Miscellaneous Maui Xaphoon

[JasonC]

I got a Maui Xaphoon today, I bought it for a bit of fun and something I could use for practising on when I can't use my Sax. I have the Classic (plastic) version in Red, I thought about the wooden ones then decided against that because of the maintenance.

First impressions are that its not easy to play! mainly because of the finger positions which at the moment are making my fingers ache a lot, especially my left thumb. It uses a Tenor reed and I'm not having any problems with this department as I'm used to playing my Sax, although you need to use a bit less pressure.

I think with a little practice and time my fingers will get used to the fingerings but its not easy to get in tune like the sax, for instance, getting sharps and flats is just a case of half covering one of the holes but its not as easy as it sounds! infact at the moment it is quite hard to cover a hole at all to get the normal notes. One thing that will help me practice though is embouchure and breathing, this thing takes a lot of breath! You can do all the normal Sax effects like growling and vibrato so it will be great for practising little things like this at my desk when I get a few mins, and then obviously I can carry this over to my Alto.

A have only had the thing a couple of hours with a few minutes practice so I'll give it time, and once I've got to grips with it I think it could be a nice little portable instrument.

 

[kevgermany]

Interesting. With a tin whistle you get the semitones the same way, rolling the whistle slightly helps a lot, but I guess that won't work too well with a sax mouthpiece there.

 

[Pyrografix]

I've got one of these (in black - cos everyone knows that black goes faster!). The fingering is similar to a recorder, as I remember from my schooldays! I found the mouthpiece difficult to get to grips with as its so wide. Be interested to hear how you get along with it.
Cheers,
Amanda

 

[Gandalfe]

I've got a red one that I don't use. Hard to voice, I decided the amount of time it would take to play this well could be better spent on my primary axes. As I am an intermediate and hobbyist player, I would not recommend this instrument to my peers.

 

[JasonC]

I've got one of these (in black - cos everyone knows that black goes faster!). The fingering is similar to a recorder, as I remember from my schooldays! I found the mouthpiece difficult to get to grips with as its so wide. Be interested to hear how you get along with it.
Cheers,
Amanda

I never played the recorder so the fingering is new to me! but like anything, a bit of practice and it will come no doubt. I don't have a problem with the mouthpiece, infact I seem to be able to control my embouchure better with this than my Sax for some reason, maybe I need to switch to a Tenor sax 🙂

@Gandalfe
I agree, more time spent on one instrument will make you improve more on that but, as I said, I bought this more for the fun factor and to play when it's not possible to play my Sax. I don't intend to get good on it but just enough to play a few simple tunes, I don't expect to play in a band with it! more like when I'm out and about or camping with friends etc.

 

[saxismyaxe]

As was mentioned the last time this topic came up (maybe on one of the other forums), this is mainly good for annoying the cat, which it excels at wonderfully!

 

[Throstur]

To those of you that have played the recorder, how does this instrument compare? I wanted to get one, I'm not all that bad on the recorder, but what are the main differences other than sound?

 

[Rogerb]

I was given a Hanson chalumeau which is like a clarinet without keys ....much the same concept, I guess.
It sounds much like a clarinet, too (i.e. awful when I try, but sweet when someone who can play clarinet has a go!)
I watched Alastair H making them ...he had a plan for getting them into schools, but I don't know how that developed.

 

[Dave McLaughlin]

To those of you that have played the recorder, how does this instrument compare? I wanted to get one, I'm not all that bad on the recorder, but what are the main differences other than sound?

Unlike the recorder, it uses all the fingers of the left hand - so the fingering is really quite different. The upper register sounds a 12th above the lower, rather than an octave as in recorder and sax. In that respect, it's more like a clarinet (as discussed in another thread).