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Rarely in my life have I written something that came out exactly the way I wanted it to. I could probably count the times on one hand. 
One . . .
I just responded to a newcomer's question on SOTW and had this sense so much so that I wanted to share it with my friends in the "former colonial empire".
Playing "in tune" with an accompanying instrument, in a saxophone section, or when playing with another player in its simplest form is having the ability to "match pitch". Until good tone production skills which include embouchure, air stream, oral cavity control are mastered you will be "chasing your tail" when it comes to intonation. Work every day on playing long tones at various dynamic levels to develop control, take some lessons with a good instructor, learn to "listen deeply" to what you and others are playing.
Saxophones do not play out of tune. People play out of tune. When I studied music education in the late '60's - early '70's the term used was "humoring the pitch". On all wind instruments the player has a degree of control of where the pitch on any given note is going to be. When playing in unison, or in octaves with another player, one "humors" the pitch on every note to match the pitch of that individual. It doesn't matter if he/she is sharp or flat as measured on a tuner. It is your job as an ensemble player to match the pitches you hear. This is what playing "in tune" is all about. An experienced player will sometimes change the placement of the mouthpiece during a rest in the music to make it easier to "humor the pitch" when the other player is out.
So how does one "humor the pitch" on a saxophone? That's easy. When playing with a lip or jaw vibrato there is a slight tightening and relaxing of the embouchure which makes the pitch go up and down creating the "waves" in the sound we hear as vibrato. Some would argue that it is easier to "lip down" on a saxophone than to "lip up". 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.
Two notes that are in unison, an octave, a fourth, or a fifth apart will create "beats" when they are "out of tune". The faster the beats, the farther out of tune they are. The slower the beats the closer in tune they are. Of course the goal is to tune out or eliminate the beats as quickly as possible by humoring the note. On other intervals such as 2nds, 3rds, 6ths, and 7ths there will not be "beats" that you can hear and count, but when these intervals are "humored" in tune they sound pleasing to the ear.
To sum it up, playing a saxophone in tune is exactly like singing (or playing a damn oboe). Every note must be listened to and made to fit pitch wise into its musical and harmonic context. This can be made easier by having a good instrument and set-up, but even then 99% is up to the player.
One . . .I just responded to a newcomer's question on SOTW and had this sense so much so that I wanted to share it with my friends in the "former colonial empire".
Playing "in tune" with an accompanying instrument, in a saxophone section, or when playing with another player in its simplest form is having the ability to "match pitch". Until good tone production skills which include embouchure, air stream, oral cavity control are mastered you will be "chasing your tail" when it comes to intonation. Work every day on playing long tones at various dynamic levels to develop control, take some lessons with a good instructor, learn to "listen deeply" to what you and others are playing.
Saxophones do not play out of tune. People play out of tune. When I studied music education in the late '60's - early '70's the term used was "humoring the pitch". On all wind instruments the player has a degree of control of where the pitch on any given note is going to be. When playing in unison, or in octaves with another player, one "humors" the pitch on every note to match the pitch of that individual. It doesn't matter if he/she is sharp or flat as measured on a tuner. It is your job as an ensemble player to match the pitches you hear. This is what playing "in tune" is all about. An experienced player will sometimes change the placement of the mouthpiece during a rest in the music to make it easier to "humor the pitch" when the other player is out.
So how does one "humor the pitch" on a saxophone? That's easy. When playing with a lip or jaw vibrato there is a slight tightening and relaxing of the embouchure which makes the pitch go up and down creating the "waves" in the sound we hear as vibrato. Some would argue that it is easier to "lip down" on a saxophone than to "lip up". 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.
Two notes that are in unison, an octave, a fourth, or a fifth apart will create "beats" when they are "out of tune". The faster the beats, the farther out of tune they are. The slower the beats the closer in tune they are. Of course the goal is to tune out or eliminate the beats as quickly as possible by humoring the note. On other intervals such as 2nds, 3rds, 6ths, and 7ths there will not be "beats" that you can hear and count, but when these intervals are "humored" in tune they sound pleasing to the ear.
To sum it up, playing a saxophone in tune is exactly like singing (or playing a damn oboe). Every note must be listened to and made to fit pitch wise into its musical and harmonic context. This can be made easier by having a good instrument and set-up, but even then 99% is up to the player.
