saxophone - saksofon

1) One of the more important things you can do for your saxophone playing is buy the book Top Tones for the Saxophone by Sigurd Rascher. Read all the text, work on the exercises. You needn't try to play the high notes if you don't care to, just work on the exercises. Your playing will improve. I have a copy here for you if you'd like.

2) I've put together a chart for keeping track of the tuning tendencies of your saxophone. It's maybe a little small for lots of note taking but could be a good place to start.

A number of customers have asked about the tuning of their saxophones and one thing I recommend, typically, is to check out Larry Teal's book The Art of Saxophone Playing. Mr. Teal talks about the importance of learning your instrument's tuning characteristics and the chart I've put together will make it easier to get started with the project. Using a tuner, while playing with a very neutral embrosure (no pitch correction), jot down the instrument's tuning tendencies in "cents". i.e. middle C = -4, middle F = +2 etc. Once you have filled out the chart (going as high on your saxophone as you can comfortably) you can see how the intonation scheme has been put together. Nicely made saxophones have a rather logically laid out plan. Less than wonderful instruments will show a somewhat confused layout.

Download: Saxophone Tuning Chart