Technique Idea

[rs2sensen]

For proper fingering technique, you don't want your hands to be flopping all over the saxophone when you play, it's inefficient. In ideal circumstances, your fingers would never leave the keys at all when playing. Several really good saxophone players play with poor technique and flop around.

My lesson teacher suggested this solution, and it has been very helpful for me. Tie rubber-bands across the keys in a manner in that they will prevent your keys from jumping up, but won't impact the usability of the keys. For my alto, I ran a rubber band from the top neck screw to the spatula keys (side keys that you use for low notes). I didn't install one on the lower stack, since my hands are pretty solid there.

 

[Bobby G]

My technique if anything is the other way round - my left hand doesn't move off the keys very much at all, my right hand has a tendency to flap a little at times, but I can usually 'think' it back right.

I have fairly small hands, which is probably fortunate, and also all the keys seem to sit just right under my fingers. All my fingers bend slightly - if I lay my hands flat on the table, the pinkys in particular (on both hands) have about a 15-20 degree bend at the top joint towards the 3rd finger. It's a family trait, but it does seem to make a sax very comfortable under my fingers, unless I am just lucky with the Yam/Yani layout. Of course, it also makes stretches on guitar a bit difficult, and I can't get anywhere near an octave on piano.

Cheers, Bob