A saxophone or clarinet players intonation can have a lot to do with how tight his/her embouchure is. All players develop different jaw sets as they are learning and adjust for intonation based on that jaw set and their specific instrument. These jaw sets and adjustments often make it difficult to play the entire range of the instrument “In Tune”.

Saxophonists have come to realize that the pitch that sounds when playing the mouthpiece alone is an excellent determination of whether their embouchure is helping them or hurting them as it relates to their intonation.

• Soprano saxophone/Clarinet: concert c3
• Alto saxophone: concert a2
• Tenor saxophone: concert g2
• Baritone saxophone: concert d2

Try this at home:

Use an electronic tuner and play just your mouthpiece and see where you rank in comparison to the list above. Many will be very sharp, meaning they need to “loosen up” or perhaps take in more of the mouthpiece. Vice versa if your pitch is low.

Maintaining the jaw set that gives you the correct pitch will help immensely with tone quality and intonation throughout the range of your instrument.