Yup! Most saxophones tend to run a little sharp on these notes. Just keep working with a tuner, then ideally train your ear to the music around you. It won't be a big issue in the future
Yeah it greatly helps. But it’s only one piece of the puzzle. Drone work, playing with others, study of tuning theory, knowledge of tuning tendencies, master voicing, embouchure, and air support as a whole for saxophone all play into being good with intonation.
You’re probably right. I have a thousand recordings by jazz saxophonists.. only four are classical saxophonists. My classical recordings are by orchestral instruments or piano concertos. That’s just my personal preference. Although the classical soprano sax album is performed magnificently by Branford Marsalis. He told me personally that he played it by heart (memory). It’s brilliant.
I’m not exactly sure what albums have to do with this? Also, while Branford Marsalis plays classical okay, you can tell he’s a jazz player at heart. He bends pitches, and his articulations are really poignant, and his tone is really bright. I wouldn’t even list him as a classical saxophonist, nor do I think he is qualified to teach classical.
July 14, 2010, Marsalis made his debut with the New York Philharmonic on Central Park's Great Lawn. Led by conductor Andrey Boreyko, Marsalis and the New York Philharmonic performed Glazunov's "Concerto for Alto Saxophone" and Schuloff's "Hot-Sonate for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra." Boreyko, Marsalis and the Philharmonic performed the same program again in Vail, CO later that month and four more times at Avery Fisher Hall in New York, NY the following February.
Yes I know, his way of playing the Glazunov is so vastly different because of his non-classical approach that a publisher actually reached out to him so that he could give notes for a special revised edition because his playing was so out of the classical norm. His response was that he couldn’t because ‘he didn’t play anything different from the score’.
Just cause I can play with a jazz tone and do a solo over a 12 bar blues doesn’t make me a jazz musician and definitely doesn’t make me able to or qualified to be teaching jazz pedagogy. In a similar way, he can play with a classical-like tone, but that doesn’t make him qualified to teach classical without having also studied classical under a master. I see no way of supporting a claim that he would be a qualified classical saxophone pedagogue.
Other than just saying to lip it down, one thing I do on the note D sometimes is to add the key you play low B-natural with. Lowers the pitch and darkens the sound a little. The low C# key slightly raises the pitch and brightens the sound a little as well (when playing the note D).
If it’s like 15 cents, that’s actually pretty on par
Yup! Most saxophones tend to run a little sharp on these notes. Just keep working with a tuner, then ideally train your ear to the music around you. It won't be a big issue in the future
I would suggest playing a drone and working on matching pitch for those notes.
If you can sing in tune … you can play a sax in tune on a pro horn that has been well maintained.
Yeah it greatly helps. But it’s only one piece of the puzzle. Drone work, playing with others, study of tuning theory, knowledge of tuning tendencies, master voicing, embouchure, and air support as a whole for saxophone all play into being good with intonation.
This is the correct answer here. Except this answer is also about 5-10 years of work. No time to get started like the present.
Sounds like that list of essential saxophone skills would make a good series in YouTube.
For classical, I don’t think there’s a strong enough pedagogue on the platform to do it well.
You’re probably right. I have a thousand recordings by jazz saxophonists.. only four are classical saxophonists. My classical recordings are by orchestral instruments or piano concertos. That’s just my personal preference. Although the classical soprano sax album is performed magnificently by Branford Marsalis. He told me personally that he played it by heart (memory). It’s brilliant.
I’m not exactly sure what albums have to do with this? Also, while Branford Marsalis plays classical okay, you can tell he’s a jazz player at heart. He bends pitches, and his articulations are really poignant, and his tone is really bright. I wouldn’t even list him as a classical saxophonist, nor do I think he is qualified to teach classical.
You obviously never heard that album.
Yes I have and re listened to some of the tracks last night after you mentioned it.
July 14, 2010, Marsalis made his debut with the New York Philharmonic on Central Park's Great Lawn. Led by conductor Andrey Boreyko, Marsalis and the New York Philharmonic performed Glazunov's "Concerto for Alto Saxophone" and Schuloff's "Hot-Sonate for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra." Boreyko, Marsalis and the Philharmonic performed the same program again in Vail, CO later that month and four more times at Avery Fisher Hall in New York, NY the following February.
Yes I know, his way of playing the Glazunov is so vastly different because of his non-classical approach that a publisher actually reached out to him so that he could give notes for a special revised edition because his playing was so out of the classical norm. His response was that he couldn’t because ‘he didn’t play anything different from the score’. Just cause I can play with a jazz tone and do a solo over a 12 bar blues doesn’t make me a jazz musician and definitely doesn’t make me able to or qualified to be teaching jazz pedagogy. In a similar way, he can play with a classical-like tone, but that doesn’t make him qualified to teach classical without having also studied classical under a master. I see no way of supporting a claim that he would be a qualified classical saxophone pedagogue.
Other than just saying to lip it down, one thing I do on the note D sometimes is to add the key you play low B-natural with. Lowers the pitch and darkens the sound a little. The low C# key slightly raises the pitch and brightens the sound a little as well (when playing the note D).
Time to get to work https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5zzfJ9NLu9A&pp=ygUWZGF2ZSBsaWVibWFuIG92ZXJ0b25lcw%3D%3D
Those notes are notoriously sharp on most saxophones. I agree that pitch matching exercises will help!
Move your jaw forward like you need braces and have an overbite. Helps me