Mouthpiece Pitch - why is it important?
Voicing
Before we jump into playing on the mouthpiece, we need to have an understanding of voicing and its place within playing the saxophone. Growing up, I was always told to “drop my jaw” if I was sharp and “bite” if I was flat. When I tried to play anything below a low D and produces pitches in the overtone series, I was told to “drop my jaw” so that the lower notes would respond. Although dropping your jaw and biting on the reed may have the desired effect, those actions come with a whole host of other issues (i.e. fuzzy sound, thin sound, squeaking, etc.). What I was told is still being shared with young students today and, in my opinion, we are teaching “quick fixes” in our music education methods classes rather than sustainable solutions that won’t transfer into other problems in the future.
Later in my studies I learned that we need to keep a constant pressure around the mouthpiece. The embouchure is meant to keep the mouthpiece stable in our mouth and support the mouthpiece and the reed. It is our tongue position and the manipulation of that motion that helps us voice the low register (“u” position or like you’re yawning); adjust for crazy intonation (fourth line D which is crazy sharp - bring tongue to “a” or “u”); and help us have success in the altissimo register (“e” and “i”).
Voicing refers to tongue position. If you think of making various vowel sounds “aa,” “ee,” “ii,” “oo,” “uu,” etc. you should be able to feel your tongue in various positions. These positions or “voicings” are what allow saxophonists to produce low Bb, not sound shrill on palm key F, and fix issues at all points in between those two pitches.
The saxophone is a perfectly imperfect instrument that is very easy to produce a sound, but very hard to make a sound that someone wants to listen to. But, by addressing the voicing and understanding why that is important your playing or your students’ playing will drastically change for the better.
Mouthpiece Pitch
When warming up and starting my day of playing, I begin on the mouthpiece. Three to five minutes on the mouthpiece helps me warm up my aural cavity and gain flexibility that was lost from not playing overnight. Think of it like this: Your tongue is a giant muscle much like your hamstrings. If you were to bend over and try to touch your toes, could you do it? Maybe, if you have limber hamstrings. But, if you haven’t practiced stretching, then probably not. Your tongue works in the same capacity. A large range of flexibility can be worked on, however, if we don’t maintain that flexibility we will lose it.
Fun Fact: Your tongue takes more space on your brain than any other body part or organ. Which means it takes more brain power to control your tongue than anything else!
What to do when warming up?
Each mouthpiece has a specific pitch that is the “goal.” What that means is we are utilizing these pitches as our “home base” tongue position so that we can work our range from here. (note: these are concert pitches)
On an alto mouthpiece the goal is to be set at a concert A. If you’ve never done mouthpiece exercises you will more than likely be higher than the A so start wherever you feel comfortable. After finding your starting pitch you want to work the pitch down. I use “ee” to “ahh” with students and equate the movement of the tongue to the movement of a trombone sliding down. It is important to keep supporting and pushing lots of air in addition to not changing the embouchure. Remember, the goal is constant pressure around the mouthpiece. As you work the pitch down you will reach your limit as to how low you can go (just like if you were trying to bend over and touch your toes), but with repeated practice that limit will change.
Notice I haven’t suggested playing above the starting pitch. Let’s be honest - no saxophonist needs help playing sharp. It is the range of flexibility moving down that will give us a resonant tone and allow us to adjust for pitch. Below are some things that I work on.
Produce starting pitch and hold it steady
Work the pitch down in half steps
Try scale patterns or songs
Practice controlling extreme dynamics while maintaining the pitch
Remember, if you can control the mouthpiece the rest of the horn is just an amplification of that!
Go forth and make great sounds! If you have any questions feel free to write me and thanks for reading/watching!