Saxophones Problem blowing Alto

[Tommy Ng]

I have a 'chat friend' on SOTW who's a very experienced pro (with a 'full set'of MKVIs!) , and he thinks the alto is one of the harder saxes on which to learn, despite its convenient size/price.
He reckons the tenor is much easier to blow.
I rather wish I'd started on tenor....but the size was an issue (as well as the price)....taking a tenor case on flights is considerably more 'risky' than an alto.

the low notes on tenor are comparatively difficult to blow...

 

[Linky Lee]

I personally find soprano the hardest, but again that's probably because it's the least often blown out of my horns (it's not even with me in Germany).
I do find moving from tenor to alto harder than moving to bari though I no longer have a bari so am always moving between tenor and alto and therefore it doesn't really matter.

 

[Rogerb]

Yes, Linky, I'd have thought sop, also, if only because of the relatively short distances between holes' causing intonation difficulties.....but I have never tried anything but an alto!
I keep asking my teacher for a blow of his MKVI tenor, but we never get around to it!

 

[ArtyLady]

I have a 'chat friend' on SOTW who's a very experienced pro (with a 'full set'of MKVIs!) , and he thinks the alto is one of the harder saxes on which to learn, despite its convenient size/price.
He reckons the tenor is much easier to blow.
I rather wish I'd started on tenor....but the size was an issue (as well as the price)....taking a tenor case on flights is considerably more 'risky' than an alto.

I do find that after 10 minutes or so the Alto begins to feel more natural - then when I go back to tenor I overblow it again!

What your friend on SOTW says does seems to be the general concensus so I'm gonna assume that there is nothing wrong with my Alto and not worry about it anymore 😀

 

[Linky Lee]

You could always practice one day tenor, one day alto and so on instead of changing every 10 minutes or so.

 

[ArtyLady]

You could always practice one day tenor, one day alto and so on instead of changing every 10 minutes or so.

Sorry I didn't make that very clear 😀 I don't play each for ten minutes, I play the tenor mainly atm - what I meant was - after 10 minutes of playing the alto it becomes easier - I only pick it up every couple of weeks ;}

 

[Linky Lee]

Ah I see. It's probably just unfamiliarity then. If you picked it up a bit more often you might find the embouchure improves.

 

[AlanU]

Martin Handcraft stencil (Melody Master) from about 1928, just re-built with Roo-pads.
Metal Otto Link and Rovner ligature.
A combination that has taken ages to arrive at.

 

[ArtyLady]

Had a breakthrough with this - I dug out the original TJ mouthpiece and it was a piece of cake!:welldone, albeit not so nice a sound. I thought you couldn't go wrong with a Yam4c!

 

[MartinL]

Had a breakthrough with this - I dug out the original TJ mouthpiece and it was a piece of cake!:welldone, albeit not so nice a sound. I thought you couldn't go wrong with a Yam4c!

Aint that weird, my experience was the exact opposite, I purchased three mouthpieces including the Y4C and the Yam is by far the easiest to play..... For ME !!

 

[AndyB]

Aint that weird, my experience was the exact opposite, I purchased three mouthpieces including the Y4C and the Yam is by far the easiest to play..... For ME !!

Interesting. The Y4C frequently completely closes off for me with 2.5 or 3 reeds. I suppose I could try a 3.5 or 4 reed on it but why bother. The Meyer 6M I am using now is wonderful.