[decade]

That is what I was told when I asked when asked if he (owner of a shop I won't mention) sold any Vandoren AL3s. "Real players don't play on Vandoren mouthpieces." (I assumed this was an attack on classical players)

Why is it that classical sax players are not given "credit." I love both styles (classical & jazz), and maybe that is the problem I'm not proficient in either, but I enjoy playing both. I believe both are difficult in their own way.

 

[hakukani]

I guess your shop owner was more interested in dissing van doren than selling mouthpieces.

I'd not worry about it and take your business elsewhere.

 

[Finnerski]

That is what I was told when I asked when asked if he (owner of a shop I won't mention) sold any Vandoren AL3s. "Real players don't play on Vandoren mouthpieces." (I assumed this was an attack on classical players)

Why is it that classical sax players are not given "credit." I love both styles (classical & jazz), and maybe that is the problem I'm not proficient in either, but I enjoy playing both. I believe both are difficult in their own way.

You should have told the guy, "Real dealers don't tell their customers what real players should be playing."

I played a Vandoren V16 T77 gold plated tenor that I borrowed from a friend. I played a big band gig on it and I thought it worked just fine for that. It had a nice dark tone to it and was an easy blowing piece. Of course, I don't really consider myself a real player so maybe that guy was right. :?

 

[ianhart]

They definitely are. I wouldn't go back to that shop, but that is my personal opinion. Vandoren doesn't JUST make classical mouthpieces! Has the owner ever seen a jumbo java? That is just ignorance!

Classical playing, to me, is just as difficult as any other style. Each style, like you said, is difficult in it's own way (talking about jazz and classical here, but of course there are others).

For example, when I am practicing for Jazz, I do much more work on scale degrees, and building licks from them (OK, I am in E Major, augmented 5th, etc what can I play that will sound "comfortable" with the piano?), while for Classical, I focus heavily on making each note in a phrase become part of the "bigger picture", and I strive for perfect technique. Of course, I am not there yet, and probably will not be there for YEARS.

Listen to Marcel Mule's AMAZING technical skill, how clean each note is, how they seem to flow from one note to the next. That is a REAL sax player.

Then again, so are/were Michael Brecker, Phil Woods, Parker, Adderley, Lenny Pickett, etc!

So, repeating what I said, I (emphasis on my personal opinion) wouldn't go back to the store, unless there are no alternatives, and you don't want to go online.

 

[HeavyWeather77]

I played weekly gigs on a tenor Vandoren Java T95 for a year before switching. It worked great, I was just curious what else was out there. Vandoren makes some of the best production mouthpieces today on every instrument, and any dealer that says anything otherwise is betraying ignorance and ineptitude.

 

[playitfunky]

Take it easy it was just a comment. He's just giving his opinion, the fact you own a shop doesn't keep you from having one. I don't play classical but I don't really ever hear musicians bag on them. If anything they look at professional classical musicians as very accomplished and doing something that takes an incredible amount of discipline and technique, not to mention talent. I do know my teacher play on a charles bay mouthpiece for classical. If you're smart you'll listen to the shop owner, yourself, other players, what you read, what you may hear etc etc and then use them all to make good decisions. Don't disregard an idea just because it came from a source that was not objective. You simple throw his opinion in with others to make it objective. That way you can like everyone and see almost any opinion as useful to your overall goal of obtaining information.

 

[dstack79]

You should have told the guy, "Real dealers don't tell their customers what real players should be playing."

Right

 

[SaxyAcoustician]

What the shop owner really means is Vandoren mouthpieces have small profit margins. He'd rather you buy something that he can better pay his rent with.

 

[Saxland]

Wynton Marsalis's saxophonist (in his quartet), Robert Stewart plays a Vandoren Jumbo Java Blue T45, given to him by Pharoah Sanders. Check him out at www.therobertstewartexperience.com.

Lee Konitz was playing on a Java Blue or Jumbo Java Blue according other posts here from people that have seen him live.

 

[milandro]

That is what I was told...... "Real players don't play on Vandoren mouthpieces."

I always knew my playing was great..... but unreal?..........

 

[RootyTootoot]

That is what I was told when I asked when asked if he (owner of a shop I won't mention) sold any Vandoren AL3s. "Real players don't play on Vandoren mouthpieces." (I assumed this was an attack on classical players)

I presume his comment was meant as humour. If not, it's just idiotic, and I would take my business elsewhere, simply to avoid the shop owner in future. Even if he was teasing you, I think it's a daft thing to say. Extremely patronising. I've come across a similar attitude myself, once or twice. Unless the guy is some kind of local "sax legend" and eccentric who treats all his customers like "stupid kids", I think I'd just avoid the shop.

 

[milandro]

I hate shop owners who antagonize their customers playing down the customer's whish to buy something of his choice (obviously not on sale there at the moment for whatever reason) as opposed to all the " incredible supply for real saxophone players" which has been so graciuosly selected for the discerning customer who agrees with the shop owner's opinion on what is good or what is not to qualify as a " real" saxophone player (I am about 240 pounds of reality, how much more real do I need to be?)

Maybe just better to say : " I am sorry Sir, I don't actually stock Vandoren mouthpieces....while he is thinking.: " These rascals don't let me sell their pieces" or: "I should be crazy to sell Vandoren mouthpieces, I don't make nearly as much money on those damn Vandoren as I do with brand X "
:twisted: :evil: :twisted:

 

[gary]

...or you're taking it too personally.

Was he smiling when he said it? In any case, what other attributes does he, his sales staff and his store have? Can you take that comment in the context of these other factors and feel that it might've been better not said but that it doesn't negate other positive attributes? There's no need to throw the baby out with the wash or to be looking for hidden agendas from the shop keeper when there might, in fact, be none.

 

[BlueLight]

i guess Claude Delangle, Otis Murphy, and Jean-Yves Fourmeau aren't REAL players

 

[ChuBerry47]

I know many saxophone players who play on Vandoren mouthpieces, and especially, every professional player who I have ever talked to plays Vandoren Reeds! including me, but I am not professional yet. Tell that guy to make a more versatile mouthpiece than those Vandorens!

 

[Grumps]

"Real players don't play on Vandoren mouthpieces."

No, but a few unreal players do...

 

[SaxyAcoustician]

In the context of music, I'd much rather be unreal than real.

 

[SilverNeck20]

So basically when I started using a Jumbo Java I went from real to unreal, then when I stopped I went from unreal to real again. Gee I'm glad I got that straitened out. I feel better now.
But I do use Vandoren reeds..........oh no.....what does that mean?:?

I think my heads about to explode.

 

[milandro]

I feel better now.
But I do use Vandoren reeds..........oh no.....what does that mean?:?
.

It means your sound is kind of Hazy..... I've been meaning to tell you that but couldn't bring myself to do that!

 

[SilverNeck20]

Thanks for clearing that up for me.