Saxophone beginners Tenor saxophone might have been the best alto saxophone training tool for me

[RStevens]

I've been learning alto Saxophone for about 5 months now and doing pretty "not so terrible" with it. Things are going well and I'm having a great time. Opportunity knocked and I picked up an inexpensive tenor. Because the tenor is newer to me, I have been picking it up and working on long tones and embouchure at the beginning of practice so that I can hit it while I'm the freshest. I'm trying for an hour of practice a day and doing it in 30 minute sessions as that is about my mouth fatigue limit for a sitting. Three sessions in and I'm noticing that my alto long tone stability and length is improving already. I'm also noticing that my mouth is more relaxed and I'm not falling into a clenched jaw on the higher alto notes. I guess being forced to loosen up my mouth and the amount of air needed for the tenor is helping to force better alto habits on me. Unexpected bonus!

 

[saxyjt]

I'm not surprised!

I should do the same with baritone/tenor...

Now conversely, I've read that soprano is good for tenor!

Bottom line, variety is a good thing, IMHO...

 

[RStevens]

I'm not surprised!

I should do the same with baritone/tenor...

Now conversely, I've read that soprano is good for tenor!

Bottom line, variety is a good thing, IMHO...

{thinking} I do have an open peg on my stand that would hold a soprano... Hmmm... {Wife slaps the back of my head} "No! I see that look on your face and whatever it is the answer is no!"

 

[trimmy]

"No! I see that look on your face and whatever it is the answer is no!"

Always the woman’s response

 

[RStevens]

Don't get me wrong, that response is completely deserved in my case 🙂

 

[Jeanette]

Always the woman’s response

Oi! Don't generalise we are not all the same and most of the time it's justified 🙂

Jx

 

[saxyjt]

Oi! Don't generalise we are not all the same and most of the time it's justified 🙂

Jx

Left justified or right justified?

You can't argue that when someone needs a soprano it's justified. 😎

 

[Jeanette]

Left justified or right justified?

You can't argue that when someone needs a soprano it's justified. 😎

Sop is always justified 🙂

 

[saxyjt]

Don't get me wrong, that response is completely deserved in my case 🙂

Not! See above...

And it's a woman talking!

 

[Nikki]

Not! See above...

And it's a woman talking!

Well DUH!

 

[ellinas]

stick to alto.
Trying a tenor can show you that you need to work your voicing, but working multiple voicings (Tenor/alto) at the same time .... is a terrible waste of time for a beginner. Work on alto? tenor? whichever you prefer... but choose one! Stick with it for a while, and after a year or two say play the other size again. You will thank me.

 

[nigeld]

It all depends what you want to achieve. If your goal is to reach professional standard on alto quickly, then it is possible that you will do best to stick to alto, but if the goal is to have fun, then the more saxes the merrier.

 

[RStevens]

stick to alto.
Trying a tenor can show you that you need to work your voicing, but working multiple voicings (Tenor/alto) at the same time .... is a terrible waste of time for a beginner. Work on alto? tenor? whichever you prefer... but choose one! Stick with it for a while, and after a year or two say play the other size again. You will thank me.

Thanks for the input.
I am already seeing improvement in Alto by playing the tenor too. I'm not so worried about the voicing on the Tenor as I do not yet have the breath support for it. I'm mostly working on relaxing my mouth and holding long tones on the tenor. Once I'm warmed up and a little out of breath I switch to the alto and work on hitting the notes (I'm hitting within +/- 10c pretty regularly so I'm happy with that progress) and arranging/playing the goal song due in May. When my mouth ts tired and starts tensing up I call it quits for that session. I also walk around and try to step at 60/90/120 BPM while I play.
I tap BPM at my mixer when doing sound, fiddle with various objects at BPM, well you name it. It helps when I'm mixing and need to prep a delay for the next song or a meter change in a song. It also keeps me from getting to focused and my mind getting stuck in a loop of trying too hard to correct a single issue. This over-focus leads down bad roads where the issue often gets worse and I get frustrated and start throwing things 🙂
I completely agree that the way I am going about this is not technically correct, but it's working for me and my end goals at this time.
Thanks again for looking out for me on this!
Rusty

 

[IGoddard]

Tenor initially worked wonders for my alto tone, especially the low notes. Now, however, my alto tone is terrible because i love the Tenor so much more and rarely pick up the alto.

 

[MandyH]

I stand by my own view/experience that I only truly learned to play Alto when I took up Baritone!

Not so much for my embouchure - mine has always been pretty loose and I am not a biter; but playing Bari requires you to master all your torso muscles - using your diaphragm and lungs in a controlled manner etc.

I now have a huge alto sound which is very controlled!