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<blockquote data-quote="Wade Cornell" data-source="post: 511452" data-attributes="member: 1787">There&#039;s no easy way around the fact that the sax is an imperfect instrument.&nbsp; You can initially get it in tune, but that doesn&#039;t mean that you&#039;ll play all the notes in tune.&nbsp;&nbsp; A tuner tells you AFTER THE FACT whether you were in tune or not.&nbsp; This isn&#039;t going to help you unless it&#039;s just that your instrument is altogether flat or sharp.&nbsp; For each note you need to hear the pitch your playing in order to play in tune.&nbsp; On a keyboard you can read a note, hit the right key, and it&#039;s going to be right.&nbsp; On a sax or any of the brass instruments to play perfectly in tune means that you are hearing the note you&#039;re playing, not just fingering the right key/valve.&nbsp;&nbsp; Your ears must be engaged rather than just having an eye to hand reaction when reading music.&nbsp; If you can hear whether you&#039;re in tune or not that has to be part of your playing, not an &quot;after the fact&quot; exercise.&nbsp;&nbsp; Playing with computers that tell you stuff after the fact is just giving you information, not giving you what you need to correct the situation.A suggested exercise:&nbsp; 1. Initially don&#039;t read, play by ear something you know and play it slowly giving attention to each note and trying to ensure it&#039;s all in tune (you can check it afterwards if you need to) .&nbsp;&nbsp; You can also do this reading, but the attention MUST be on hearing what your playing AT THE TIME.&nbsp; This needs to become a habitual thing, not something that stops when reading a fast passage.&nbsp; If you aren&#039;t listening/hearing what you&#039;re playing you will never play proficiently.&nbsp; That sounds rough, but it&#039;s true, especially with the higher pitched saxes as they are more difficult to play in tune.&nbsp; It&#039;s unfortunate but one can too often hear players who may be well read/studied and articulate, but can&#039;t play in tune.&nbsp; Their concentration has always been &quot;eye to hand reading&quot; and not engaged their hearing.&nbsp;&nbsp; Best of luck.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Wade Cornell, post: 511452, member: 1787"] There's no easy way around the fact that the sax is an imperfect instrument. You can initially get it in tune, but that doesn't mean that you'll play all the notes in tune. A tuner tells you AFTER THE FACT whether you were in tune or not. This isn't going to help you unless it's just that your instrument is altogether flat or sharp. For each note you need to hear the pitch your playing in order to play in tune. On a keyboard you can read a note, hit the right key, and it's going to be right. On a sax or any of the brass instruments to play perfectly in tune means that you are hearing the note you're playing, not just fingering the right key/valve. Your ears must be engaged rather than just having an eye to hand reaction when reading music. If you can hear whether you're in tune or not that has to be part of your playing, not an "after the fact" exercise. Playing with computers that tell you stuff after the fact is just giving you information, not giving you what you need to correct the situation. A suggested exercise: 1. Initially don't read, play by ear something you know and play it slowly giving attention to each note and trying to ensure it's all in tune (you can check it afterwards if you need to) . You can also do this reading, but the attention MUST be on hearing what your playing AT THE TIME. This needs to become a habitual thing, not something that stops when reading a fast passage. If you aren't listening/hearing what you're playing you will never play proficiently. That sounds rough, but it's true, especially with the higher pitched saxes as they are more difficult to play in tune. It's unfortunate but one can too often hear players who may be well read/studied and articulate, but can't play in tune. Their concentration has always been "eye to hand reading" and not engaged their hearing. Best of luck. [/QUOTE]

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