Saxophone Embouchure

For a woodwind player, the embouchure is perhaps the most important aspect of your playing. It effects your intonation, your tone and your technique. If your embouchure is off, then everything is off. Thus, it is important that you have a good idea of what a "proper" embouchure is.

Compared to other woodwind instruments like the clarinet, oboe, the saxophone embouchure is quite liberal. If you analyze other saxophonist, even The Greats differ in their embouchure choice. Some choose to use double lip, single lip, the "o-embouchure". Some like to put the mouthpiece deep inside their mouth, some like to puff out their cheeks. These are some things you can experiment with, and there are some things that are generally conceived as being the "proper" embouchure.

Let's take a look at the important aspects of the embouchure:

• The way the lips are formed
• The depth in which the mouthpiece is put in the mouth
• How the lips are flexed
• The angle the mouthpiece is in the mouth

The way the lips are formed

As I mentioned before, there are three types of embouchures: single lip, double lip, o-embouchure listed from most common to least common. I'll talk more about the last two embouchures later in the "experimenting" section at the bottom of this lesson, but for now, I'll talk about the most basic saxophone embouchure, the single lip embouchure.

(Fig. 5 o-embouchure, Fig-6 single lip, Fig-7 double lip; from The Art of Saxophone Playing, Larry Teal)


1) Get in front of a mirror, it's important that you can see yourself doing this
2) Form an over exaggerated "f" sound with your lips.
3) In doing so, you should notice that your lower lip is lowered underneath your upper teeth.
4) Press your upper teeth gently into your lower lip.
5) Your lip should pressed half way in your bottom lip.
6) Bring your bottom chin forward so your top teeth are aligned with your upper teeth. It doesn't have to          be perfectly aligned, it'll usually be maybe a centimeter or two back.
7) Once you have your mouth in this position, open up your mouth as much as you can WHILE keeping your lips pressed together. As in, your teeth is still going to be pressed against your lip, but your mouth will expand.
8) You will notice your chin stretching and flexing. If you ever had a saxophone teacher tell you to "flatten out your chin" this is what he/she means.
9) Once you're in this position, you're ready to move on to the next part.

How much mouthpiece to put in

1. If you followed the last tutorial above, your mouth should be in an exaggerated "f" position as if you were about to drop the "f-bomb"
2. Look at your hand, right or left it doesn't matter, and make a "thumbs up" position with your hand. 
3. Insert your thumb up to the thumbnail into your newly formed embouchure. To rephrase, only your thumbnail should go into your mouth. 
4. This is about how much mouthpiece you should put in your mouth. (If on alto, if on tenor, you may want to put a little bit more)
5. Your thumb should be inserted at an angle such that the bottom part of your thumb, the side opposite to your thumbnail is touching the upper roof of your mouth.

More in a bit