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Hello all. Just thought I'd give a brief introduction before I leap in with questions. My name's Chris, I'm 21, and I've just finished a 3 year course at university (I actually graduate this Friday). I've never been an especially musical person; I've never taken music lessons, and the last tuition I had was back in pre-GCSE secondary school (I suppose I should point out that I'm British), which consisted of incredibly basic keyboard skills. I do however enjoy the sound of the saxophone, and I've always said that if I were to learn an instrument, it would be this. Well, returning from university, I had a sum of money in my account, and thought 'why not?' Usually at this point I'd have gone into the music shop in town to have a look and a play, but I was irritated to learn that whilst I'd been away, the company had gone bust, and the shop was no longer there.
Well, as impulsively as ever, I picked a tenor saxophone; a Chinese gears4music model - I didn't say it was a large sum of money - but I'd heard good things about this supplier and the 14-day returns policy was reassuring, and it arrived this morning. My only real preparation was Raphael Ravencroft's "The Complete Saxophone Player: Book 1". I've had a brief look around this forum too. The book is obviously designed for the very beginner, as it contains instructions on how to put the horn together; helpful seeing as the instrument itself doesn't come with any info.
And as you'd expect from someone who'd done something as daft as this, the problems began soon afterwards. I'd really underestimated how much air is needed to make the reed vibrate. I think I've got the reed positioned well, and the ligature is tight, but it takes a considerable amount of air for any tone to be produced. Now unfortunately I've never been a particularly active person, and my level of fitness is, shall we say, not good. This combined with the air needed to produce any sort of tone means that I can only produce a sound from the mouthpiece for 6 or 7 seconds before my lungs are empty. It's also quite loud. I've heard saxes being played live before, and the volume was dipping an awful lot lower than the lowest I can produce.
Hazarding a guess, I'd say that either the mouthpiece or the reed was the problem (I've been 'playing' the mouthpiece on its own, with the . I've seen comments here that Chinese saxes can be reasonable instruments, but the mouthpieces that come with them are typically rubbish. The single reed that came with the outfit has no markings on it, so I can't identify the strength (unless there's a way of telling from the appearance that I don't know about of course). It could of course be that I'm not breathing properly, but with most of the primary articulators in the mouth used in gripping and sealing around the mouthpiece, it would be a question of lung technique which I'm not sure about.
The question then is what to do next. Should I just buy myself a Yamaha mouthpiece? Should I go for a box of reeds first? If so, what strength should I go for? Does a stronger reed vibrate more easily, or would a softer one do that?
I've looked around the forum, and can't find an answer to my problem. I do apologise if there is one, but it's a big forum, and everything I came across was clearly aimed at more experienced players.
Anyway, apologies for the long post, but I'd appreciate any help you could offer.
Chris.
Well, as impulsively as ever, I picked a tenor saxophone; a Chinese gears4music model - I didn't say it was a large sum of money - but I'd heard good things about this supplier and the 14-day returns policy was reassuring, and it arrived this morning. My only real preparation was Raphael Ravencroft's "The Complete Saxophone Player: Book 1". I've had a brief look around this forum too. The book is obviously designed for the very beginner, as it contains instructions on how to put the horn together; helpful seeing as the instrument itself doesn't come with any info.
And as you'd expect from someone who'd done something as daft as this, the problems began soon afterwards. I'd really underestimated how much air is needed to make the reed vibrate. I think I've got the reed positioned well, and the ligature is tight, but it takes a considerable amount of air for any tone to be produced. Now unfortunately I've never been a particularly active person, and my level of fitness is, shall we say, not good. This combined with the air needed to produce any sort of tone means that I can only produce a sound from the mouthpiece for 6 or 7 seconds before my lungs are empty. It's also quite loud. I've heard saxes being played live before, and the volume was dipping an awful lot lower than the lowest I can produce.
Hazarding a guess, I'd say that either the mouthpiece or the reed was the problem (I've been 'playing' the mouthpiece on its own, with the . I've seen comments here that Chinese saxes can be reasonable instruments, but the mouthpieces that come with them are typically rubbish. The single reed that came with the outfit has no markings on it, so I can't identify the strength (unless there's a way of telling from the appearance that I don't know about of course). It could of course be that I'm not breathing properly, but with most of the primary articulators in the mouth used in gripping and sealing around the mouthpiece, it would be a question of lung technique which I'm not sure about.
The question then is what to do next. Should I just buy myself a Yamaha mouthpiece? Should I go for a box of reeds first? If so, what strength should I go for? Does a stronger reed vibrate more easily, or would a softer one do that?
I've looked around the forum, and can't find an answer to my problem. I do apologise if there is one, but it's a big forum, and everything I came across was clearly aimed at more experienced players.
Anyway, apologies for the long post, but I'd appreciate any help you could offer.
Chris.