Hello! I've been playing soprano saxophone for a year and bought a tenor 6 months ago. And I was so surprised of how easy it is to play saxophone coming from soprano 🙂 now I play the tenor 4-5 hours every day.
So
I bought the horn with a Yamaha 4C mouthpiece. Vandoren Java 2 1/2 seemed too easy and then I got Java 3. I played on this setup for 6 months and it got very very easy, up and down the horn with altissimo, the whole package. I wasn't very excited about the sound of the mouthpiece. Someone gave me a Selmer S80 C** to try and I liked it soooo much, ( I couldn't keep it because the diameter on it was much smaller than my cork, and I don't want to sand the cork to that size, because then I can only fit Selmer mouthpieces on the neck. I did this on soprano, but there I have 2 necks. One Is for Selmer and the other for any other mouthpiece 🙂 ) It made a huge difference. I could hear and feel the quality of it. Then I decided to advance to a decent mouthpiece. And bought 2 of them to try. A Vandoren V16 T6 and a DAddario Select Jazz D7M or Tenor 7.
Now my predicament
The DAddario is PHENOMENAL. It sounds like a dream come true! Very easy to blow, the low notes are a breeze. I can sing them so quiet and so loud. BUT. It is so tough on my embouchure. After playing on it for 30 minutes I feel like I did push ups with my lips. I am constantly aware not to squeeze, or tighten the embouchure, but it requires a bit more effort that the 4C I was used to. I only play up to first F with the octave key, because that is the point I fount that I have the tendency to squeeze and change my embouchure to go higher, and I don't want that bad habit. I switched to Java 2 1/2 and it is manageable. The Vandoren T6 is a bit easier to play, since it is a bit more closed than the other one, but still, the mouth push up experience is present.
Now my question
Should I press on and be patient? Will it become easier? Is this how you advance to a bigger mouthpiece? Just take it and start training on it until it becomes easy, or play on a smaller one for a long time, and then finally when you get a size 6 or 7 mouthpiece you can just blow effortlessly?
Thank you for reading so far 🙂
Have a great day and hope to hear your suggestions!
So
I bought the horn with a Yamaha 4C mouthpiece. Vandoren Java 2 1/2 seemed too easy and then I got Java 3. I played on this setup for 6 months and it got very very easy, up and down the horn with altissimo, the whole package. I wasn't very excited about the sound of the mouthpiece. Someone gave me a Selmer S80 C** to try and I liked it soooo much, ( I couldn't keep it because the diameter on it was much smaller than my cork, and I don't want to sand the cork to that size, because then I can only fit Selmer mouthpieces on the neck. I did this on soprano, but there I have 2 necks. One Is for Selmer and the other for any other mouthpiece 🙂 ) It made a huge difference. I could hear and feel the quality of it. Then I decided to advance to a decent mouthpiece. And bought 2 of them to try. A Vandoren V16 T6 and a DAddario Select Jazz D7M or Tenor 7.
Now my predicament
The DAddario is PHENOMENAL. It sounds like a dream come true! Very easy to blow, the low notes are a breeze. I can sing them so quiet and so loud. BUT. It is so tough on my embouchure. After playing on it for 30 minutes I feel like I did push ups with my lips. I am constantly aware not to squeeze, or tighten the embouchure, but it requires a bit more effort that the 4C I was used to. I only play up to first F with the octave key, because that is the point I fount that I have the tendency to squeeze and change my embouchure to go higher, and I don't want that bad habit. I switched to Java 2 1/2 and it is manageable. The Vandoren T6 is a bit easier to play, since it is a bit more closed than the other one, but still, the mouth push up experience is present.
Now my question
Should I press on and be patient? Will it become easier? Is this how you advance to a bigger mouthpiece? Just take it and start training on it until it becomes easy, or play on a smaller one for a long time, and then finally when you get a size 6 or 7 mouthpiece you can just blow effortlessly?
Thank you for reading so far 🙂
Have a great day and hope to hear your suggestions!