Profusia
Member
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My tenor suffers with a very fluffy sounding and hard to hit middle D (needs tonguing to hit it reliably). Playing middle C but using the octave keys with low C fingering is even worse, and going for B and Bb that way is virtually impossible.
Does anyone have any experience of this and ideas of what may cause it or how to fix it?
Its a King Bb Tenor dating back to the late 1920's but otherwise in very good condition. The pads however are at least 30 years old but still pretty good. I'm a beginner and am using a Yamaha 4c mouthpiece and also a very old Berg Larsen 110 1 sms (ebonite I think). Typically using Rico #2 reeds but also play around with #1, 1.5, and 2.5.
Background: I bought the sax (c/w the BL mp) a little over 30 years ago but never learned to play because of the challenges of the fluffy D combined with not realising that the BL mp was too much for a beginner to start on. Finally started again 5 or 6 weeks ago in earnest and found that switching to the Yam 4c mp really upped my game and stopped all the squeaks I was hitting on the BL. However I guess my embouchure must have improved as I'm now finding the BL much more playable and somewhat more reliable for hitting the fluffy D and even being able to slur to it rather than having to tongue it every time. But its still fluffy sounding.
I'm hoping someone has come across this kind of problem before?
Many thanks in advance.
Does anyone have any experience of this and ideas of what may cause it or how to fix it?
Its a King Bb Tenor dating back to the late 1920's but otherwise in very good condition. The pads however are at least 30 years old but still pretty good. I'm a beginner and am using a Yamaha 4c mouthpiece and also a very old Berg Larsen 110 1 sms (ebonite I think). Typically using Rico #2 reeds but also play around with #1, 1.5, and 2.5.
Background: I bought the sax (c/w the BL mp) a little over 30 years ago but never learned to play because of the challenges of the fluffy D combined with not realising that the BL mp was too much for a beginner to start on. Finally started again 5 or 6 weeks ago in earnest and found that switching to the Yam 4c mp really upped my game and stopped all the squeaks I was hitting on the BL. However I guess my embouchure must have improved as I'm now finding the BL much more playable and somewhat more reliable for hitting the fluffy D and even being able to slur to it rather than having to tongue it every time. But its still fluffy sounding.
I'm hoping someone has come across this kind of problem before?
Many thanks in advance.