what are your experiences of changing sax (alto to tnr etc)

[pepper]

am currently playing alto, but am considering changing over to tenor.

as i've never even played a tenor before, i'm not sure how big a transision this can be.

is it just a case of getting used to the transposing (which in my case shouldnt take long), or do the two have a totally different feel, and action ?

any thoughts ?

[Balladeer]

Except for playing tenor in a soul band while I attending music school at Fla. State I had been an alto player for 42 years. One year ago I decided to switch my primary instrument to tenor. For me the transition came at about 7-8 months. Now, I'm truly more comfortable on tenor.

0) Listen to as many tenor players as you can. What sound are you after?

1) Having been out of the saxophone buying marketplace since the 1960's I had to get up to speed on the strengths and weaknesses of current brands/models. Mostly, I had price shock. I wanted a tenor capable of pro playing and as good or better than my vintage Mark VI alto. My advice in this category is plan on spending $2300-3000, play the very instrument you will be buying, and play as many brands/models as you can.

2) Finding the right tenor mouthpiece is a quest in itself. I now have the right mouthpiece, but it took 10 months and $1400 of trial and error. It's hard to try an instrument without a mouthpiece. You'll have to find a mouthpiece that will get you 80% towards your sound and feel before you can try the saxes. My advice is: for a bright sound pickup a Jumbo Java T-75; for a jazz sound get a Jody Jazz (not the ESP) or a Morgan in a .100 or .105 tip opening. Each of those mouthpieces is made of hard rubber. This advice is based on the consistent quality, ease of playing those pieces, and reasonable price. After you find your tenor you can pursue the perfect mouthpiece. You may just like one of those best.

3) Expect the tenor to require a more husky or athletic air stream than alto. Also, expect to take more mouthpiece in your mouth. This may feel uncomfortable to you at first. Just keep playing long tones in all registers of the tenor.

4) The altissimo fingerings you use for alto will probably not work for tenor. Not really a problem, just experiment until you find fingerings that work.

5) Listen to as many tenor players as you can. What sound are you after?

[pepper]

thanks baladeer, thats very helpful.

my prefered sound would be a light airy, but at same time quite dark sound, similar to Lester youngs (if only). having said that i also love ben websters-ish, earthy blues style if that makes sense.

my budget would be no more than £1400 (about $2200). i'd go for a vintage i think, as i've been reliably told that the new models often lack the versatilty and dark sound of the older ones.

i'll do a bit of research and see what my options are.

[Agent27]

I switched to tenor in '97. The only thing I remember is that it took about 2 weeks to fully adjust to a larger mouthpiece and having to put more air in the horn.

[Mike Ruhl]

I switched to tenor in '97. The only thing I remember is that it took about 2 weeks to fully adjust to a larger mouthpiece and having to put more air in the horn.Ditto. Except I switched from alto to tenor in 1973. :wink:

[Razzy]

Tenor has been my primary instrument for about two years; then I realized my alto roots and went back to them, have been practicing alto since, and my tenor chops are still in order because I play it pretty much daily in rehearsals. Adding saxes to your arsenal generally requires a few months of strict practice (more for going from lower to higher pitched saxes; this took me about 6 months to do successfully, when I went back from tenor to alto); however once you get it there, you should definitely keep the others, and practice them regularly as well, unless you don't plan on playing them anymore... a completely alien concept to me :wink:

Most alto players switching to tenor I have experienced have these problems:
-embouchure too tight
-don't breathe deeply enough; feel they are running out of breath very quickly
-incredibly sharp on pitch, due to the embouchure and airstream change
-not much other problems beside small things like adjusting to the keyword, hearing the pitch differently; just takes time really

Practice it about an hour a day in addition to your regular practice and you should see pretty rapid results; the biggest thing you'll have to undertake is loosening up your embouchure muscles. This is nothing compared to developing a stronger embouchure for a higher instrument such as the soprano sax. But one thing you will really have to boost is your breath support and overall air intake/output. This could take a very long time to develop; took me a few months.

[Hurling Frootmig]

I have recently added Tenor to my horn selection and the one advantage of coming to it from alto is that altisimo is really easy! I've found that having to breath better and having to relax my embouchure for the tenor has helped my alto playing.

[pepper]

sounds like giving up smoking and taking up swimming might be a good idea :idea:

is it true that in order to get the right pitch you have to play tenor louder. only that i live in very close proximity to others, and this may be an issue.

[Alex]

Hey Pepper..

I'm right at the beginning of switching from alto to tenor, I'm finding it way harder than I thought it would be! So while I don't have advice for you at this point I can relate. Thanks to the other guys for the input.

My main problem is I can't really get my sound in my head. I sound alien to myself. I find myself hard to hear. I think my sound is terrible. But I love the sound of tenor and I've found in the past that certain expressive tendencies come out in my tenor playing that don't make sense in my alto playing. Sorry if that makes no sense.

[Razzy]

That's actually quite true; expressiveness is different on the two instruments, due to the difference in timbre, range, and feel. Tenor is much closer to my actual vocal range so the expression came more naturally to me, on ballads and the like; alto, however, I had to work a bit harder for.

[soulsax]

Play both. I played alto for yrs before playing a tenor. The feel on tenor is cooler in a lot of ways but it can't sound like and alto. I like the fact that they are in different keys. Learning tenor made me better on alto, better at playing songs in another keys...

[StevoJazz]

I changed and it was a hassle to buy the new reeds and such but i enjoy the tenor now. You should change just for the fun, you can always change back.

People, can u tell me if a Ymaha YTS-62II is a good sax for a semi-professional player?

Thanks! 8) :D

[Cameron Wigmore]

Stevojazz - sure it's a good horn. Is tenor your main horn? How 'semiprofessional' are you? Take a look at what most guys are playing in the genre you dig.


Once in high school I had a chance to play a soprano solo in stage band. I had been playing tenor since I started, (for about 6 years), and never once tried another sax! Well, my emboushure was way too slack-I couldn't keep the upper register notes in tune to save my life.
The interesting thing is that when I went back to tenor my pitch was way better and I actually had to focuss to not close off the reed with too much pressure. this is a common mistake when an alto player tries tenor.

good luck with your doubling efforts. Yes, the effort required really does double. :wink:

[Jazzophone]

yeah, I've been having the same reed-choking problems -- except I (normally a tenor player) am doubling on bari sax. Same concept though, the embouchure is way looser and I constantly have to tell myself to drop and loosen up so that I don't choke off the low notes. Tip -- write it on your music if you have to! You'll get used to it after a while, but for the first while it helps to have a reminder. 8)

[bigsaxy]

I generally play with 3 horns on stage, (alto, tenor & bari), & actually find that I overblow the alto. Still looking for the holy grail of mpc/reed combo on a budget. I've been playing tenor & bari since the 70's, so I don't really remember any transition. Just play, you'll feel what you need to work on. I use the same basic mouthpiece on all horns, but of course there is quite a drastic size difference. As noted above, natural voicing, key selection & personal preference determine what sound I like to hear. ("that's an alto/tenor/bari song"). Since I generally play as a "fill" player, I get to chose the tonal input. What sounds best behind the vocalist, or if I'm up to bat, what do I want to bring to the plate? I play much better in 7 sharps than I do in 3 flats, so that influences how/what I play as well (too many years with blues/country guitar players...not really, I"m one of them, too). I'm more into feel & tone, so I let that guide my ears. Something that helps me hear what I'm doing regardless of horn is playing into a plexiglass shield mounted around/behind the mic. I've seen them in WWBW, but I just make my own. I can really hear what my tone is doing, & can make adjustments accordingly, i.e. less bite, more air, tighten up, etc. Just learn to trust your ears, & you'll figure out what you want & need from each horn. Of course, some trusted, honest feedback should always be welcomed. But only from another smokin' saxman/gal.
8)

[Hurling Frootmig]

The YTS-62II is a very nice horn. You should try it out and make sure that it fits what you want to do.

[jazzbluescat]

I made the switch to tenor about 30 years ago, after playing bari and alto(mostly bari)for about 10 or so years. However, I remember the tenor to respond "totally" different than the other two; just different, especially in, but not exclusively, the bell tones.
I imagine a comparison could be made that switching from tpt to cornet or even bari horn would be "similar" as compared to switching from tpt to french horn.
Of course, I don't notice this difference anymore; but, I remember it to be quite pronounced at the time.

BTW: I made the switch from '63 MK VI bari & alto to a '68 MK VI ten.

[soulsax]

Id dig to do some blowing with four sax's. Sop.Ten.Alt.Bar. ... :twisted: "Just learn to trust your ears and you'll figure out what you want and need from each horn." 10-4! Very true! A good cover band would work! I've played 3 sax's a few times in the past and it was was fun. The band members didn't care as long as I played, so Id do fills/solo's on the alto, tenor, and soprano. It gave me freedom to not sound alike. If that makes sense :oops: