Saxophone is a relatively large musical instrument. Because the whole instrument is made of flavonoids, many people feel that saxophone is very heavy. In particular, many younger students have begun to learn about saxophone, which is a huge thing for children. Many students said, "saxophone is just a matter of tying the neck strap and hanging it around your neck?" In fact, there are also standard playing postures for playing saxophone. If the posture is wrong, some parts of our body will have unnecessary stress, such as back pain, finger pain, leg soreness and even a backache. Of course, for beginners, correct posture is rather important. If you keep a tense posture for a long time, it will definitely cause obstacles to music learning.

 

 

 

     When playing saxophone, we can choose to sit or stand, and we can decide according to our own performance needs. When playing, your arms should be relaxed and loose, and your feet should be separated and shoulder width apart. However, neither standing nor sitting posture should be too relaxed, and the body should not be too tense. Note that the neck strap should be adjusted to a proper height. Too high or too low will affect the performance. We also need to keep our back straight. If our body bends, it will affect the flow of breath. When playing, we should pay attention to that the angle of the bent neck and the blowing mouth can be adjusted. We should adjust ourselves according to our playing habits, not change our personal habits.

 

Find your Saxophone Posture:​https://youtu.be/ttpy6G9oxGY

 

 

 

 

 

Sitting posture:

 

     Because saxophone is heavy, the children who learn it for the first time should choose the appropriate sitting posture. It will be very hard for children to play standing for a long time, so the following matters should be paid attention to when using sitting posture to play.

 

1. When playing, keep your back upright and don't stagger just because you are sitting on the bench.

2. Sit on the edge of the bench as much as possible to keep your back upright (if the bench has a backrest, do not lean on it to practice)

3. When playing saxophone, you can place the instrument in the middle of the two legs, or place it in the front right (right side of the right leg) for playing  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Standing posture:

 

Standing posture is a kind of posture that people often choose when performing, sothe following matters still need to be paid attention to.

1. Standing performance also needs to straighten your back, but it doesn't need to be as forceful as a soldier standing.

2. The placement height and direction of the music score should be reasonable. You should neither look up nor look down, or it will affect the performance.

 

 

 

 

   
 

 

     If you have mastered the standing and sitting posture of saxophone, you can think about what posture our fingers should maintain when playing. In fact, if the finger posture is not correct, we are likely to feel pain in the fingers or finger joints after a long time of practice.

If the left hand hurts, it is usually because the posture is too stiff. Our left hand needs to be responsible for the high key area of saxophoneand our hands should be relaxed whether we need to press or not, and our fingers should be naturally bent to prepare for playing.

 

    If your right hand feels pain, it should be that your right hand bears unnecessary weight or your little finger does not have enough strength to press keys in the bass area. We need to know when playing saxophone, the weight of the whole instrument needs to be borne by our neck. Our fingers do not bear weight. Their function is just to press keys. If playing for a long time, we should replace a better and more comfortable neck strap. If the strength of the little finger is weak and the pressing force is not enough, you need to practice frequently to increase the strength of the finger. Because when playing, if the finger force is not enough, the instrument cannot have an effective seal.

 

Ergonomics Design Saxophone Neck Strap with Breathable Pad & Metal Hook:​https://www.sixmonthsrebellion.com/products/less-stress-ergonomics-design-saxophone-neck-strap%EF%BC%8Cwith-breathable-pad-metal-hook-1

 

    Beginners often worry: what if the key does not have an effective seal? Therefore, when we first started to learn saxophone, we would press the key very hard. In fact, when playing, we need to concentrate our finger strength but must relax. We just need to close the opening of the instrument normally. Also, our hands only need to be placed where they should be, and they do not need to bear any weight.
When playing, we must adjust the height and angle of the instrument according to our own habits. Only by keeping the body relaxed and using the correct playing posture, can we play easily and happily.

 

Proper Sax Finger Placement | Saxophone Lessons:​https://youtu.be/8JjiatRtwK4