Tune Your Horn Sharp and Sound Better?
Blazin’ saxman Steve Neff recently hipped me to a very cool YouTube video in which a very interesting concept was introduced to me.
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In the video, it was suggested that you could improve the quality of your tone by pushing in your mouthpiece to the point where your horn is a quarter-step  sharp and then lipping down to compensate. I have to admit, after seeing the video, made my New York sax pro, John Tendy, I couldn’t deny that his tone was more focused and cutting when he played with this tuning.
Granted, John is only suggesting this technique with Selmer horns, as they are prone to play increasingly sharp as you travel up the horn note-wise. But I would imagine that there are other horns that are similarly tuned and could also sound great using this approach.
April 2, 2011 @ 7:35 am
Excellent site, Doron. Thank you for including my video.
April 2, 2011 @ 11:07 am
Hey there John,
It was my pleasure – this was a really eye opening video, so thanks for sharing it!
Doron
September 29, 2012 @ 4:50 pm
This Technique also helps to prevent sore lip syndrome. Plus your tone gets much bigger. It will set your back at first and your tone wont be immediately great but stick with it and you will be surprised.
September 30, 2012 @ 5:30 pm
Whoa, that’s really cool, seems like there are a lot of benefits. Seems like a pretty rare technique, but if it works, it works!
January 10, 2018 @ 11:27 pm
I was taught to play with a looser embouchure for jazz than classical. Same concept.
January 11, 2018 @ 2:21 am
Not buying this. Find your sound and pitch and don’t purposely tune sharp to achieve a better sound. I thought the sound sounded better in the natural tuning position.
January 12, 2018 @ 3:17 am
I loved the idea and tried it my self