Playing your saxophone in tune with others in your band requires far more than just playing a reference note into a tuner and adjusting the mouthpiece on the instrument. In order to actually realize the tuning procedure and how most beneficial to tune your saxophone it helps to know the physics behind the sound that you generate although playing. When we're talking about physics as well as the saxophone we are dealing in the realm of invisible vibrations known as sound waves.

To superior comprehend these sound waves it assists to think about a guitar string. Once you pluck a note on a guitar the string vibrates at a certain rate or "frequency." The length of this string dictates what frequency the string will vibrate at. By moving your finger up and down the fretboard you'll be able to change the pitch to any of a dozen or so pitches. Now feel about a fretless guitar. Rather than a dozen pitches you can potentially have hundreds of pitches, every incredibly slightly distinctive that the other. Saxphones behave in this same way but use a vibrating column of air as opposed to a vibrating string.

If you add or subtract fingers on the saxophone you're changing the overall length of the tube, producing shorter or longer sound waves in the procedure. Quite a few points can have an effect on this resultant wave. A key that is not adjusted effectively can partially close over an open hole causing all notes above that key to be slightly flat. Likewise a key that's left open when it ought to be closed can make other notes out of tune or at the really least sound less focused.

Two saxophones which are not perfectly tuned to one another will always vibrate at various frequencies even when playing the same note. When two sound waves of the exact very same frequency are played together they reinforce each other producing a stronger, much more pleasing overall sound. When two pitches are slightly out of tune they occasionally collide with each other causing a disturbance inside the combined wave form. This phenomena creates audible "beats" or bumps in what the listener hears. Every bump in the combined sound is literally the two sound waves slamming into one another. It really is generally simpler to fully grasp this method by seeing it visually. Take a look at the examples shown at http://library.thinkquest.org/19537/Physics.html.

As a saxophone player it should be your goal to learn easy methods to play your instrument in ideal tune. Sadly this calls for even more than basically tuning your concert A or B-flat. Now that you know a little about the physics of sound yet, it is possible to start to comprehend the inherent pitch difficulties of your saxophone and relate this to your overall performance and study routine.