Soprano, Alto, Tenor, & Baritone Saxophone

If you are looking to buy a new piece of music related anything, your first step should always be to ASK ME FIRST either at your next lesson, or by sending me a message. The following are helpful materials to find your next instrument or accessory. Marshall Music carries most, if not all products you might need, so please stop by the store and request for your student discount!

Reeds: Things to consider

• Material: cane and synthetic. For most players I recommend cane because they are much more common, they come in many more different cuts, and more usually come in the box than synthetics. I really only recommend synthetic reeds for students in marching band, advanced students, and adults.
• Cut: the shape of the cut part of the reed can influence the tone and feel, as well as what kinds of mouthpieces shapes it will work with.
• Strength: a measurement of thickness/stiffness/resistance that can range from 1-5. All players should be playing on at least a 2.5 (preferably a 3 or 3.5) for performance. Having a couple different strengths of reed on hand could be useful for playing at multiple dynamic ranges, such as having a 2.5 for quiet home practice and a 4 for marching band.

Mouthpieces: Things to consider

• • Material: Available in plastic, hard rubber, and metal. Most cheap or student level mouthpieces are plastic, and should be upgraded to a hard rubber. Metal is not an appropriate material for classical players, but great for jazz.
  • Tip opening: Most beginner style mouthpieces have a smaller tip opening, and should be used with a harder reed. Some more advanced players prefer a larger tip opening with a softer reed.
  • Price: I would be cautious when considering mouthpieces more than $200. If you can try before buying, that is always recommended.

Ligatures

• I recommend sturdy ligatures with only 1 screw. I do not have enough of this type and I will buy more of these and replace my cheap 2 screw ligatures eventually. A good ligature securely holds the reed on, and it doesn't need to be super expensive.

Want a new saxophone?

• A new sax might not actually be necessary. Seriously! Please talk to me about this one, because usually a change in mouthpiece or reed is actually what should be done. The best reason to buy a new horn is to change to another member of the saxophone family, like going from alto to tenor. Saxophones are expensive, and you should be very cautious when buying.
• Common Body materials:
  • Lacquered Brass: the most common, and most popular. Produces the most usual balanced tone.
  • Plating with another metal: The core is brass with another metal such as steel or silver on the outside. Produces a brighter and more mid-range focused sound.
  • Unlacquered Brass: very rare, produces a warm sound. Prone to rust
  • Copper: Produces a slightly warmer sound, also rare

I recommend that saxophone players not only try other sizes of saxophone, but also consider learning the basics of flute and/or clarinet. In pit orchestras and jazz bands, saxophone players are sometimes required to switch back and forth between multiple instruments. I have been selected for paying gigs because of my ability to play more than just saxophone.

After learning flute and clarinet, it is OK to learn double reeds like oboe and bassoon, but those are only necessary in some pit orchestras. I do not play oboe or bassoon because they are only very rarely used in jazz. Unless you are asked to learn a double reed for a concert band, I would recommend learning flute and clarinet first.

Moral of the story: They're both useful! If you can learn how to do elements of both, you have ultimate flexibility!

The Larry Teal embouchure usually used for the stereotypical "classical saxophone" sound, and the Joe Allard embouchure is usually used for the "jazz saxophone" sound. I decided to talk about this on my website because these 2 player's names pop up quite frequently in the sax world. Most traditional saxophone teaching methods pretty much derive from these 2 teachers alone. It is quite possible that you might encounter a "saxophone snob" who with either defend their technique or judge your technique by using one of these 2 names as their example. "The Snobs" usually also say that only 1 of these 2 embouchures are valid and the other is not! In my humble opinion, the more I learn about how these 2 embouchures are really supposed to work, the more I learn that they are BOTH VALID embouchures. Here is the reason why: BOTH embouchures talk about NOT USING TOO MUCH LOWER LIP PRESSURE (what I refer to as "the squeeze") on the reed. The lower lip's job is mainly to seal off the air from going anywhere else besides into the instrument, and that's about it for most playing. Squeezing or pressing on the reed with any real force should only be used for the altissimo register, and that's it! I've probably talked to you about this a great deal in our lessons already, but I feel very strongly about it because I used way too much lip pressure all the time and it screwed with my technique.

Look at their face!

Seriously, that's about it! Find a few pictures of your favorite player while they are playing and pay attention to the details:

• Embouchure: do they have their lip folded in over their teeth, or out in front (do you see the inside part of their lower lip)?

• Mouthpiece placement: is there a lot of mouthpiece sticking out, or is it deep inside their mouth?

• Mouthpiece material: does your mouthpiece have a similar shape and color to theirs?

• Ligature placement: is their ligature higher or lower on their mouthpiece?

• Angle: is the mouthpiece and neck angled up, down, or straight out from their mouth?

After you figure this out, use the pictures and compare how you look while playing with how they look by using a mirror or front-facing camera. By visually cloning what the great player is doing, then that will help you get in the ball park tonally.