-tone fingerings, and a wide array of vibrato techniques.
This video is well worth its high price because of the detail and patience with which Liebman deals with each subject area, and his positive attitude. He does not preach any particular school of thought, or speak soley to any stylistic idiom, or endorse any equipment brand. Instead he (like Allard) advocates flexibility and the total elimination of tension on the instrument.
Liebman arrives at an important point toward the end of the tape. During his discussion of equipment (after many years of trial and error and spending hundreds of dollars on new equipment), he had discovered that most of the variables that affect tone and overall sound occur internally, within the body.
Although Liebman does do a number of short playing demonstrations, there are no actual performances on the tape. What a shame!
Liebman's huge reputation as a jazz musician should not deter classical players from investigating this video or book, because there is a great wealth of material which is essential to all styles of playing.
The Complete Guide To Saxophone Sound Production is a wonderful new instructional video by Saxophonist David Liebman. The presentation is basically non-scripted, which tends to give it the more relaxed character of an actual lesson, while still being well organized. The material is clear and concise with plenty of visuals and demonstrations. If there are negatives it might be that it is a bit long - the one problem of not being more tightly scripted - and some of the intended nuances in sound demonstrations are lost in television playback.
The body of the video deals with developing a quality, personal saxophone sound. The concepts are those that Liebman (and many of the other great saxophonists of the past two generations) learned while studying with Joe Allard, to whom the video is dedicated. Sections are included on 1) identifying and developing correct breathing habits for optimum tone production and expression, 2) the use of the larynx to properly "voice" the saxophone and develop an even sound throughout the instrument, 3) concepts for developing a good embouchure, and 4) the placement of the tongue for optimum use of air and proper articulation. He then introduces the playing of overtones with plenty of visuals and demonstrations to show how breath support, the larynx, embouchure, and tongue position work together to develop a truly individual and quality sound.
The final two sections of the video, "Expressive Techniques" and "Reeds and Mouthpieces," tend to be more informational than instructional and are less focused in their presentation. In fact, the "Reeds and Mouthpieces" section doesn't mention reeds at all. That notwithstanding, this video has a lot to offer and is well worth the investment. David has also published the book Developing A Personal Saxophone Sound (Dorn Publications) which contains the same information but without the audio/visual reinforcement. - Trent Kynaston