The Easiest Way to Learn Saxophone Embouchure

Hello world, it’s been a minute! Apologies for my general absence and spotty posting. Last semester I spent much of my time grinding for DMA comprehensive examinations and finishing most of my remaining cognate coursework. This is in addition to my part-time teaching at Heidelberg University and assistantship duties at BGSU. Anybody who has completed a terminal degree can back me up when I say that this put me through wringer, to say the least. At any rate, it’s good to be back and (hopefully) posting more regularly; onward!

Today, I am sharing a video that talks about the easiest way to explain and learn proper saxophone embouchure. It is all too easy to get lost in anatomical terminology and nitty gritty when explaining embouchure to beginners. Rather than falling into this pedagogical trap, teachers instead must find familiar experiences or sensations that students can refer when learning a new skill. In the case of the saxophone embouchure, we should all suck our thumb!

Morton Subotnick’s “In Two Worlds”: A Timeline

PREFACE

Morton Subotnick’s In Two Worlds is a seminal work for alto saxophone and electronics. Subotnick’s work presented many innovations for its compositional era and was among the first works for saxophone that integrated live sound processing, live synthesized MIDI sounds, and instruments such as the Yamaha WX7 Wind Controller and Air Drum. The work can accordingly be seen as an early precursor to today’s works that utilize Max/MSP for live audio processing. In Two Worlds’ development was less than straightforward, however, in part due to its cutting-edge nature. The following timeline outlines the major events during the genesis, development, and subsequent revival of In Two Worlds. It is my hope that performers and scholars will find this timeline to be a convenient resource in their own study of this work.

TIMELINE

1984: In Two Worlds was commissioned with a National Endowment for the Arts Consortium Grant for $18,000. The consortium was lead by saxophonists Kenneth Radnofsky, John Sampen, and James Forger.

• The grant was for a 3-piece project, which also included Concerto by Donald Martino and Whirled Series by Milton Babbitt.

• Subotnick wrote In Two Worlds at the same time as a multimedia project, Hungers. These works extensively share musical material but present/order the material differently for the purpose of different objectives.

  • This occurred because, from 1983-1985, Subotnick moved to Pecos, NM and attempted to earn his income solely from composition revenues. 

August 27, 1984: John Sampen was endorsed in a letter written by Yuval Zaliouk, conductor of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, to the NEA. This helped bolster the application’s clout and played a role in the grant being secured.

September 24, 1984: John Sampen wrote a letter to Mr. John Hancock of the Toledo Symphony that detailed the NEA grant, commissioning details, and proposed premiere of Subotnick’s composition with the Toledo Symphony.

1985: Subotnick returned to CalArts as Mel Powell Chair of Composition.

1986-1987: Subotnick contacted John Sampen and suggested using an "electronic saxophone" for the piece. 

• In 1986, such a wind controller was only in experimental stages and was unavailable.  Morton acquired a prototype of the new WX7 Yamaha Wind Controller sometime in 1987 and he experimented with the instrument in composing In Two Worlds, but Sampen was unable to acquire his own WX7 instrument until December 1987.  

• The London premiere for the entire piece (Wind Controller/Saxophone and Orchestra) was scheduled for performance in January of 1988. Thus, Sampen had only six weeks to acquire and learn to play the WX7 Wind Controller. 

  • As he was en route to London for the performance, Subotnick was detained at customs and almost sent home because the Electric Symphony had not issued him a work permit.  

1987-1991: Sampen and Subotnick collaborated several times in creating and sampling sounds for the piece. At least twice they worked in the BGSU Electronic Studio with the assistance of Mark Bunce.  

• Sampen also traveled to Pecos, NM to work with Subotnick during this period. They also took a joint trip to MIT in Massachusetts where they experimented with the technology and electronics.  

October 16, 1987: In Two Worlds was premiered by John Sampen with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and Yuval Zaliouk.

• This was a partial performance of Part II, for Saxophone, Orchestra, and Computer, due to the Yamaha WX7 wind controller not yet being commercially available.

• This performance made use of a Macintosh II computer and Subotnick’s own “Interactor” software.

• This version required use of external sound processors, such as the Yamaha SPX90, and a sound technician to control effects such as reverb, delay, and pitch shifting.

Morton Subotnick, Yuval Zaliouk, and John Sampen at the premiere of In Two Worlds with the Toledo Symphony, 1987.

October 22-24, 1987: Morton Subotnick and his wife Joan LaBarbara were guests at the 8th Annual BGSU New Music Festival and Sampen worked with Subotnick during this time. 

• Sampen recalls many hours sitting together with Morton in creating sampled sounds which often were destroyed when the computer program crashed.

January 16, 1988: In Two Worlds was performed in full (35 minutes) by John Sampen, the Electric Symphony Orchestra, and Richard Gonski at The Corn Exchange in Cambridge, England.

• This performance made full use of the Saxophone, WX7 Wind Controller, Air Drum, Amplified Orchestra, and Computer.

• Wind controller was used to trigger “advance” cues from each sound event to the next. This proved extremely problematic and unreliable in performance. The Air Drum also proved problematic.

• The publisher, Schott, considers this performance to be the true premiere of In Two Worlds.

March 11, 1988: The full version of In Two Worlds receives its USA Premiere performance by John Sampen, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, and Neal Stulberg at Popejoy Hall, University of New Mexico Fine Arts Center, Albuquerque, NM.

• Orchestra amplification was removed.

• In an attempt to make live performance more reliable, Subotnick adjusted triggering commands so that a computer technician could assist with advancing or correcting cue states. Reliability still proved problematic.

April 14, 1988: A premiere performance of a new version of In Two Worlds for solo WX7 Wind Controller and Computer by Kenneth Radnofsky took place at MIT Media Lab.

• Material from Parts I and II (35 minutes) was condensed into a shorter 20-minute composition. WX7 triggers were still unreliable, and the computer crashed mid-performance. This consequential performance ultimately led to Subotnick abandoning the WX7 in favor of alto saxophone and computer.

July 18, 1989: John Sampen performed and demonstrated In Two Worlds with Morton Subotnick on wind controller at the California Summer Arts Festival at Humboldt College.

November 2, 1989: John Sampen and Morton Subotnick gave a demonstration and performance of In Two Worlds at the International Computer Music Conference (Ohio State University). 

• At this convention there was a near "melt-down." Both Subotnick and Sampen had spent several late-night hours on November 1st preparing the electronic set-up, and they left signs saying, "Do Not Disturb."  

  • On the morning of the performance, the conference staff members elected to "borrow" the prepared equipment for other performance events. At this point, the normally affable Subotnick threatened to leave the conference. He eventually agreed to stay (he was one of their special guests) and the set-up was again "cobbled together" for a reasonably successful performance. 

January 16, 1990: John Sampen at University of California Los Angeles premiered a new version of In Two Worlds for solo Alto Saxophone and Computer. He also performed this version at Lewis & Clark College.

• The Wind Controller and Orchestra were removed.

• The work was shortened to 18 minutes, prompted by audience feedback provided by John Sampen. Sound events were reprogrammed to be triggered via pedal controlled by the soloist as well as computer technician intervention. This version was described as “strong and electronically secure” by John Sampen. 

• This is version is most related to the version that is published and sold today.

1992: In Two Worlds (version for solo alto saxophone and computer) was recorded by John Sampen on “The Contemporary Saxophone” on Neuma Records. The record was engineered by Mark Bunce.

• This recording was the premiere commercial release of In Two Worlds.

• The track was positively reviewed by Linda Dusman of the Computer Music Journal and an anonymous reviewer in the Saxophone Journal.

John Sampen’s The Contemporary Saxophone (1992), Neuma Records #450-80

April 28, 1992: John Sampen performed the Alto Sax and Computer version of In Two Worlds at New Music Chicago.

• This concert was shared with the Black Swamp Saxophone Quartet.

September 6, 1992: A new orchestra version of In Two Worlds was premiered by John Sampen and the Orchestra Internazionale D’Italia with Lu Jia at the 10th World Saxophone Congress at Pesaro, Italy. This version included Saxophone, Computer, and Orchestra.

• The WX7 Wind Controller and Air Drum were eliminated from this orchestral version. The work’s length was reduced from the original 35 minutes to a more condensed 22 minutes, mostly due to removed sections that originally employed wind controller and Air Drum. 

• This concerto version is currently available for performance via rental through European American Music Distributors.

• This performance was considered the premiere of the finalized orchestral setting.

1993-1996: In Two Worlds was performed approximately 16 times throughout the USA, Canada, and Europe by John Sampen and Mark Bunce during various tours and guest performances. These performances continued to use the outdated “Interactor” and outdated hardware components.

1995: Macintosh II computer system and “Interactor” software were no longer commercially available. In Two Worlds began to enter a decade of neglect and becomes increasingly unplayable over time.

Summer 2007: Following consultation and permission from Morton Subotnick, Mark Bunce, assisted by Jeff Heisler, reprogramed the 1990 version of the work in Max/MSP. This new version implemented real-time effects processing and no longer requires external sound processors as before.

• Bunce located external sound equipment and hardware from the 1990 version of the work. A Macintosh II Quadra 650 and Yamaha TX 802 tone generator provided rendering of MIDI sequences to sound files. Yamaha SPX90 analog sound processing and “Interactor” software functions were recreated using Max/MSP objects and modern digital signal processing.

• Jeffrey Heisler and John Sampen uniformly credit Mark Bunce as the primary technical lead behind this project.

October 25, 2007: The premiere of the updated MAX/MSP version was performed by Susan Fancher at the Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina Greensboro, in Greensboro, NC.

April 16-17, 2008: “In Two Worlds” (Max/MSP version) was performed by Jeff Heisler at the 2008 North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference at University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.

2009: Susan Fancher releaseed her recording of “In Two Worlds” (Max/MSP version) on her CD album, “In Two Worlds,” on Innova Records.

Susan Fancher’s In Two Worlds (2009), Innova Records #736

May 2010: Jeffrey Heisler’s doctoral document, “Anatomy and Evolution of Morton Subotnick’s In Two Worlds for Alto Saxophone and Interactive Computer” was approved by a committee consisting of John Sampen, Ronald Shields, Mark Bunce, Jacqueline Leclair, and Kenneth Thompson.

2011-2021: The Mark Bunce and Jeffrey Heisler’s Max/MSP And Saxophone and Computer version of In Two Worlds was performed approximately 42 times throughout the USA and Canada by John Sampen and Mark Bunce during various tours and guest performances.  

• These performances often featured several cuts in the concerto to accommodate the recital format.

Today: Morton Subotnick’s In Two Worlds continues to be available through Schott Music Corporation. The 2007 Max/MSP version (18-minutes) is for sale and the 1992 Orchestral Concerto version (22-minutes) is for rent. Versions that used the WX7 Wind Controller, Air Drum, and other analog equipment are no longer commercially available.

WORKS CITED

Fancher, Susan. “In Two Worlds.” Liner notes for Subotnick, Morton. In Two Worlds. Susan Fancher. Innova Records #736. CD. 2009. Accessed October 10, 2021.

Heisler, Jeffrey. "Anatomy and Evolution of Morton Subotnick’s In Two Worlds for Alto Saxophone and Interactive Computer." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1268962567.

“Morton Subotnick - in Two Worlds.” Project Schott New York. Accessed October 14, 2021. https://www.eamdc.com/psny/composers/morton-subotnick/works/in-two-worlds/.

Subotnick, Morton. In Two Worlds. New York: Schott Music Corporation., 1987.

Do you really NEED a Selmer Mark VI?

Everybody knows about the notorious Selmer Mark VI saxophone, but who really needs one? How does it compare to other horns, like the Series II, Series III, and Reference 54? Does it live up to the mythology of, “best horn ever”? Emerging jazz saxophonist, Kyle Brooks, and I dive in to find out how the Mark VI and other horns work for jazz and classical and also discuss other equipment choices. We also talk about how our personal needs shape the equipment we buy, the value of not switching too often, and more.

This is one of my longest videos yet, so try using the chapter markers to hop between various sound demos for a better comparison experience.

TL;DW: No.