Saxophone Forum


by alexsunny123
(2 posts)
3 years ago

mouthpiece placement issue ?.

Hello,



I got a question about mouthpiece placement. I've been having issues with this for 
a while. I can't figure out whether it's an issue with my saxophone or my embouchure 
but I have to sometimes push my mouthpiece to end of the cork on my alto neck just to
sound in tune consistently. 

The backstory to this is that I used to play a lot in high school. In college, I never had the time 
to practice so I didn't play for a good 4 years. Now, I have more time since I'm out of college,
bought a Cannonball Brute alto saxophone, and have been practicing daily for the past two
months, trying to get my chops back. It's been 4 years of no practice so it is possible my embouchure could be too weak. However, I have heard some saxophones have intonation issues 
but I'm unsure whether mouthpiece placement has anything to do with intonation. 
The issue I have is that if I don't push my mouthpiece in all the way I will sound flat for most notes on my alto sax. I don't remember having this issue on my old alto in high school which was a beginner alto sax, which leads me to think that it's probably my embouchure.

What do you guys think? My fault or the instrument has an issue? 
To be honest, I'm hoping it's my fault. That makes things simpler. 



thanks
alexsunny

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  1. by historicsaxwhisperer
    (644 posts)

    3 years ago

    Re: mouthpiece placement issue ?.

    Use a tuner. Once you are warrmed up, pull out a tuner. Do some long tones.

    That will answer your question.

    Good Luck

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  2. by mijderf
    (282 posts)

    3 years ago

    Re: mouthpiece placement issue ?.

    You might want to try playing just the mouthpiece and neck combination.  On an alto, it should play an A-flat concert (check against a tuner set to concert pitch).  This might help answer your question about embouchure pressure.

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  3. by RyanCannonball
    (45 posts)

    3 years ago

    Re: mouthpiece placement issue ?.

    The Mouthpiece Pitch exercises here are a great way to help diagnose that:

    https://tamingthesaxophone.com/saxophone-mouthpiece-exercises 

    Once your mouthpiece pitch is at or very near the right note, the intonation should line right up on your sax.


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