Mouthpiece Placement, Tuning and Tone

© 2001 by Stephen R. Duke
Distinguished Research Professor
Northern Illinois University

From the Yamaha Education Series
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One of the most common misunderstandings I find in teaching saxophone is how the mouthpiece position relates to intonation and tone production. We frequently overlook the significance of the position of the mouthpiece. Yet by its placement, the mouthpiece automatically dictates how the instrument is played. Some of the most fundamental problems related to the pitch and tone can be addressed only through mouthpiece placement.

Mouthpiece placement is a confusing issue even for experienced saxophonists. An individual’s pitch center, musical style, mouthpiece type, the acoustic tendencies of the instrument, and even the condition of the instrument influence where we position the mouthpiece on the neck. Because of these conditions there is no single correct position. However, I have found that poor habits and false assumptions dictate where most students choose to position the mouthpiece.

Three Experiments

Try the following simple experiments to help determine if your mouthpiece placement is the optimum position for playing in-tune and with a resonant tone.

Using a tuner, tune your saxophone playing a low B. Make any necessary adjustments to the position the mouthpiece so that the meter of the tuner points to “zero.” Then, turn away from the tuner so that you cannot see the meter and play the B notated on the first ledger line above the staff – two octaves higher than the low B. (All the pitches are in the saxophone key, not concert pitch.) While sustaining the high B, turn back to look at the tuner. The pitch of the high B should read within 10 cents of “zero” without the need to make major adjustments. Is your high B significantly sharper than your low B? Many will find that they have to lower the pitch of the high B down so that the tuner reads “zero.”

Try a second experiment. Set your mouthpiece where you normally position it. Play a middle B and bend the pitch down as far as you can. How far can you bend the pitch? The pitch of this note can be lowered at least a minor third on the alto (down to an Ab) and at least a major second on the tenor (down to an A). Some students are surprised to find that they can only bend the pitch down 20 or 30 cents.

Using the same mouthpiece position, a third experiment is to play your middle B and bend the pitch upward as far as you can. Although this pitch can be raised 20-50 cents, many students find that they cannot bend the pitch even 10 cents.

Frequently, these demonstrations produce some or all of the following results: (1) the low B was initially flat and in order to bring the pitch up you needed to push in the mouthpiece, (2) your high B was sharp compared to your low B, (3) you were not able to bend the middle B downward or upward very much. I find nearly all high school level and many college level students will produce some or all of these results
when trying these simple experiments.

To understand how these experiments are relevant to pitch and tone we must consider a few basic principles of how pitch flexibility can affect our overall pitch center.

Pitch Flexibility and the Different Registers

The saxophone has a very flexible pitch. This is both a blessing and a curse.

We can easily place a note either in-tune or very out-of-tune. To the bane of many band directors, the latter is more common.

What we frequently overlook is that when it comes to pitch flexibility, not all registers are created equal. The notes in the upper register have a more flexible pitch than the notes in the lower register. This means that you can play a note in the upper register sharper and flatter than you can when playing in the lower register.

So, if your pitch is sharp overall (a high pitch center) then you will play more sharp in the upper register than in the lower register. When trying the first experiment, if you found that the high B was significantly higher  than the low B, then you are most likely playing with too high of a pitch center. Frequently, when the pitch center is high, then bending the pitch upward or downward can become difficult. The pitch gets “locked up” in a high pitch center, losing its flexibility and making it even more difficult to adjust the pitch. When trying the second and third experiments, if you could not bend pitch very far up or down, then your overall pitch probably is stuck in a high pitch center.

Most students feel that while the upper register is sharp, the lower register is flat. In order to play in tune, they constantly adjust the upper register down and the lower register up. This view of pitch relation between the upper and lower registers of the saxophone is never questioned even though it contradicts the fact that the saxophone is designed to play relatively in-tune throughout the registers.

The reason that the lower register is viewed as flat is because of its relation to the tuning note we use in band, concert Bb or A, which is in the middle register. We assume that the tuning note is the “in-tune” note on our instrument and that all the other notes, therefore, are sharp or flat.

Consequently, if we play with a high pitch center then we conclude that the upper register is sharp and that the lower register is flat. If we change the tuning note to a note in the low register, for example, then the relative pitch of all other notes changes accordingly. Also, we will position the mouthpiece differently on the neck.

It does not occur to us that if we are playing sharp throughout the instrument, the lower register will sound flat because it cannot be played as sharp as the upper and middle registers. Likewise, the middle register cannot be played as sharp as the upper register. Consequently, only those notes near the tuning note are “in-tune.” Playing with a flat low register and a sharp upper register is due to a high pitch center and  mouthpiece placement – not due to a design problem of the instrument. When considering the flexibility of the saxophone, the lower notes are our best reference point for pitch because they are the least flexible. Low B is a particularly good reference note. The following graph illustrates the pitch flexibility between the lower and upper registers of the saxophone. The zigzag in the lines indicates the change in pitch flexibility that occurs over the break between middle C# and middle D. Intonation tendencies of individual notes, such as the commonly sharp notes above the register break (middle D, Eb and E), are not reflected in the lines on the graph.

Mouthpiece Placement – Lowering the Pitch Center

Since the pitch flexibility of the upper register is greater than the lower register, lowering the overall pitch center will affect the pitch of the upper notes more than the lower notes. As the overall pitch is lowered, at some point a pitch equilibrium is reached. This is when the pitches of upper register bend down far enough to play relatively in-tune with the lower register. The surprising and seemingly contradictory idea about mouthpiece placement is that if you play sharp in the upper register then PUSH IN and LOWER THE PITCH CENTER! This is the opposite of what everyone is taught – if you are sharp then pull out. If your pitch center is high and you pull out, then you only add to the problem by forcing your pitch center even higher.

Lowering the pitch center is easier said than done. The throat, embouchure and jaw habitually reinforce the pattern that creates a high pitch center. This is reinforced further if the mouthpiece is pulled out too far. Simply pushing in and playing lower on the pitch center usually makes the tone feel out of control and unstable. It feels “wrong” because it is unfamiliar.