How To Imitate Brass On Woodwind?

[Timbre]

I am currently working on Nocturno by Franz Strauss which is written for horn.

I will be playing it on a baritone saxophone.

I have found no examples of it being played on a woodwind instrument (there is probably a reason for that) so I am taking the initiative to make it the best ever first performance of this sort.

The question:
How can a woodwind player alter their technique to better suggest a brass sound/timbre?

...primarily considering tone and articulation, secondarily the style and technique in general?

 

[Helen]

Hi there Timbre. Welcome to the WF.

Well, you've certainly taken on a challenge for yourself. It sounds a bit like when I decided to perform the Moonlight Sonata's melody--along with piano accompaniment--for a music festival. It was the most challenging thing I had, and have even until now, ever undertaken. (BTW, I really wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It wasn't a hit with the adjudicator, despite the insane amount of hours I worked on the technique.)

I am primarily a bari/tenor player, and recently bought a very lovely Martin Committee III bari. With it came a Selmer scroll shank E or F chamber (if can't remember which now) m/p. That m/p when used on that bari gives the Martin a bassoon-like sound. It is the first time that I have ever heard a bari sound like a bassoon. That said, I'm not suggesting you buy a new horn, but I am suggesting that sometimes a mouthpiece can radically alter an instrument's sound beyond what simple embouchure, approach, and technique can. That may not apply in this case, and even if it did, you may not want to go down this road. I'm offering this info for anyone who happens to read this thread at a later date.

Not being familiar with the Nocturno, I just listened to it, and FWIW, as a bari player, would offer up the following ideas:

• You're likely already aware of this, but be very careful of your tonguing. Even a saxophonist's legato tonguing is harsher than a horn's.
• This tune has parts that fall into the bari's hauntingly beautiful area--the part of the horn that distinguishes the bari as a bari, and nothing else. I wouldn't even try to hide that you're playing it on bari. It is what it is, and just make it uniquely beautiful.
• The tone I hear in my head as a bari player, when I think "French horn", is a very "heady" one. It's not a very deep one, coming from far down in my chest cavity. Rather it's a bit more shallow, and coming from the top down, rather than the bottom up. I don't know if this makes any sense to you, but that's how I "envision" the tone coming, and how I would attempt to alter my sound. If you haven't seen this, I would highly recommend you watch this video with sax legend Don Menza demonstrating how he changes his tone using nothing but his "attitude". I think it will be really helpful, and will put my comment into a better context.

[video=youtube;5Oc0VzGBPxY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Oc0VzGBPxY[/video]

I'll leave it here for now, as we have a number of other CE's & Admins who are also bari players, and who also have a lot of years of pro playing under their belt. I'm sure one or the other of them will have something else to offer up as well.

 

[Gandalfe]

Such a lovely piece and as Helen said, hits some nice registers for the bari. I'm not sure I'd try to sound like a French horn. I do try on alto in the concert band I play in and as mentioned play very legato and/or with no tonguing to match that style. As an alto section we can really help the French horns when they need more sound.

 

[jbtsax]

If you want to sound like a french horn, put your hand in the bell and play a lot of wrong notes. :-D

Seriously, in my college symphonic band, the director had the saxophone section use "donut mutes" of the type used my Marcel Mule. These help to dampen some of the higher overtones and take away some the "reedy" sound of the saxophone helping the saxophone section blend better with the french horns and euphoniums on unison passages. Using a bit harder reed may help as well. Shown is a picture of one made using a wooden ring and velvet tape. You can use any material to make the "ring". I have used twisted up pipe cleaners in the past wrapped with several layers of material.

 

[Helen]

If you want to sound like a french horn, put your hand in the bell and play a lot of wrong notes. :-D

Love it!!!

Seriously though, I would never have thought of using a donut mute for a bari. Great idea.

 

[pete]

Seriously though, I would never have thought of using a donut mute for a bari. Great idea.

But watch the intonation, especially when you go any lower than a D.