How to control the portamento ？

How to control the portamento ？

Portamento is a very important saxophone play in knowledge, but also in playing a piece of music in the beautiful  point. Some songs are more beautiful with the technique of portamento.

So how do you control the portamento?

The important action of the portamento is to rely on the lower lip and jaw muscles.

The correct way of playing is to press the lower lip and teeth and jaw against the mouthpiece, forcing the sound up and down.

The portamento is a natural pulldown of sound in a relaxed state, as if a little out of tune. Maybe the intonation seems blurred, but that’s normal.

This is the characteristic of portamento. The tone produced by portamento is not stereotypical.

Focus on the following points when using portamento：

First, the lower lip must not leave the reed, or there will be no sound.

Second, the attention breath cannot stop.

Third, the time to do skateboarding must be slow, or the tone issued is very stiff.Note that the lips should be pulled back slowly.

Here are some tips for portamento.