sax plays flat when it's cold

[Joel Stern]

I”m finding that my alto plays very flat when it’s cold in the room. Is there a safe way to warm up the sax in addition to blowing into
it before playing ? After I’ve played for awhile it seems to lose the “flatness”, but I need the sax to play in tune immediately for a concert
coming up.

[Pete]

Just push your mouthpiece in further till it gets warmer,
I have not heard a good sax busker playing in the cold
bad weather sounding flat. Don’t forget that metal will shrink
in the cold, so it would sound flatter IMO.

[Anonymous]

i’ve only played in two orchestra concerts, and the general idea is you turn up an hour before, take out your instrument straight away, so it comes up to room temperature, and then start tuning up 15 mins before starting like everyone else, with the conductor.

If i am going for a sax lesson, which is 5 mins away in the car, i warm up/tune up the sax before i leave my house. What i do is leave the mouthpiece on the neck, with the reed on the mouthpiece in the case and cover it with a cloth.

So when i setup the sax in the lesson i can play straight away.

[Anonymous]

re. Warming up the sax

Have you tried some of this on your sax?

[Anonymous]

And if you like it extra hot!

[Mel]

Mindi does a good job. I also liked the Phil Collins Big Band video that comes up at the end of her video.

Thanks Jeff!

Mel

[Anonymous]

Nice catch Mel.
I hadn’t watched that video before. Excellent timing hey?
Great solos and a very clean and crisp sound from Phil’s band!

The chap in the striped suit performs a good example of circular breathing on the black lacquer Tenor.

[Mel]

Some more Haute sauce about 5 minutes in.

[jak Swift]

Man, Mindi has an unreal alto tone. If you are into circular breathing check out Lenny Picket playing Sunday Driver with Richard Tee. WHOAH !!
Ever played with Lenny , Johnny ?
Oh yeah….A slightly belated but Happy New Year to you all. Hard Blowin, and focused.
Best…jak

[Jazz Cat]

true re flat in cold; I keep/play my horns in my big finished basement, which here in colorado in winter is around 68 degrees… good tip re just pushing mp in more than usual, at least the first 30 minutes of practice, otherwise I’m nearly 1/2 step flat (really stands out when using backing tracks) … I always use a snark tuner clipped to music stand to check intonation, a Big help
https://www.amazon.com/Snark-ST-2-Multi-Instrument-Chromatic-Tuner/dp/B01H62TQ68/

[Author]

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