support Tutorials CDs PPT mouthpieces

Saxophones Why no low A tenor?

Tenor is such a good looking horn. Low anything would spoil the aesthetics imo.

Nobody plays baritone for the look of the thing. It's all about the umph and grunt and that pleasurable sound. Having said that a low A looks way more cool than a Bb. Proper boss instrument.

Low A on baritone is so practical musicaly and only two tones away from Bb on a Bb bass.

As for alto...maybe a straight low A would look ok but a normal alto with low A just looks odd.
 
I did hear of a low-Bb baritone owner who used an open-ended bowler hat (or was it a top hat?)as a temporary bell extension, storing it safely on his head between use...‍♀️. Some may call that “eccentric”, but eccentricity seems par for the course with bari players
 
49863451151_5208ee1cdb_h.jpg


Hey, someone stole all the notes off the one on the wall while your back was turned! o_O
 
Jeff Peterson the head of woodwind repair at the Yamaha "Atelier" near Los converted a Yamaha low A bari to a low Bb one (that Yamaha doesn't make) just to see if he could do it and to compare how it sounds to the low A model. I attended a NAPBIRT* clinic there while he was still working on it.

* National Association of Band Instrument Repair Technicians
 
there’s a video of Michael Brecker ‘making’ a low A with his knee, somewhere. Basically, you play a low Bb while sticking the bell into the side of your raised knee on one leg. Sounds like a joke, but I’ve seen it done. Sue me if you fall over.
Friends and I did that in highschool band as a joke (hey, we were highschoolers!). It definitely produced a tone lower than Bb, although I cannot say whether it was in tune.

But now...any ideas why it works?
 
Interesting. I have completely the opposite response

I think low A bari loses some of the classic saxophonic cool and looks more like brutalist brass plumbing

I agree re the look. “Brutalist brass plumbing” sounds right to me.

In addition, the low A versions dont seem to have the same sound. Seem to lack the “singing “ quality.
Which seems a high price to pay for the addition of one semi tone!!!!

But I do accept that in a big band or some rock situations that would be useful.
 
[ADMIN EDIT: split off from this thread]

At first, I thought "wait, a MkVI alto doesn't have a low A". A brief visit to saxpics.com proved that some of them do. Then a closer look at the picture @DavidUK posted showed that the sax in question did not have low A. So here's my question...some baris and altos have low A. As far as I can tell, no MkVI tenors do. Why is that? Maybe because on an Eb horn that low A sounds concert C? Whereas on a Bb horn it would sound concert G?
Not quite, some sopranos and basses have low g and low a extentions.
 
Back
Top Bottom