Hello all,
I have been reignited to the saxophone after learning quite a bit about it on the internet. I started out with an alto when I was about 10 years old in our school music class. The teacher was a general music teacher who was also teaching flute, clarinet, recorder and violin. I don't think the teacher knew too much about saxophone specifically based on the new information I found out. Her biggest offense it seems was that she placed the mouthpiece on the neck as far as she could and told me "this is all set now, all you have to do from now on is to put the neck on the body when you want to play, and remove it when you are done." For almost 30 years, that cork underneath the mouthpiece did not see the light of day. Furthermore, when the pitch did no sound right, she adjusted it by not inserting the neck all the way into the body, and told me that is how the neck should always be positioned. She only stayed on a couple years after we started, and then It was left to me, so I fiddled with it on and off in the same manner for a while for another 10 years before I stopped altogether.
So recently I found out many new things like:
1. You should remove the mouthpiece when you are finished playing.
2. You should remove the reed when you are finished playing.
3. You should adjust the pitch by how far you put the mouthpiece on the neck.
4. Your top teeth should be directly on the mouthpiece, and not be covered by your upper lip.
5. There are different hardnesses of reeds.
6. You should experiment with how much of the mouthpiece is placed in the mouth, and the embouchure in general to effect pitch and sound quality.
7. I should clean the inside of the body of the saxophone by actually running some sort of cloth all the way through it, and also clean the mouthpiece.
After using some of this information, I was back at my alto, and after all these years it seemed a bit better sounding with a bit less effort. With the help of this forum, I hope to improve even more. Any recommendations, on what accessories are a must for an alto saxophone and other tips in general?
Thanks,
Gar
I have been reignited to the saxophone after learning quite a bit about it on the internet. I started out with an alto when I was about 10 years old in our school music class. The teacher was a general music teacher who was also teaching flute, clarinet, recorder and violin. I don't think the teacher knew too much about saxophone specifically based on the new information I found out. Her biggest offense it seems was that she placed the mouthpiece on the neck as far as she could and told me "this is all set now, all you have to do from now on is to put the neck on the body when you want to play, and remove it when you are done." For almost 30 years, that cork underneath the mouthpiece did not see the light of day. Furthermore, when the pitch did no sound right, she adjusted it by not inserting the neck all the way into the body, and told me that is how the neck should always be positioned. She only stayed on a couple years after we started, and then It was left to me, so I fiddled with it on and off in the same manner for a while for another 10 years before I stopped altogether.
So recently I found out many new things like:
1. You should remove the mouthpiece when you are finished playing.
2. You should remove the reed when you are finished playing.
3. You should adjust the pitch by how far you put the mouthpiece on the neck.
4. Your top teeth should be directly on the mouthpiece, and not be covered by your upper lip.
5. There are different hardnesses of reeds.
6. You should experiment with how much of the mouthpiece is placed in the mouth, and the embouchure in general to effect pitch and sound quality.
7. I should clean the inside of the body of the saxophone by actually running some sort of cloth all the way through it, and also clean the mouthpiece.
After using some of this information, I was back at my alto, and after all these years it seemed a bit better sounding with a bit less effort. With the help of this forum, I hope to improve even more. Any recommendations, on what accessories are a must for an alto saxophone and other tips in general?
Thanks,
Gar