duner9
09-04-2004, 05:39 AM
So with all this money burning a hole in my pocket from the recent sale of my tenor Mark VI, and the acceptance that I just like alto better, I went off to the nearest Sam Ash. I've read voraciously about every nuance of every Yamaha ever produced. I even watched their little factory movie, and so I was ready. I was armed with my VanDoren MPC and reed. They only had a 62II in alto. I've read great things about this horn. I greased up my cork and aligned my reed. I stood in the corner, my eyes closed, and blew. No big whoop. I own a beautiful S1. There was nothing special in the keys or in the sound of that 62II that was worth the $1800 price tag. The sound is in the mouth anyway. Instead of practicing, I had spent my time reading about saxophones. It always comes to this. You don't need the best camera to take great photos...you need an eye. You don't need the so-called best horn. You need your mouth, but us humans love to dvelve into minutiae. It was then that it hit me. It's the sound, stupid. The horn is nothing more than a conduit for that sound, created in the mouth. I'm keeping my S1 and am going back to blowing it or writing about blowing it.