Beginning questions - horn and technique

[zephyr]

Hi - from reading posts and replys of others, looks like i've found good comapany here. I'm 46 & Just beginning

I bought an alto Sax I'm learning to play - King Zephyr (not special)
circa about 1946. I had to have some springs adjusted before i could start playing - the mehanism for the octave key wasnt working ( it was stuck open ) & the G key wasn't functioning right with octave key when I bought it. The pads seem to be on good shape, except for a small tear on the vent key pad on the neck. It doesnt look like it affects the seating, but it makes me wonder. I read on another site that the pads should be doped about twice a year. Would this help on older pads. I'm guessing that i'm playing with the original mouthpiece. It has BELMONTE stamped on it , and no other designation. Its either plastic or hard rubber. The ligature looks to be original, & i doubt any other necks fit the king double neck setup. It came with some selmer #2 reeds, but i bought some rico V2s which seem easier to play. I havent done any other experimentation with reeds yet.

I havent found a teacher yet, but bought a beginner book & am working thru it. Accent on acheivement by O'rielly & williams. Ordered a book called "The Jazz Method for Saxophone", but it hasn't come in yet.

The horn has nice tone but it seem a little too easily to blow thru to high register without using octave key. I can easily play middle C thru high C without using octave key, but can reach down to low E.
Is this an adjustment that can be made on the horn, or is something i'll have to learn to overcome with embrochure? I've heard you can play lower octave with register key open, as well, but havent been able to attain this yet. I'm also have trouble slurring rapidly between mid D or E and mid B or C
(squaks) - I know i have a lot to learn, but these seem to be combinations that come into play a lot. Overall I'm pretty well satisfied with the progress I've made in my first 3-4 weeks of playing, but I want to do better - to make truly beautiful music.
I know I have a lot to learn - control & expression with mouth, throat, fingering & breath & I need to
practice a lot more to attain the the control i need. Just wonderring if I
a tune up on my horn would help, or if I'm just going thru normal learning
curve of learning to play. Any suggestions on how to learn to play better
will be appreciated.

A lot of questions here - i know.

Jim

[Seraphina]

Congratulations on coming to the sax,I too am a raw beginner at 31,have been playing just over a week and am having an obscene amount of fun.I'm guessing from your post you already have instrumental,probably woodwind experience?I'M sorry I cant help you particularly with your questions but I'm sure you'll find plenty of help from other members here.

[zephyr]

Thanks for the reply, & keep having fun.

This is the first reed inst i've really tried to play. Played trumpet in Grade school, but wasn't a musician by any means, but i did learn to read music. Other than that, I have a 5 hole cedar flute i play around with. I love the range & sounds of the sax tho.

[Dave Dolson]

Zephyr: Welcome aboard. I have never "doped" my pads in 48 years of playing vintage and new saxophones. I suggest you take that horn back to the tech and have the upper octave pad replaced. It is cheap to do that. Also make sure the horn is tight (pads seal top to bottom). Nothing will affect your learning ability more than a leaky or out-of-regulation horn.

I have a mouthpiece marked "Belmonte" but never play it. For me, it is way too closed (small tip opening). You may want to explore some better mouthpieces but I know that may be difficult for a beginner. Still, there are a number of beginner-type pieces out there that should play better sight-unseen than the Belmonte (e.g., Selmer C*). A better mouthpiece from the git-go may help you develop much more quickly. Good luck! DAVE

[zephyr]

Thanks for the reply.

I think you might be right about the small opening size of the MP. I was thinking of trying a little stronger reeds, as the #2s seem to close up more the longer I play. (Of course my embrochure is probably weakening as well)
I looked on one website & they had all sorts of Selmer mouthpieces ranging from $13. up to about $200, but no Selmer C*. Are all Alto
mouthpieces the same size as far as fitting to the neck? Or will I need one that is especially for the King Zephyr. Also, will I need a new ligature to fit the mouthpiece, or will my old one work. I'd like to get some feedback on these questions, as well as on where to by from and price. Price is an issue, but I dont want to save a few $ & end up with something that doesnt play better than the belmonte.
I'm open to buying a used MP if it will save me money AND be what I need. I dont know what size opening would be best to try. I'm open to suggestions.

I will get the octave key pad replaced, & need to replace the neck to mouthpiece cork as well. It seats fine, but some of the cork is missing & moisture acumulates there.

[zephyr]

One other thought.. Would it be worthwhile to open up the tip of the belmonte slightly with some 200 (or finer) grit sandpaper - or would this more likely end up turning a playable mouthpiece into a block of scrap?

It seems like it would be easy to follow the contours of the face curve using a block to sand with & moving the MP. also - if i did sand it down, would I need to dress the surface with anything?

[Dave Dolson]

Zephyr: I advise against trying to alter any mouthpiece, unless it is done with total understanding on how to do the leveling, etc. I tried it once years ago and ruined a good piece. I used Mojobari's services a while back and he knows what he is doing. Still, I would not invest any more money in that Belmonte either.

Most mouthpieces will fit most neck-corks. True, there are exceptions, but a neck cork is easy enough and cheap to replace (again, using a tech, although I'm sure there are posters here who've done it themselves). I have experienced soprano mouthpieces with a barrel too large (or too tight) to fit my sops, but never on alto.

Selmer pieces can be obtained in a variety of openings, C* being one of the more close openings. But C**, D and E aren't THAT far out. You may want to try several of them, and some other brands. Some posters will advise you about a ceratin mouthpiece, but really, we are all different and you just have to experiment until you find one that works better for you. If you keep at it, you may turn out like many of us - a box full of pieces we thought were the hot ticket - until the next best piece came along. DAVE

[Mike_K]

Zephyr - One of the most common of the Selmer mouthpieces is the S80 - that's probably the name you should be looking for in the list of Selmer pieces, with as Dave suggested, the size being C*. Another very common alto piece is the Meyer hard rubber - probably size 5 or 6 medium. WWBW (http://www.wwbw.com) has both for $75 - $80. I think the Meyer should come with a ligature, but I don't think the Selmer does. A good, inexpensive choice for a ligature is the Bonade - about $13 at WWBW.

One you get your chops up you can start looking into different options, but either of these two should be good to get you going.

Best of Luck!