[onlinejazz]

Out of so many musical instruments that exist, Why did one choose to learn the saxophone?

 

[milandro]

find the answer in anyone of these previously published threads

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?13189-So-Why-did-you-choose-the-sax

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showth...ay-saxophone-or-did-saxophone-chose-you/page2

 

[Captain Beeflat]

Most of the others are just so boring.
As a child, I was forced for six years to learn the piano....I hated every minute of the scales, studies & Mozart's Rondos.......probably the fault of my teachers.

The saxophone is fun, with a huge range of tonal colours; &, importantly....it sounds like the player, not the instrument; consequently, you are able to express yourself via the instrument.
An irreverent instrument, which all my "oh-so-proper" old aunts hated, & utterly non boring....at least, in the hands of most.

 

[swinginnice]

I didn't choose it. I wanted to play the trumpet, but there was already a saxophone in the house since my older brother had chosen that for his instrument and then was switched to baritone. So the choice was made for me. So glad I'm not a trumpet player. They're so weird.

 

[Debber]

The Sound. I didn't choose it, it chose me.

 

[milandro]

yes...........

here a few more who were chosen

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showth...-to-play-saxophone-or-did-saxophone-chose-you

 

[soybean]

The saxophone is fun, with a huge range of tonal colours; &, importantly....it sounds like the player, not the instrument...

There it is!

 

[hornjunkie]

Why not?

 

[LostConn]

I never actually chose to learn the saxophone. But I do choose to play it, and I choose to try to improve on it.

I started on the clarinet when I was 8 years old. I don't remember why that instrument was selected, or even who made the decision. When I was a freshman in high school, my band director started me on alto sax as a second horn. For the rest of high school, I played clarinet in the concert band, sax in the jazz band, and both at different times in the marching band. In college, I joined a band that played at basketball games and similar events. It's possible that I chose to play sax because I thought it would be more fun in that sort of ensemble. It's also possible that I volunteered to play either sax or clarinet, and ended up on sax because that's where I was more needed. I do specifically recall (finally!) that when I joined my current concert band 15 years ago, I told the director that I would be fine with playing alto, tenor, or clarinet, and that she should assign me as needed. That meant alto as my regular chair, with stints on tenor and some occasional soprano playing.

 

[poochie]

Crucially, it will ( you hope ) make you more noticable / attractive to girls .. certainly one of my big motivations age 17

 

[Aussie]

I had never played an instrument until high school, they had a come and try day for the music department. I saw a senior with a sax, they didnt have one to play though.. I put my name down for it, they said 'no, we dont have any left'. So I didnt bother with it after that.. until the sax teacher showed up to pull me out of class for a lesson, one of the older students had just bought their own, so there was a spare for me to play! I worry about what my life would be like if I had just given up...

 

[davidtm]

I started out on flute in 4th grade, which I played through high school and college. After med school, my flute was destroyed in a fire. I took that opportunity to switch to sax, partly out of a long-standing insecurity about being a "boy flute player", and partly out of a long-frustrated desire to play jazz in a swing band.

 

[jaysne]

When it came time to play in the band in the 4th grade, my dad--who had played sax and clarinet in school--was really excited about it. I think he was more of a clarinet player than a sax player, so he encouraged me to take up the clarinet. I still remember holding the tan manilla envelope from school with the rental agreement in it. For me, personally, I didn't really care.

But something didn't sit well with me about the situation. Because a few months before, my dad had pulled down his Martin Handcraft alto from the attic and everyone in the family tried it (my mom, my two sisters and me). We didn't have much money, and, being a frugal kid, I thought, why should we spend money on renting a clarinet when we have a saxophone here that I could play for free?

So that's what happened. I turned in the manilla envelope with a blank rental form in it and took up the saxophone. That's why I play sax--because of guilt!

 

[jaz9090]

I didn't get on well with the acoustic guitar and my music teacher suggested a brass instrument but i liked the look of the sax better.

 

[GarciaPhreak]

I play lots of instruments, mostly stringed. I wanted to play the sax in highschool mainly because the type of music I was in to at the time, and still am for that matter. Every man and his dog plays guitar, so when I wanted to join a band I found more people looking for sax players. Now the sax is my most proficient instrument and I wouldn't want it any other way.

 

[chilehed]

'Cause it's the coolest, of course!

 

[artstove]

I played clarinet starting in 4th grade (I wanted to play trumpet, but couldn't buzz my lips, so I decided to play clarinet instead). Some years ago I decided I wanted to play funk/R&B/blues/etc., which tend to not work so well on the clarinet. Also, in high school I played in the orchestra for some local musical theater groups, sharing a book with a fabulous tenor sax player - I loved his sound! So sax was an easy choice - good for funk and R&B, I liked the sound, and coming from clarinet not hard to learn. Oh, and my wife had an old Vito alto in the closet, and the JazzSchool had a beginning saxophone class - an easy thing all around.

 

[bkobog]

over here, we are needed to pick up a club, a sports, an activity as extra curriculum development. I joined the brass band at age of 8 years old and the saxophone was the instrument issued to me. To me, it was divinely planned and I have not looked back since.