Suddenly Chirping After A Year!!!

it's quite obviously an issue of gear. Or, more correctly, of getting used to your new gear. Been there

Some mouthpieces tend to be more sensitive than others, although I noticed that chirping is something that can be ligature-dependent as well (one of the few things were a ligature does make a difference in my opinion). But more often, choosing another brand of reed, or another strength, can make a huge difference already.

I notice that even with the same mouthpiece and reed, the amount of chirping depends on which sax I use. My teacher noticed that I had to get used to the speed of the valves of my new sax. I chirped quite a lot, because the octave vent was just a little slower than on my former one. Might be something to look at as well.

Overall advice : fumble a bit with reeds, if no solution, check a ligature, but first of all : get used to the new gear. I do so by starting of slow and increasing the speed of my patterns at every exercise. In the end, you're bound to get the right movements in your fingers to avoid the chirping.

My 2 cents

I suggest you first check your neck octave key. Finger low G and press the the thumb octave lever firmly and watch to see if the neck octave key opens slightly. Then "pop" the thumb key hard several times still fingering G and see if you can make the neck key bounce a bit. If there is any movement or bounce, this can be a contributing factor to your problem. Take it to a tech to get adjusted---usually fast and inexpensive. If you bought the sax new from a dealer recently, the adjustment should be covered by the warranty.

The other (non mechanical) cause may be "biting" on the mouthpiece or keeping the back of the tongue too high coaxing the D fingering to produce a high A overtone. Make sure the pitch of the mouthpiece alone is a concert A (or lower)---usually G or F# for a jazz tone. Also make sure you are playing with a "first part of a yawn" feel in the throat and that the back of the tongue is down in and "AH" shape not an "EE".

One more common cause of what you are experiencing is the third finger of the left hand being a bit slow when closing the G key when going to the D. This can have the same effect of slightly opening the neck octave key as the mechanical problems discussed above. Good luck. Hope some of this helps.

John