Basic Articulation

Articulation is the way in which our tongue interacts with the instrument, and how your tongue starts and stops the notes you play. In this lesson we are going to review how to use your tongue to separate the notes.

Key Points

• The very tip of your tongue is what is touching the very tip of the reed.
• After the tip of your tongue connects with the very tip of the reed, you will quickly pull your tongue back to allow the air flow from your breath to enter the instrument.
• To practice, we make the “thooo” sound with our mouths (without having the horn in our mouth yet).
• With the saxophone in your mouth, next we will practice lightly touching the tip of our tongue to the reed while continuously blowing air and making one note.