Pleaseee help me. I play the alto and bari sax and if i play for to long i get a painful mark on the inside of my lower lip, because of the pressure from my teeth against it when i play because you fold ur lip over your teeth to play. It`s really making life difficult, ive tried reducing the pressure, but the tone sufferes..any ideas???
-thanks

First off STOP BITING on the mouth piece. I see this a lot with beginner band students and with myself. With out knowing you end up biting on the mouth piece to steady the vibrations caused by playing.

My suggestions to help this are:

1. Put a bite pad on the top of the mouth piece. They are little black rubber pads that stick to the top of the mouthpiece...it has helped me greatly on my clarinet and my saxophones (I play soprano, alto, and tenor).

2. Get some bees wax that is used for braces....put it across your bottom teeth until the lower lip develops it`s own protection.

3. REMEMBER that alto and bari are two TOTALLY DIFFERENT instruments even though they are both saxophones. Each one has it`s own embouchure, playing position, etc. Going back and forth between the two will take more practice and memory skills then normal.


I hope that helps and sorry if it sounds offensive...it`s just that i`ve been through it all before.

I dont bite the mouth piece, i have a pad on it. It`s difficult to explain, you know how you fold your lower lip in over your lower teeth to play well its the lower teeth pushing into the bit thats folded over the teeth. I`ve played around with embrochure but the sound doesnt sound as good without the pressure, accept that realllllllly hurts it leaves huge marks, and is on the verge of bleeding, i cant play for long before it happens

That is caused by biting...trust me I know...I use to have that all the time and swallowed blood at least 20 times during my band periods. Even with a pad on top you can bite without knowing it. You need to take about a week off from playing and let your lip heel or else you will cause serious damage to it.

I play alto and tenor sax and I used to get sores - it hurt! Go to a florists shop and buy some florists tape (you can get it in green or white) and use that. Rip a bit off, about 5 cm, fold it in half back on itself so its about 2.5 cm long, and then stretch it over your lower teeth. The tape will mould to your teeth and as soon as you stop playing you take it out. What it does is it softens the edges of your teeth against the inside of your mouth so it isn`t painful. Once you`ve used it for awhile you barely notice it!

My lip started bleeding when i began to play sax, but you have to get used to it. The more you practice your lip will build a calis and you shouldnt have any more problems. In jazz band i bite the reed with my bottom teeth to make a kind of controled high pitched squeek sound, which is useful for solos (improv).

My teeth have never touched the top of my mouthpiece, I must have a callus there or something. I bite down too, but my emboucher must be lazier than yours `cuz I don`t remember having bled while playing. Maybe i suck, but maybe I`m onto something . . .