Wanting to do the best I can on intonation charts (see my previous post with attachments) I remembered seeing something in Ernest Ferron's book "The saxophone is my voice" and more good stuff in Wyman's PhD thesis "An acoustical study of alto saxophone mouthpiece chamber design". I wanted to see what they have to say about capturing the intonation data and making an intonation chart, but they also say interesting things relevant to the discussion of intonation in general and spread octaves in particular.
Ernest Ferron: The saxophone is my voice (see first attachment)
It is impossible to do good work on a musical instrument by conjecture. An objective basis is necessary, or at least a directional framework which permits a person to understand what is done and why a particular result is or is not obtained.
Regardless of the desired result, the first thing to do is to make a tuning chart which will reveal an instrument's inherent intonation flaws, or those fairly frequently caused by a particular mouthpiece, or those equally often resulting from the musician's morphology.
The saxophone will sound full and rich when the octave relationships are exact and the upper harmonics lined up, meaning that their frequency must be as close as possible to a whole multiple of the fundamental's frequency.
If the octaves are out of tune, there is little chance that the instrument will respond well.
A tuning chart must never be made in a dead or sound insulated room, any more than a reverberant room. First of all, play the instrument for about ten minutes so that it will be warm. To do precise work, the room temperature should be 20 deg C / 68 deg F and the surrounding hygrometry 60%. A tuning chart provides a real plan of action for the repairer. Reading it gives immediate and sure information about the type of work needed to be done.
Make the measurements with the help of a high quality tuner (which is not so common) or with a stroboscope. The musician plays facing away from the machine so as to not be influenced by it, and lets the instrument speak without the slightest pitch correction.
It is preferable, if not indispensable, to use a rather soft reed. Above all, do not play a chromatic scale. Instead, go through the octaves, for example low Bb, then middle Bb, the high Bb. Next play low B, then middle B, and then high B, etc...
It is wise to try each note twice, once rising from the lower note, and once descending from the higher note, to avoid attacking the note directly. This work is rather tedious and demands very good concentration from the musician.
Wyman: An Acoustical Study of Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece Chamber Design (see second attachment)
Pitch charts constructed for a range of alto mouthpieces by averaging the recorded pitches played by a range of musicians on their own alto saxophones (nine different Selmers from serial # 14,600 to 173,322) for eleven selected test pitches. The test protocol is given in an appendix and identifies the pitches to be played (Bb, F, A, C#2, D2, F2, G#2. A2, C#3, F3 & Bb4) at mf dynamic level. Pitches played in three different orders (ascending, descending and mixed order for greatest disassociation). Musicians were instructed to "play all pitches with your mind directed toward the production of a good resonant musical tone. Do not be primarily concerned with playing in tune. Try not to think of the pitches in relation to each other as in a melody for you will then try to play each pitch in tune."
Here are a few extracts from the thesis document that I found particularly relevant and interesting:
Octave spreading generally increased as the length of the bore being used decreased. Figs 56 through 59 show the charcteristic octave spreading for each mouthpiece. Mouthpiece E was superior to all others in minimizing octave spreading. [Mouthpiece E was a "Meliphone Special"]
Each length of tube used has its own ideal spot for the placement of this venting hole. The intonation and quality of the "overblown" tone depends upon the proper placement of this hole. Since it is impractical to have a separate hole for every note, a single hole is made to do service for several adjacent notes. The location of the hole has to be a compromise and is not equally staisfactory for the pitch and quality of all tones. The farther the hole from the ideal spot, the sharper the "overblown" pitch tends to be.
The saxophone uses two venting holes. The first serves for the chromatic tones between d2 and g#2 while the second serves for the notes from a2 upward. The lowest notes served by each venting hole are the sharpest in pitch, i.e. d2 and a2. "Overblown" tones in the second register are generally slightly sharper than a true octave above the same tones in the lower register. [Ref. to Benade at this point] The player must bring these tones down to correct pitch as he plays.
Fig. 49 shows a comparison of the shortest and longest mouthpiece chambers used in this study. The extension of the conical walls of the neck is shown as well as the extra volume in shading. Although the two mouthpieces are in correct tuning position on the saxophone neck, one mouthpiece is about 0.8 inches longer than the other. [Mouthpiece A was a Martin and mouthpiece C-1 a Berg Larsen rubber]
The pitch flexibility of the saxophone allows for considerable modification of the pitch by the player. The author found that it was possible to play all of the mouthpieces in tune for all notes. Some of the mouthpieces tended to be sharper than others for tones in the second register, but they could be played in tune with a little extra effort. The intonation characteristics of a mouthpiece are more easily corrected by the player than are tone quality problems caused by mouthpiece design.
The intonation tests .... were designed in such a way that the player was disorientated tonally. This was done in an effort to obtain pitches that were in an unlipped state. The reader should bear in mind that tones in the charts of this chapter appearing to be very sharp would not be as out-of-tune in a melodic context.
The eleven tones used for this test were carefully chosen to include notes which generally tend to be out of tune on the saxophone.
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What this all makes me think is that my own attempts at intonation charts were probably not as outlandish as they appear to me, as some good studies show significant intonation deviations as well.
I think that I should stop chasing a mouthpiece that locks onto perfect intonation on my Mauriat alto sax, recognise the imperfections of any saxophone (especially in the second register) and open up my ears.
What do you think ?
Rhys
))
