[hnthere]

Does playing a Hite Premiere limit the ability to bend notes relative to, say, a Meyer 5M?

I played alto exclusively for ~4 yrs, beginning at age 55, until I bought a tenor at the end of the summer. Since then, I only play alto once a week at most, partly to have the experience of cleanly hitting low notes.

I'm not any good and just play for my own amusement, but especially enjoy playing bluesy melodies bending some notes up or down a half tone or more, depending on the note. Part of the deal with myself to justify buying a tenor was that I'd sell my good alto mouthpieces - including a Meyer 5m and John Thomas 0.080 - and just play a Hite Premiere. Unfortunately, I can't seem to bend a note on the alto anymore.

Is this happening because of my lack of alto playing time and focus on developing a tenor embouchure? Or might that consistent tone be a "feature" of the Hite Premiere? I can't remember if I used to bend notes on it and it's possible I never really tried on it until I no longer had the other mouthpieces to compare it to. My tenor mouthpiece is a Hite Artist, which I really like, but the Artist is a very different design.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[swperry1]

Learn to bend without biting excessively and you can do it on any piece. Sax bending isn’t like guitar where you hit a pitch and mechanically bend up a half or whole tone, we start flat by adjusting the oral cavity (singing flat) and loosening the embouchure pressure ever-so-slightly and coming up to the final destination...which should be an in tune pitch though often ends up being excessively sharp.

 

[hnthere]

Thanks. I used to bend notes up as you describe on the alto, or down from in tune to flat, but can't do it at all now. I definitely am not biting - that never was my thing on alto and I've worked on loosening my embouchure even further on the tenor.