Intonation How to play the saxophone in tune

[Pete Effamy]

People are people. It takes a world to make up all types.

Which reminds me, LA is a tough place for a musician to make a living. Cost of housing is very expensive. A cheap place puts one in oft an undesirable neighborhood. We had 3 gigging musicians, a flutist, a saxist and a drummer carving out a living there. At one time we had a 4th, a trumpeter. Being prior service, our reservist band was a good way for them to supplement their income plus earn a small retirement if they stuck with it.

I mentioned this before, but we had also 9 former junior and high school band teachers that transitioned to math and science, because the Calfornia school systems demanded too much from them. The extracurricular after school hours took away much from family life, which the pay didn't adequately compensate. Our band was a way for them to express their musicianship. We had a lot of good talent, times were good.

This past Sunday's Christmas concert for our community band, a new tenor saxist was next to me, a high schooler, made the 2 previous rehearsals. It brought back a deja vu moment. I was in the same seat as him in the late 1960's as a high schooler. For him, some of the music he did not rehearse with the high school band, was more or less sight reading. I was there 5 and a half decades ago. He's on the way to a skill that will stay with him for the rest of his life.

At the end, our conductor asked those who made or were part of an All State Band (high schoolers specially selected in a state to make up this special performance concert band) to stand up. He referred to Lubbock, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico, depending on where the band members live. (We border Texas, so have band members from both states.) Steve, a retiree on bass clarinet stood up. Others stood up from high school to retired. I decided to stand up. I was in an All State Band back in the early 1970's - Honolulu, Hawaii, played clarinet.

Yep, scraping by. One thing that the bigger orchestras in the US do get though is sponsorship per chair. This can give some decent wages. I'm out of touch now (but can't believe it's gotten better) but back in the '90's London orchestra principle players were sharing houses.

I think pay was nobbled somewhat a few decades back when the orchestras made places a full-time salaried position. Before that I think that they were freelance, and were often out on solo engagements which paid considerably more.

 

[ghostler]

back in the '90's London orchestra principle players were sharing houses.

Hot beds? No sooner one got out of bed, cleaned up, grabbed a bite on the way to a morning gig, the nite gigger came home and climbed into bed? (Sorry, military humor especially understood by the Navy at sea - or so I was told. The bed remained warm under the covers because the bedding didn't have a chance to cool down.)

 

[Dr G]

Hot beds? No sooner one got out of bed, cleaned up, grabbed a bite on the way to a morning gig, the nite gigger came home and climbed into bed? (Sorry, military humor especially understood by the Navy at sea - or so I was told. The bed remained warm under the covers because the bedding didn't have a chance to cool down.)

"Hot racking" was the term. When I first arrived in Groton, CT, to ship out on the USS Shark (SSN 591) in 1980, I was assigned to share two bunks with two other newbies. I pulled rank on them and let them share one bunk while I kept the other to myself. Good times - a rack all to myself. I later upgraded to a bunk in the mezzanine of the torpedo room - much quieter up there.

May the Shark rust in peace.

 

[Steuart Hedington]

Ey up. Just saw the first post on this thread. Let me tell you a fantastic, enjoyable, very productive way to improve intonation with a whole host of other things. Type Drone Eb (or whatever key you want) into Youtube (Fondly referred to as "Ewe Lube" by some) and blow over that. You will get so much out of it, I promise.

 

[nethanpaul86]

This explanation of intonation is really good. What I like is that playing in tune is not about using a tuner. It's more about listening and making adjustments. The idea of "humoring the pitch" is important when playing with others. It's about matching and blending with the musicians, around you. To get better players need to work on their tone, embouchure control and listening skills. They can do this by practicing tones and focused exercises. This helps them make adjustments naturally when they're playing music with others.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Some would argue that it is easier to "lip down" on a saxophone than to "lip up".

I wouldn’t say it’s easier per se, but there is a larger pitch range available when lipping down. If you lip up there is only so far you can go before closing off the mouthpiece.

There are some players who purposefully put the mouthpiece a bit too far on the neck so that most of the "humoring" is in a downward pitch direction.

This is also done to force (or help) you to play with a more relaxed embouchure.

 

[Pete Effamy]

I wouldn’t say it’s easier per se, but there is a larger pitch range available when lipping down. If you lip up there is only so far you can go before closing off the mouthpiece.

This is also done to force (or help) you to play with a more relaxed embouchure.

Agree. I think it’s better to have a library of “bump” fingerings in order to sharpen a note rather than using lip pressure as this will likely compromise the sound. I’d rather use a fingering that is sharp and lip down than lip up and get a potentially squeezed sound. It’s all about the sound.
As you say though, there’s far less scope when lipping up, so it’s not a great “go-to” fixer.