Beginner Saxes Should I upgrade my saxophone?

[aldevis]

Aldevis, would you recommend a Lawton 10 b to a beginner starting out on tenor? i guess not, but on the other hand it worked for me...i have never been able to get on with Meyers or links, alto or tenor, but again thats just me...

And is flexibility or the lack of it such a vital ingredient at this early stage in the OP's development?

Lawton is fine if it doesn't physically harm (teeth, jaw...) and if it works for a student.
I do not like the S80 as THE mouthpiece to buy as an upgrade.

I consider flexibility essential after the 3rd lesson, but it is a very personal opinion.
For a teacher it is much easier to teach to pupils with a stable setup: tuning will be fine, sound will be decent and the student can start moving fingers. IMO this will affect further developments in sound production , dynamics and tuning.

On the other hand, more than a century of (classical) saxophone playing has tried to approach saxophone as if it was a louder cor anglais....

 

[Fraser Jarvis]

Hi there FJ!

Oh shucks! and theres me thinking i was on your ignore list...with hindsight though, and after reading your post i would have to say i agree with you, it's just that that particular piece worked for me, but i guess different strokes for different folks! those creap as chips Rico pieces maybe worth a try in something like a 7 7* or an 8?

Take care, and for Pete's? sake, can you stop peering at me like that over your glasses, your beginning to intimidate me, oh and wipe that squashed rabbit poo of the side of your cup...

 

[TomMapfumo]

Hope the new one is better - at least you can't see my eyes. Now, calm down, and feel the love!

 

[Fraser Jarvis]

Phew!!! thats much better!

 

[Wade Cornell]

If you go to the "your soundclips" section and click on one of the clips posted by Mike you will hear him playing on a "Simba" sax which most consider the worst & cheapest sax ever made. A good suggestion was made earlier on about having a good player (your teacher?) play your sax and see how it sounds. If all the notes speak clearly that's all you need at this stage. Another good suggestion was to use a decent mouthpiece. This does not need to be expensive, but something that will allow you to concentrate on developing embouchure and tone quality. Once you've got those down (can take quite a while) then the move to better gear will be extremely rewarding as you will then be able to hear a difference. Right now that's not likely to be the case which would mean spending $$ without any reward.