Intonation, how?

Dear saxophone lover,

I have been trying out some tenor saxes today. I was looking for a new one. I say 'was', because I concluded I gave priority to intonation over sound. I tried two mark VII's, an early Mark VI, my own Series II and a Reference.

The Mark VI was incredible. The intonation was absolutely perfect. I could hardly believe it. The octave between B and B with octave key was right in the middle. Perfect. And the sound was so warm, powerful and above all, flexible. I tried all of the saxes with a C* (classical music) and a Robusto by 10Mfan. The intonation reacted the same on the two mouthpieces, which I didn't expect. On the Robusto the sound was warm, soulful and flexible. On the C* the sound was slender, varied and dynamic.

The Mark VI is an early one, and has a mature price tag. But this horn is not for me. I cannot deal with perfect intonation. If the middle b is the standard, then the high one should be a bit too high so I can drop the intonation when I press the octave key. This way I can give more body to the high notes. This is not possible on this Mark VI. Because the high notes are perfect. Jazz players tune their saxes too high and always drop the intonation on all notes, on some notes a bit more than others.

The Mark VII were terrific as well. Also with a very soulful and warm sound. With a much bigger sonority than the VI. Especially for classical music this sonority works extremely well. This may be why so many classical saxophonists play VII's, like Arno Bornkamp (Aurelia Saxophone Quartet) and Bas Apswoude (Amstel Quartet). The VII can sing like no other. But the intonation on both VII was way out there. Between the middle B and B with octave key there was a difference of almost 25 cents, a quarter tone. The saxophone shop (Saxomania) told me that this typical for VII's. Probably students can study and learn how to play on a horn like this. But I have learned to play tenor on a Series II, with the ideal intonation. The difference between the two B's is a little less than10 cents. Enough to drop the intonation with octave key and give a bit more body to the sound. Especially when playing the C* the sound has something warm and deep. Although it definitely lacks 'soul', whatever it may mean.

Because jazz music speaks more an it sings, it's a bit more problematic. The Mark VI was the best for jazz music, because the sound is more slender and more sensitive to colour differences.

The Reference was nice. But it did not give me a 'click'. This sax lacked 'soul', the sound seemed superficial. It's hard to explain, but it just didn't challenge me...

In the end I chose my own sax from the five in total. Although three of the five sounded much better than the sax I play, I could not justify a change of sax because of the intonation. And thus also because of the effect of intonation on the sound.

The Saxcraft ligature - an intuitive review

"The Saxcraft Ligature made me realize how important the ligature actually should be."

Hi everyone,

I haven't written many reviews on my blogs yet. There was a time when I was at the conservatory when material and new saxophone nerdy stuff was important to me. Anything to play better without having to put the hours in. Since then I have learned to play the saxophone. I know more or less what I want and I can get it, with some practice.  Without having to buy a new saxophone, mouthpiece or ligature. 

I have been playing my Selmer Reference and AL3 mouthpiece for 11 years now. And I see no reason to switch. This setup is great for me. It gives me flexibility and ease of playing. It allows me to grow and doesn't impose a typical sound on me. The sound has to come from me. 

Now about the ligature. 

Pieter van Kessel wrote me an email some months ago already. He had something new. A ligature. And to be honest, I did not care for ligatures too much. Priority number one and two are that it presses the reed against the mouthpiece and that it has one screw that tightens on both ends. In short, it has to be practical and not give me trouble during the concert. I usually have enough to worry about. 

Pieter wanted me to try his ligature. And he was quite persistent. Some weeks ago he told me he was doing a tour to have different Dutch sax players try out the ligature. He already told me that David Kweksilber was extremely enthusiastic about it. And although I have very high regards for David, this meant near to nothing to me. Ligatures did not interest me so much. 

Then Pieter came by and I put out my saxes. We tried several on several mouthpieces. One of the typical things about this ligature is that is has to fit the mouthpiece exactly. It is not flexible material at all. You put it over the mouthpiece and it stays where it is. The screw is on the underside and fixes the reed to the mouthpiece with one small copper pressure plate. This is different from most ligatures that cover the reed for like a centimeter or have several pressure points. The tightening of the reed is easy and a single movement. That was the first good thing about this ligature. It is easy and fast. The reed is also easy to align with the mouthpiece. So far so good. 

The Saxcraft ligature. 

According to the maker of the ligature, the pressure plate is designed to stimulate the vibration of the reed and let it pass through the the mouthpiece.

He thought that the ligature development was looking for the wrong things to change. He completely changed around the ligature. 

I told him that there are theories that when you attach weight to the mouthpiece, the sound changes, at least for the player himself. This is exactly what he did. The ligature is quite heavy and is fixed to the mouthpiece. 

And what did all of this do for me?

At first, when we tried the ligatures (I tried them on my alto with an AL3 mouthpiece and my baritone with a BL3 mouthpiece), to be honest, I did not notice much difference. I am not sure if this was because of the acoustics. Pieter did notice difference. He said the sound became deeper on the bari and cleaner on the alto.

To be honest, I was not convinced.

The days after I decided to keep the ligatures on my mouthpieces. And something happened. On alto I played for my students in a different space. They asked about my funny looking ligature and I told them that I promised someone to try them out. I then played for them a piece I played many times before (Glazounow Concerto) and all of a sudden the sound difference was so obvious to me. All of the cliches come to my mind, but especially: better legato, more depth in the sound and more control. The ligature seems to add the finishing touch to the sound. Even with a bad reed (which stays a bad reed, it's not a magic ligature!), this is noticeable. 

In short: I haven't gone back to my old ligatures. I haven't compared. And I won't. This is it. This ligature is the first one that makes me notice a big difference. I never cared much for ligatures but the Saxcraft seems to be the missing link between mouthpiece and reed. 

I highly recommend it.