Saxophones advice on Buying a saxophone for high school

Matthew Meador · Oct 13, 2018

Hey guys,
I've just started high school and am looking into buying a professional saxophone for concert season. At the moment I march tenor, however I plan to march bari next year, and I currently play bari in concert season. I use a Yamaha ybs-52 bari and am most comfortable with Yamaha saxophones. if I were to get a bari I would get a ybs-62, but the problem is that I have been told by many people that I should not buy a bari as a primary instrument for high school. now, this would not be a problem if I played another sax in concert season, but I am mostly set on bari. Our school also has 8 bari players and only 3 bari saxes, which only makes matters worse. so the question is, should i get a bari sax, or an alto or tenor and use a school bari?

MandyH · Oct 13, 2018

I don't know the American school band system ... and therefore I don't know if it's better to be a Bari player or if its better to be an Alto or Tenor player.

I suspect @jbtsax will be able to offer useful advice, when he catches up on this thread.

I would just say this (from experience) - as a Bari player, you will always be in demand later in life!

I am assuming that it is impossible at the moment to own 2 good saxes?

I agree with you about Yamaha saxes (I have a YBS62 and a YTS62!) they are very reliable, good ergonomics and tone, and play well in an ensemble.

Oh! and welcome to the Cafe 🙂

jbtsax · Oct 13, 2018

The choice is yours. In most cases because of the cost, the school furnishes the bari saxophones for those who play. I can tell you that if you play well enough after high school it is easier to get a spot in jazz bands if you own your own bari. I would not advise playing a bari in marching band or pep band. It is not worth it since the low woodwinds are not heard above the low brass---especially outdoors. Plus the chance of damaging the instrument causing expensive repairs is much greater in these settings.

That said, it is unusual for a student your age to "specialize" in playing the baritone sax. The more common practice is to develop ones playing skills and musicianship on alto or tenor first before "branching out" to bari or soprano. My advice would be to get a top quality alto or tenor as your personal horn, and let the school bari take the use and abuse.

Matthew Meador · Oct 18, 2018

MandyH said:
I don't know the American school band system ... and therefore I don't know if it's better to be a Bari player or if its better to be an Alto or Tenor player.

I suspect @jbtsax will be able to offer useful advice, when he catches up on this thread.

I would just say this (from experience) - as a Bari player, you will always be in demand later in life!

I am assuming that it is impossible at the moment to own 2 good saxes?

I agree with you about Yamaha saxes (I have a YBS62 and a YTS62!) they are very reliable, good ergonomics and tone, and play well in an ensemble.

Oh! and welcome to the Cafe 🙂

Thank you Mandy,
I do agree with you on how I will want/need one in the future and appreciate the advice
Thanks,

Matthew Meador · Oct 18, 2018

jbtsax said:
The choice is yours. In most cases because of the cost, the school furnishes the bari saxophones for those who play. I can tell you that if you play well enough after high school it is easier to get a spot in jazz bands if you own your own bari. I would not advise playing a bari in marching band or pep band. It is not worth it since the low woodwinds are not heard above the low brass---especially outdoors. Plus the chance of damaging the instrument causing expensive repairs is much greater in these settings.

That said, it is unusual for a student your age to "specialize" in playing the baritone sax. The more common practice is to develop ones playing skills and musicianship on alto or tenor first before "branching out" to bari or soprano. My advice would be to get a top quality alto or tenor as your personal horn, and let the school bari take the use and abuse.

while I understand your reasoning for buying an alto/tenor as my concert horn, the main problem is that there are only 3 baris for 8 bari players (my band has over 400 people in it) and my band director is trying to get people to move from bari to other instruments from alto sax to (in my case) oboe. Im just conflicted because I dont know if it would be 100% worth it to buy a bari sax, but on the other hand that is truly the instrument that I feel most comfortable with and would like to pursue later on. also, I dont rally "specialize" in bari, ive been playing for 5 years, starting on alto and moving to tenor later on, but bari is just the saxophone that I feel most comfortable with as I have put much more practice time in on bari than on alto or tenor. The main reason I would get a bari is because I use it the most. But beyond that, thank you for the marching advice, I might stick to tenor for marching because of what you said as well as the fact that my band director is sort of reluctant to marching baris.
Thanks,
Matthew M.

saxyjt · Oct 18, 2018

It must be a big high school to have 400 musicians in it's band.

I'm so jaleous that you have such possibilities in high school. Here, in France school doesn't provide any practical musical training. ie, no instruments, no theory, perhaps some basic recorder stuff and other general music history, songs learning... Very sad. If you want to learn an instrument, you have to go to the conservatoire after hours and buy or rent an instrument of your own. It's rather elitist and many students quit early as they can't cope with the extra time required on top of school chores.

And I won't talk about sports. My 11 years old son has 4h of sport per week, his 14yo brother 3 and the oldest 16yo only 2h per week.

So when we have a successful athlete in any discipline, we're thrilled!

nigeld · Oct 18, 2018

I don't know enough about the US school band system to give advice - jbtsax is the expert there. If you can get hold of one of the school bari saxes then that sounds like a good solution. And it's good to be multi-talented - my teacher is primarily an alto and bari player, but recently he has been getting a lot of tenor gigs. But in the end you should follow your heart.

JayeNM · Oct 18, 2018

saxyjt said:
It must be a big high school to have 400 musicians in it's band.

I'm so jaleous that you have such possibilities in high school. Here, in France school doesn't provide any practical musical training. ie, no instruments, no theory, perhaps some basic recorder stuff and other general music history, songs learning... Very sad. If you want to learn an instrument, you have to go to the conservatoire after hours and buy or rent an instrument of your own. It's rather elitist and many students quit early as they can't cope with the extra time required on top of school chores.

And I won't talk about sports. My 11 years old son has 4h of sport per week, his 14yo brother 3 and the oldest 16yo only 2h per week.

So when we have a successful athlete in any discipline, we're thrilled!

Trust me, the Public school systems in this country are far from 'enlightened' when it comes to arts education. There used to be investment in it, when I was growing up. Not so any longer.

The OP's context is by far not indicative/typical of the public education situation here.

spike · Oct 18, 2018

Matthew Meador said:
. . . but on the other hand that is truly the instrument that I feel most comfortable with and would like to pursue later on. Also, I dont really "specialize" in bari, I've been playing for 5 years, starting on alto and moving to tenor later on, but bari is just the saxophone that I feel most comfortable with as I have put much more practice time in on bari than on alto or tenor. The main reason I would get a bari is because I use it the most.

First off - Don't listen to anything I say - These days I'm just an old fart.
Not the world's greatest saxer but over the last half a century I've had a ball doing it.
The thing is I've always followed my heart, maybe it was the wrong decision sometimes, who knows?
One thing I do know is that my saxophone playing days have been the happiest days of my life.
As soon as you ask for advice you'll get it from all angles.
It seems to me from your two posts that you know what you want to do but the comments from all directions are causing you confusion and introducing elements of doubt. Take your time consider all the advice and - bottom line - do what you want to do.
That's what I did.

Joe from NOLA · Wednesday at 7:24 PM

JayeNM said:
Trust me, the Public school systems in this country are far from 'enlightened' when it comes to arts education. There used to be investment in it, when I was growing up. Not so any longer.

The OP's context is by far not indicative/typical of the public education situation here.

Yup. Up until the mid 1990s, Texas had a fine a fine public education system as it pertained to music education. But around that time politicians started running on lower taxes. Part of lowering taxes meant budget cuts for the arts. But states and counties have different budgets and I am sure some areas care about the arts. I'm originally from Louisiana and over the last 50 years public school budgets for arts have decreased a lot. My high school bari was a Martin bari with 2 Low A keys- one for each thumb. Because I sucked during that time, I couldn't tell you who sucked worse, the bari or me. The previous post was correct about marching in parades with baris. During Mardi Gras season we had to March in up to five 7-8 mile parades for 2 weekends and maybe 1-2 more parades during the week- the school got paid for our appearances. One good thing about marching with baris- people at Mardi Gras parades were often drunk. The boys were put at the end of the rows as girls tended to be grabbed. Also, some drunks were prone to try to jump in front of us and mess with us. Having a bari one could really smack these people with the horn and keep walking. The Martin was great for that!

Grumps · Wednesday at 7:53 PM

Joe from NOLA said:
My high school bari was a Martin bari with 2 Low A keys- one for each thumb. Because I sucked during that time, I couldn't tell you who sucked worse, the bari or me.

That would have been a Martin Magna, which is pretty much one of the most sought after vintage baritone saxophones out there. Really old thread though.

Joe from NOLA · Wednesday at 8:25 PM

Grumps said:
That would have been a Martin Magna, which is pretty much one of the most sought after vintage baritone saxophones out there. Really old thread though.

Lol!

Tuppertn · Wednesday at 11:04 PM

The OP graduated from high school 3 years ago. I wonder how things went...

GCinCT · 2026-01-08T00:17:38+0100

Tuppertn said:
The OP graduated from high school 3 years ago. I wonder how things went...

I was thinking that too.

lydian · 2026-01-08T01:19:02+0100

Tuppertn said:
The OP graduated from high school 3 years ago. I wonder how things went...

A bari long time ago

JayeNM · 2026-01-08T17:59:52+0100

Joe from NOLA said:
Yup. Up until the mid 1990s, Texas had a fine a fine public education system as it pertained to music education. But around that time politicians started running on lower taxes. Part of lowering taxes meant budget cuts for the arts. But states and counties have different budgets and I am sure some areas care about the arts. I'm originally from Louisiana and over the last 50 years public school budgets for arts have decreased a lot. My high school bari was a Martin bari with 2 Low A keys- one for each thumb. Because I sucked during that time, I couldn't tell you who sucked worse, the bari or me. The previous post was correct about marching in parades with baris. During Mardi Gras season we had to March in up to five 7-8 mile parades for 2 weekends and maybe 1-2 more parades during the week- the school got paid for our appearances. One good thing about marching with baris- people at Mardi Gras parades were often drunk. The boys were put at the end of the rows as girls tended to be grabbed. Also, some drunks were prone to try to jump in front of us and mess with us. Having a bari one could really smack these people with the horn and keep walking. The Martin was great for that!

From NOLA to Montreal ??? Nice. Made it to the right side of the border....

Joe from NOLA · 2026-01-08T18:08:47+0100

Actually, NOLA to Denton TX to Las Vegas to NOLA to Reno/Lake Tahoe to Nashville to Reno/Lake Tahoe to Frankfurt am Main to Ottawa, CA to Raleigh, NC to Stowe, VT to Punta Flamingo, Costa Rica to Stowe, Vermont to Almonte, Canada to Perth, Ontario to Montreal...and in about 3 months to Ottawa. Don't ask...

JayeNM · 2026-01-08T18:10:47+0100

Joe from NOLA said:
Actually, NOLA to Denton TX to Las Vegas to NOLA to Reno/Lake Tahoe to Nashville to Reno/Lake Tahoe to Frankfurt am Main to Ottawa, CA to Raleigh, NC to Stowe, VT to Punta Flamingo, Costa Rica to Stowe, Vermont to Almonte, Canada to Perth, Ontario to Montreal...and in about 3 months to Ottawa. Don't ask...

I won't ask.... but I applaud you, wholeheartedly......way to experience life !