JUSTIN PIERCE

SELMER PARIS ARTIST

Taming and Tuning Your Saxophone Section

Justin Pierce, M.M.
Assistant Professor of Music, Oklahoma Baptist University

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 The
Saxophone

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The Saxophone

Adolphe Sax developed the modern bass

clarinet

Invented the saxophone to bolster the bass

register of French military bands in the 1840s

Combines qualities of woodwind and brass

instruments

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Common Problems

Poor intonation

Unable to blend

Wildly varied tones

throughout the
section

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Problems in Context

Marching Band

Concert Band

Jazz Band

All-State/All-Region Auditions

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Solutions
or at least some help…

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Tone

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8
The Classical Embouchure
Support and Stability

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The Classical Embouchure

Applications: concert band, most marching

band

Jaw does not visibly change through registers

Bottom lip rolled-in; top teeth on mouthpiece;

flat chin

Sounds warm and homogeneous

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The Jazz Embouchure
Freedom and Flexibility

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The Jazz Embouchure

Applications: sometimes marching band, jazz

and commercial music

Jaw may visibly move through registers

Bottom lip rolled out (varies); top teeth on

mouthpiece; chin sometimes bunched

Sounds brighter and heterogeneous

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Voicing

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Donald Sinta on Voicing

“Voicing refers to an awareness and control

of the muscles of and soft flexible tissue in
the oral cavity and vocal tract.”

“…Our personalized timbres are greatly

influenced by how we manipulate this tract
to resonate each note.”

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Mouthpiece Pitches (concert)
from
Eugene Rousseau’s
Saxophone High Tones

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Voicing, cont.

Connecting music-making to language

simplifies this process

To raise the pitch, use a brighter syllable “ee”,

“eh”, or “ih”

To lower the pitch, use a darker syllable, such

as “oh”, “ah”, or “uh”

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 cont. from
Eugene Rousseau’s
Saxophone High Tones

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 Overtone Exercise from
Saxophone Fundamentals, Tone and Technique
Dr. Eric Nestler

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Intonation

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 “The player should first seek the
“center” of each tone the instrument
is able to produce. The “center” of
the tone refers to the frequency at
which the greatest resonance is
produced on a given note.
Instruments vary greatly in the
amount that notes may be raised or
lowered on a given fingering…”

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 “…Adjacent notes often respond in
quite dissimilar ways, and
frequently it may be found that the
spacing between the centers of
notes is unequal. It is of the greatest
importance that the player learn the
relative positions of every note on
the instrument being played.”

Christopher Leuba
A Study of Musical Intonation, 1962

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Tuning Notes
By what standard?

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Tuning Notes

Option 1 : Concert F (great for brass players,

sharp note for saxophone/clarinet)

Option 2 : Concert Bb (better than concert F,

but a bit sharp on tenor/flat on alto)

Option 3 : Concert A (flat on tenor, sharp in

the upper register on alto)

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Tuning Notes, cont.

Compromise 1: Concert F, G, A, Bb (includes

sharp and flat tones)

Compromise 2: Written middle F#, low F#, B

(compares octaves and includes a flat tone)

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Tuning Tendencies

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Tuning by Range
10.00

7.50

5.00

2.50

0.00

-2.50

-5.00

Bb0 B C C# D D# E F F# G Ab A Bb1 B C C#

Low Register at mezzo forte (Fundamental)

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Tuning by Range, cont.
16.00

12.00

8.00

4.00

D D# E F F# G Ab A Bb2 B C C#

Middle Register at mezzo forte (1st overtone)

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Tuning by Range, cont.
20.00

15.00

10.00

5.00

D D# E F F#

Palm keys at mezzo forte (1st overtone)

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Tuning by Dynamic Level
20

15

10

-5
pp p mp mf f ff

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Tuning by Temperature

20
15
10
5
0
-5
-10
-15
-20
Cold Room Temp Hot

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Tuning by Reed Strength

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12
8
4
0
-4
-8
-12
-16
Soft Ideal Hard

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Problematic Notes
And how to fix them!

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Middle C#
Typically flat and “dead”

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 High C#
Typically much sharper than the
surrounding notes

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Middle D
Typically sharp and stuffy

(pp or p only)

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 In The
Classroom
What can I do to make my
saxophonists play with a better tone
and more in-tune?

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From Irish Tune from County Derry, by Percy Grainger

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In The Classroom
Develop awareness of voicing in beginner class
with the mouthpiece (learn simple songs and
sirens)

When asking saxophonists to adjust pitch,

suggest a syllable, such as “oh” (flatten) or
“ee” (sharpen)

Become familiar with common compensating

fingerings on the saxophone

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In The Classroom, cont.

Encourage chamber music (saxophone trios,

quartets, choirs)

Encourage tuning with drones

Adopt tuning practices with the tendencies of

the saxophone in mind

Have students listen to great saxophonists

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Let’s connect!

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 JUSTIN PIERCE
SELMER PARIS ARTIST

Taming and Tuning Your Saxophone Section

Justin Pierce, M.M.
Assistant Professor of Music, Oklahoma Baptist University

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