The Saxophone (also referred to as the SAX) is a family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet or flute. The Saxophone family was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1840.
Why playing alto sax is a challenge for me
It was long since I did something that I haven’t done in a few months: I played alto sax.
Give me a small sax however, and I struggle to get a decent tone; I can’t figure out where my fingers go; my notes don’t stop and start at the right time; and I am seemingly always amazed at the amount of resistance that I encounter when blowing on them. The take away from last night’s experience is that playing alto sax is not as simple as pretending that I’m playing a shrunken bari…
Give me a small sax however, and I struggle to get a decent tone; I can’t figure out where my fingers go; my notes don’t stop and start at the right time; and I am seemingly always amazed at the amount of resistance that I encounter when blowing on them. The take away from last night’s experience is that playing alto sax is not as simple as pretending that I’m playing a shrunken bari…
Approach each voice of saxophone as if it were its own instrument, not just different sizes of the same horn
Set of Selmer Mark VI saxophones. Photo by H. Kahlke
This is of course really not news to me. I have only known this for years or so….
However, sometimes knowledge and reality sometimes come into conflict, which is what happened to me last night.
However, sometimes knowledge and reality sometimes come into conflict, which is what happened to me last night.
I mentioned that I haven't practiced or played my saxophone last summer. I’m having some issues with healing, so dragging a baritone around would not be conducive to my getting better. That’s why I took an alto with which to play my melody part with. Let me tell you, nothing sounds odder than having an alto saxophone play a song with no practice. It just sounds wrong. Even when my brother was there to accompany me with his keyboard, it was even stranger when I play alone the saxophone solo for the song.
The fact that in order to produce a sound you have to move the column of air through the tube. The longer the body tube, and the lower the note, the longer it takes to produce the sound.
BTW, we’re not talking about a great deal of time here, we’re talking about fractions of seconds, but nonetheless that split second means the difference between whether you start your note on time or if you come in just a “hair” late.
The last really big difference that I notice between the small horns and my beloved large horns is the amount of resistance that small horns have.
Why? Why? Why?
When I play alto all the time I can get a really good sound, and my timing is bang-on. I know this for a fact.
Why is playing alto sax so difficult for me? This is something that I’ve always wondered about. I’ve pondered why people gravitate towards certain voices of horns, since in general terms, a sax,is a sax. That said, those of us who play many of them know they are very different. So what is it about them that makes one harder for me to master?
Why is playing alto sax so difficult for me? This is something that I’ve always wondered about. I’ve pondered why people gravitate towards certain voices of horns, since in general terms, a sax,is a sax. That said, those of us who play many of them know they are very different. So what is it about them that makes one harder for me to master?
Has this got something to do with the my individual make-up? Is it how I am hardwired? Is it the way that I am physically constructed right down to my lungs and diaphragm? Is it a psychological thing? Or is it perhaps a combination of a multitude of factors?
Whatever the case, playing alto sax for me is one of the more challenging things I do, And for some reason I love its tone and body-vibrating sensations.
