8 year alto player, newbie tenor

[jsdjason]

Ok I'm a fairly accomplished alto player and played tenor a couple of yrs ago in high school for just a few jazz band performances. Other than that I have never consistently played tenor. I brought a Monique tenor and though I was skeptical I am satisfied with it's intonation. I think it's actually quite good. I got a Larsen 95/1 mouthpiece and am using 2.5 hemkes right now. I find it easy to play and can control the sound on it, but when I get up to a middle D, E, or F those notes go much sharper than the other ones. I can lower the pitch but it's still an 1/8 step sharp or so and it's much more difficult than on my selmer alto to lower the pitches up there. If I just play the note normally those notes are going as much as 1/4 step sharp. It just seems very odd. Should I get a harder reed or a softer reed or what. I put on a 3.5 vandoren on it and almost no change at all to the pitch. I guess I'm just wondering if this is a natural tuning tendeny for a tenor. I know that D and E are usually sharp on alto. But any suggestions of how to play these notes easier is appreciated. Again I just started on tenor so it might just be I'm not used to it yet. Thanks.

[BayviewSax]

D has tended toward being sharp on every horn I've ever played (21 years). The Monique is okay for a part-time horn, but I think you'll find it a bit sketchy if you end up playing tenor full-time. There are a lot of good used horns out there in the same price range with MUCH better quality. I test played a couple of Moniques and liked the overall tone, they just felt very chintzy to me.