Hi ,

As musicians, one of our primary goals is to develop our sound, make it as personal as our human voice so it is instantly recognizable.

Depending on your instrument, you will have specific exercises that will help you to do just that. I usually start by asking “what do YOU want to sound like?”, and 9 times out of 10 the student will say something like “I don’t know…” realizing he’s not giving me a brilliant answer.

It all starts in your head, with you ears! You must have a clear idea  of what you want to sound like, what you like and don’t like. Try to describe the sound -it’s not easy!- and some of the most common words we use are: warm, cold, dark, bright, warm, cold. But anything will work: I would say Joe Lovano’s sound is “hairy”, Kenny Garrett sounds like a “diamond”.

Identify 3 major voices in your instrument, currently on the scene. Think about the polarizing figures, so powerful that stream of musicians follow their sound esthetic. For instance for the saxophone, I would say Joe Lovano and Chris Potter are both major influences today with very different sounds.

Then identify 3 to 6 major figures in the history of jazz and describe their sound.

You want to study the major voices of your instrument to absorb their qualities and filter them out through your life, your experiences, that is the process to develop your sound and create your own voice.

Spend at least 6 months studying one player.

Sing as much as possible! This is how you will get to feel in your body the sensations of the sounds.

Other aspects that will impact your sound: breathing technique, finger technique, body posture.

 

Related Lessons:

Exercise with the saxophone neck

Embouchure

Exercise with the octave key

Warm-up exercise

Long tones

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3 comments on “Introduction

  1. says:

    Vincent Herring, Dick Oats, Karolina Strassmayer. And from the legends: Art Pepper, Cannonball, Hank Mobley, Coltrane, Bird, James Moody..


  2. says:

    I am an amateur guitarrist. I would say that the three voices on the scene that I currently like best are: (a) Pat Metheny, (b) Bill Frisell and (c) Chico Pinheiro. On a level of historical relevance, I would put (in no particular order): Joe Pass, Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery, George Benson and John Abercrombie. I would describe the sound that I aspire to have as muted, warm and well-rounded. rhythmically unpredictable and harmonically coherent (although seldomly subversive) 🙂


  3. Alex Terrier
    Alex Terrier says:

    John Coltrane agrees with me! I’m reading this book “Coltrane on Coltrane, The John Coltrane Interviews” edited by Chris DeVito and here is what he says in one of the interview:

    “The sound you get on any instrument depends on the conception of sound you hear in your mind. It also depends on your physical properties, such as the shape and structure of the inside of your mouth and throat. I only tried to find the sound that I hear in my mind, a sound any artist hears and hopes to be able to produce”.


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