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Wow this thing is one helluva beast to tame!
I received my Kessler KCS1 a week ago today, and I've been nothing but pleased with it. Coincidentally this also marks my 1st week of playing
Well, not exactly. I'm a late bloomer (23) that tried to start alto about 2 years ago. After a few months, I sold it for a soprano. Well long story short, life happens, but I finally have my soprano! My embouchure muscles have finally stopped being sore and I'm able to play.. or rather make noise while fingering all the notes from low Bb up to high Eb (I havent been able to get the E, F, and F# to pop out consistently). The first 3 days I spent just with the mouthpiece and reed alone trying to get the Db to come out smoothly and in tune. Then I attached the horn and started long tones.
I had my first lesson today. It killed me! I had not played longer than 20 minutes or so because my mouth would tire, but today he had me going for about 45 minutes or so. I think I made great progress on my tone though - there were times that for just one split second, this thing actually sounded like a soprano!
One thing that blew my mind is that when I first pulled out the horn, my teacher took it and checked the action and started playing it just to make sure the sax played good so that it wouldn't interfere with my learning - he sounded phenomenal!! At least I know the sax has the potential to sound good He was impressed by the quality and playability of a horn in that price range - thumbs up to Kessler! I had a friend come by my house with his Cannonball soprano. I will go ahead and say, that listening with a VERY critical ear, the Cannonball seemed darker and a little more "sweet" if that makes any sense, but seeing the difference between when I handled the sax and how my teacher handled the sax, its probably a player thing.
I was a little hesitant about getting the teacher. After all, I've taught myself Jazz Theory, bass guitar, and piano - but with an instrument like this it has made all the difference. I'm doing lessons every other week (because of a busy school schedule) making sure I keep up with long tones, some basic sight reading, and gave me some simple Charlie Parker tunes to work through. Sorry for the long post! Just got back from the lesson and I'm still wired!
To all the beginners out there - keep and it! And a great teacher makes a world of difference!
I received my Kessler KCS1 a week ago today, and I've been nothing but pleased with it. Coincidentally this also marks my 1st week of playing
Well, not exactly. I'm a late bloomer (23) that tried to start alto about 2 years ago. After a few months, I sold it for a soprano. Well long story short, life happens, but I finally have my soprano! My embouchure muscles have finally stopped being sore and I'm able to play.. or rather make noise while fingering all the notes from low Bb up to high Eb (I havent been able to get the E, F, and F# to pop out consistently). The first 3 days I spent just with the mouthpiece and reed alone trying to get the Db to come out smoothly and in tune. Then I attached the horn and started long tones.I had my first lesson today. It killed me! I had not played longer than 20 minutes or so because my mouth would tire, but today he had me going for about 45 minutes or so. I think I made great progress on my tone though - there were times that for just one split second, this thing actually sounded like a soprano!
One thing that blew my mind is that when I first pulled out the horn, my teacher took it and checked the action and started playing it just to make sure the sax played good so that it wouldn't interfere with my learning - he sounded phenomenal!! At least I know the sax has the potential to sound good
He was impressed by the quality and playability of a horn in that price range - thumbs up to Kessler! I had a friend come by my house with his Cannonball soprano. I will go ahead and say, that listening with a VERY critical ear, the Cannonball seemed darker and a little more "sweet" if that makes any sense, but seeing the difference between when I handled the sax and how my teacher handled the sax, its probably a player thing. I was a little hesitant about getting the teacher. After all, I've taught myself Jazz Theory, bass guitar, and piano - but with an instrument like this it has made all the difference. I'm doing lessons every other week (because of a busy school schedule) making sure I keep up with long tones, some basic sight reading, and gave me some simple Charlie Parker tunes to work through. Sorry for the long post! Just got back from the lesson and I'm still wired!
To all the beginners out there - keep and it! And a great teacher makes a world of difference!
