The Saxophone Intonation Workbook: Saxophone Book & Online Audio

Kynaston refuses to treat intonation as a mysterious problem that some players simply have and others don't. Instead, he isolates the controllable variables, embouchure shape, air speed, voicing adjustments, equipment choices, and gives students concrete exercises to manipulate each one. The tuning tracks paired with the written exercises create an accountability loop that's rare in method books.

Working through this book feels less like studying a problem and more like tuning an instrument you already own. Each exercise builds incrementally, revealing how small adjustments in your setup and voicing create ripples across your entire range and dynamic spectrum.

This workbook serves intermediate and advancing saxophonists who recognize that pitch accuracy requires active, ongoing work. Band directors building section tone and ensemble precision will find it an essential resource for students who struggle with consistent intonation despite reasonable technical facility.

• Start with the foundational exercises before jumping to the scale and arpeggio studies. The early work on embouchure and breathing directly shapes every passage that follows.
• Use the tuning tracks to develop your ear's sensitivity to cents of pitch deviation. This trains you to hear the difference between almost in-tune and actually in-tune.
• Experiment with voicing adjustments in isolation first, then apply them within a musical context. The workbook scaffolds this progression deliberately.
• Return to specific sections periodically rather than treating this as a one-time read-through. Intonation problems that emerge later in your playing often trace back to earlier fundamentals.

Assign specific sections to individual students as diagnostic interventions when intonation issues emerge in rehearsal. The tuning tracks also work as a warm-up routine for your saxophone section, creating a shared reference point for what centered pitch sounds like across different registers.

• Embouchure adjustment and control across the range
• Air support and breath management for consistent pitch
• Voicing techniques and tongue position to shape intonation
• Equipment setup and maintenance for optimal response
• Listening discrimination using tuning references
• Scale and arpeggio precision in multiple keys