Biting on the Saxophone Mouthpiece

For many years I suffered from biting down hard on the saxophone mouthpiece-especially when going higher up the instrument. I thought I would write about how I overcame this problem as I know it affects more people than would maybe like to admit it. Many people who bite flip-flop from a standard embouchure with the teeth resting on the mouthpice, to a double embouchure with no teeth involved. My experience is that your embouchure is not relevant to whether you bite or not. What matters is to what extent your head is pulling down at the point that you produce a sound. You may not be aware to what extent this is occurring, so just before you make a sound, you should think your head 'rotating forward and up', and continue thinking this as you make a sound. Don't listen to the sound and whether it sounds good or not-just for now listen to your body. After a while you will see that it is not your mouth you should be thinking about but your entire head-and that your head should be 'floating away' from your body as you play rather than being pulled down. I personally found this the starting point for a significant change in my technique, and it took about 2 years of work (as well as Alexander Technique lessons) to eradicate this problem. I'm interested to know if this helps anyone so please let me know. Thanks

P.S. Two things I consequently want to add are (1) make sure the saxophone is not too low-it should be brought to you via the strap as if you are looking straight forward (your right hand should slightly push the horn away to level out the angle at which the mouthpiece enters your mouth) and (2) make sure no air is either puffing up the cheeks or escaping through the sides of the mouth. Taking care of these two things definitely improved my biting problem.