Hello!
I started to teach very young children (about 7) using the curved Soprano.
Like most teachers, I have always been sceptic about doing so.
But it turns out fine, they develop a great sound and have no problems playing what we adults think is the beast of the saxophone family.
I have never been very interested in playing Soprano, I had a Yani 981 straight Soprano, which was great. For teaching reasons I switched to this horn:
das gebogene Sopransaxophon der Firma Expression Modell 202L ist aus Messing lackiert und mit 2 S-Bögen.
www.hieber-lindberg.de
You will find it under different names, it is manifactured by Green Hill in Taiwan and the same as this:
gebogen (Altsaxform), mit Etui, Goldlack, Hoch-Fis
shop.schagerl.com
The horn has great intonation and is relatively easy to play.
In the meantime I sold it and switched to this one, mainly because I got it very cheap. It's also a bit more mellow, and curved Soprano can be rather loud for the player.
Internetpräsenz des Musikinstrumentherstellers Schagerl.
shop.schagerl.com
I must say I'm enjoying playing the curved, it's easier to hold, to record, it's pure fun.
For a beginner who plans to practice away from home I would recommend buying one (not the cheapest, if possible) and forget about the tales about the difficulties. I think in more than one way your Tenor playing will benefit as your flexibility has to increase.
Cheers, Guenne