Intonation How to play the saxophone in tune

[mrblackbat]

I might have missed it, but I didn't read about Allard's most important advice, to his students, about playing the Saxophone. 🧐

Which was?

 

[PiccoloPirate]

It wasn't, do not over tighten the ligature, and crack the mouthpiece. 🤯
Not even a WAG?

 

[Targa]

It wasn't, do not over tighten the ligature, and crack the mouthpiece. 🤯
Not even a WAG?

WAG?
Either that is way OT or that has some other meaning.

 

[PiccoloPirate]

WAG
Wild Axx Guess. 🎶🏴‍☠️🎶
It wasn't, you should practice, diligently, with an ever increasing metronome tempo.

 

[wakyct]

Who knows how accurate all this is, but it was an interesting read, The Joe Allard Project: Pedagogy

 

[Vlad]

My interest is piqued here, I looked in vain to find any recording or youtube video etc of Joe Allard actually playing a saxophone, I'd be fascinated to hear what he sounded like.. the ''proof of the pudding'', etc..

 

[mrblackbat]

My interest is piqued here, I looked in vain to find any recording or youtube video etc of Joe Allard actually playing a saxophone, I'd be fascinated to hear what he sounded like.. the ''proof of the pudding'', etc..

He plays a little bit in this video:-

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0BOJiV1LUE&t=2s

 

[Vlad]

Seems like an interesting bloke, though would be good to hear him just play a piece of music rather than various squeaky 'examples' , presumably if he 'coached' the Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman sax sections ( this according to wikipedia ) he must have been able to pull some impressive playing out of the hat so to speak !

 

[PiccoloPirate]

Jimmy Abato had the same advice as Allard.
Hope that helps.
Prizes for the correct answer. 🍻🍻

 

[mrblackbat]

Jimmy Abato had the same advice as Allard.
Hope that helps.
Prizes for the correct answer. 🍻🍻

Don't eat the deadly yellow snow.

 

[Vlad]

Don't eat the deadly yellow snow.

Perhaps not deadly, just a little bitter ?

 

[PiccoloPirate]

It's not deadly, just warm.

 

[mrblackbat]

View: https://youtu.be/IobtCDkJKDc?si=EfyIAEX-XEmxiin0

View: https://youtu.be/8bXSsh3Z-xE?si=LxnH4T4fAV_adY-X

 

[Colin the Bear]

New reed squeaking. Removing squeaks needed a little regulation. Add a warm day and the tuning is off. Pulled out 3mm and practiced for an hour to get used to the new intonation adjustments needed.

Stupid saxophone. It's a yamaha too. 🤬

 

[mrblackbat]

Stupid saxophone. It's a yamaha too.

Everything is better with a Selmer.

 

[Targa]

Everything is better with a Selmer.

Not everything, unless you are very lonely.

 

[PiccoloPirate]

A VooDoo tune, "Black Magic Goalie", will be just one, played tonight, with Selma, to assist, for the win. 🎶🏴‍☠️🎶
On the Ice, in my Grafs,
will flatten the Oilers. 😻

 

[PiccoloPirate]

Everything is better with a Selmer.

But not with a stuffy Series 9. 😭
hint hint.

 

[Ghr9204]

It's not deadly, just warm.
View attachment 29217

I just couldn't help but notice those pouting eyes and face begging for attention. 😉

New reed squeaking. Removing squeaks needed a little regulation. Add a warm day and the tuning is off. Pulled out 3mm and practiced for an hour to get used to the new intonation adjustments needed.

Over time listening to various professional saxists, couldn't help but notice that both Candy Dulfer and Stan Getz had a chirpy reed in a song or two in live play. However, they kept it in perfect control such that with the exception of a discerning listener, it went unnoticed. They completed their solo in the song retaining all the fine marks of their playing.

Stupid saxophone. It's a yamaha too. 🤬

I love Yammies. 😉

Got to apologise to all ➠

but my older tenor I thought was a Jupiter is now actually a Yamaha YTS-23 stencil based on case and pad guards without jewels. What made it hard to discern was the sort of odd stamped triangle in the bell brace, (Can't show a photo as I sent it to the shop for servicing 2 weeks ago), and my mistake but oddly there is NO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN stamped anywhere on the sax.

The metallurgy of the sax is very stout, IMO may appear to be a little heavy to some players. (Speaking of cliches, I remember in high school back in the late 1960's, academia (not my band instructor) saying the same thing about the Chinese saxes now said the same thing then, recommending to stay away from Yamaha, that the metallurgy was softer than in European and US made saxes, keys bend easily, yada, yada, yada ...)

They were just trying to help unfortunate saxists.

This sax definitely proves them wrong. 😎 (Sorry, when our kids were younger, bought VHS tapes of the Little Mermaid for our daughter.) 😉

Further digging, found various photo examples of the Yam. YTS-23 with exactly the same 3 latch case and sax matches perfectly. Could not find an exact year based on serial no. of 34xxx, but appears to be somewhere in the 1980's.

Vito Serial Numbers

Doctor Sax repairs, buys and sells woodwinds...saxes, clarinet flutes and a variety of reed instruments. I strive to bring quality affordable instruments to people who want to play. I specialize in saxophones and other vintage instruments.

web.archive.org

Here's a photo I took prior to drop-off at Tarpley's.

I definitely have a keeper.

Everything is better with a Selmer.

Not everything, unless you are very lonely.

Sometimes, One is a majority. 😉

 

[GCinCT]

Over time listening to various professional saxists, couldn't help but notice that both Candy Dulfer and Stan Getz had a chirpy reed in a song or two in live play. However, they kept it in perfect control such that with the exception of a discerning listener, it went unnoticed. They completed their solo in the song retaining all the fine marks of their playing.

I recently had an experience like that. The night of my big band's concert in May, one of the tunes was a nice arrangement of the Beatles' "And I Love Her." It was an alto feature, the first one I've ever had, so I got to play most of the melody alone and had an improv solo. I thought I played it pretty well. Right at the very end, I had this little 16th note figure that I really liked. I had nailed it in every rehearsal and practice session.

The night of the concert, I let out a loud squeak. Of course, I kept going, but there were only about two seconds left in the tune. I could barely hear the applause because I had the echo of that squeak in my ears. After the concert, my wife told me she thought it was beautiful. She said she cried. I told her, "So did I." 😀