The original saxophones were only keyed to low B, but now Bb is standard on all saxes (and low A is common on Bari). My question is, how did this become so popular? It's not like concert Db and Ab are particularly useful notes (compared to low concert C for a bari low A), and it seems a bit silly to add ~6% more material (and weight) and such a complex linkage for just one semitone.

(Clearly, there has to have been a good reason for it, or it wouldn't have caught on! I'm curious what that might have been, if you have any ideas).

How should I articulate this

Good morning everyone,

I am a beginner who wants to try out Saxophone. I don't know anyone that have saxophone experience that's why I am posting here. I make some research online and wanna buy the Yamaha Yas 280. The new one is £850 in the UK. How do you recommend the one in this link, which is secondhand and much cheaper !

gear4music secondhand YAS 280

Hi there I have inherited a Selmer Paris super action series 2 tenor sax. I play guitar, not sax.
What is the approximate value?
Thank you

Just have to share I am noticing my improvement on sax I guess more so recently, with my combos class concert this past Fri and tonight we played in different configurations before our next groups are assigned. My improv and my sound are so much better I think I am more confident and playing like that. I tried some piano (hadn’t played in like 20 years), which wasn’t as good of course, I thought I am much stronger now on sax I’m having so much fun! So maybe I’ll stay on it for this next half of the class.

A few months ago, I completed this concertino for alto saxophone and symphony orchestra. The process was a rewarding experience, and I was pleased to see it culminate in the piece’s premiere, performed by the orchestra at the university where I study, with one of the saxophone students as the soloist.

Since you’re saxophonists too, I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts on the piece.

Unfortunately, I do not have a complete recording of the premiere; I have only a few brief excerpts, each lasting no more than a couple of seconds. I expect to receive the auditorium’s ambient-microphone recording soon. For now, the audio in the video is a mock-up created with NotePerformer 5.

https://youtu.be/KsL3Qo7C3IE?si=qbsbYWwjW_Gfyq9u

Burner account because I'm really embarassed. High school student. Audition required pieces from multiple time periods so I picked Scaramouche and the Bach prelude (BWV 1007) off the list. Scaramouche 1 and 2 are fine; Bach 1, 2, and 4-7 are good but MY GOD. Movement 3 of scaramouche and the courante are killing me. I've only had a month for most of the bach, 4-7 were really easy and i had previous experience with the prelude and allemande, but the courante has been tough to put together in a month. I keep flubbing notes for no reason and I keep taking breaths at weird times. Tone has been bad on bari recently too so the Sarabande has been sounding bad as well (i'm playing the whole thing on bari but the bad tone has been especially prominent on the sarabande.)

Scaramouche I've had for longer, and I kind of knew it was going to be a problem. Took me forever to work on 1 and I haven't spent enough time on 3. I've played through it cleanly in the past (and it sounds pretty good with piano), but when I've been playing it recently there's whole sections that I just completely miss. Not to mention my reeds have been garbage lately so I can't even squeak by on the notion of 'oh, he has good tone/expression' or whatever.

I seriously am so scared. I don't know what to do. They require you to play through the whole piece so I can't even pick and choose my better movements. Help?

the evil misaligned bell of doom:

Need to sell Selmer sas201 and was wondering how much it’s worth used near mint? I’m willing to clean it up a lot if necessary.

We are looking for a solo piece for sax accompanied by organ to perform at our church. Our music director came up with Robert Buckley Farlee - "Deep Waters: Three Hymns of Faith (AFP, 1997)". However it is out of print and I cannot locate a copy. Looking to see if anyone has a copy or has other suggestions of music to play. Thanks.

Hi everyone, next week I’ll be going to Japan for a trip and I’ve been thinking about getting a sax for a long time so I thought why not I might as well look around there. I’ll mostly be looking for Yamahas or yanis (leaning towards a classic YAS-62) but the problem is I’ve only played tenor ever. I don’t have a mouthpiece or alto reeds or anything related to the alto to test the sax out. Only time I played an alto was very rarely just me noodling around on my friend’s horn for a couple minutes.
Does anyone have a solution for me?

These are a couple shops I’m looking at.

Ishimori
Ishibaya
Wind bros

I’m looking to buy second hand unless I get a great deal on a new one. Im open to any shop suggestions as well! I’ll be in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka. Thanks.

i started playing Bb with bis Bb, and it just feels more natural than if i were to play side. it also sounds better on my instrument. ive always been told that bis is more out of tune, but recently i tuned both side and bis, and it appears as if bis is more in tune on my instrument. is this possible or am i going crazy

Hello all! I acquired this lovely holton tenor that smells like it’s been sitting in an antique shop for a decade. This is my first tenor and I was super stoked when i saw the yanigasawa stamp, but i was wondering when exactly this horn came from? If the picture isnt very clear, then the serial number is 2412A. Thanks!

for the first time in 8 years I have a saxophone. it is a beautiful low a Eastman bari sax. does anybody have good recommendations for method books or song books? I've been having fun on musescore but if I'm going to pay for something I'd rather have a tangible book than their subscription.

All my notes up to like B with octave key usually sound fine but anything above that or even just holding the notes has unsteady intonation/tone. I have a tendency to pinch on the palm keys and when I relax and dont pinch its hard to shape my tongue to raise the pitch. For my jazz embochure ive heard to have the lower lip fold outwards and keep the corners kinda loose (although ive also heard to still keep your corners tight for jazz). Ive tried overtones and long tones exercises and a lot of things but either i need to work a little harder and ill see the progress or im doing something wrong.

I’m a complete beginner and have not a clue about horns! I’m looking to buy a Yamaha alto sax and I found this listing. These are the pictures.

The price is $1250 CAD and I was able to negotiate to $1100.

Seller states that “Was only used less than 10x”

It’s a good price for this horn, used instruments that have much more wear and tear are going for more on big music store chains.

Wondering if this is an easy fix? The octave key stays slightly open after use. Only closes enough at G or below, which means there’s bad leaks for A, C, C#, B, Bb you name it. The upper register with the octave key pressed and the lower register after G plays fine.

I don’t have the time to take it into a shop at the moment since I’m not gonna be in town and no place has emergency appointments this week. Can I fix this myself?

I really feel like my sound has gotten better, especially since I acquired a new mouthpiece. How is it?

Setup:
Yanagisawa a-w02
GS New York 7m
Juno 2.0 (don’t have any other 2.0 reeds atm, would like to have some of a higher quality).
The ligature that came with the yani

Just curious what the better options is here for a case that fits a Selmer Ref 54, and a Trevor James straight soprano. I know there's the Protec, as well as Marcus Bonna, Gard etc.

I know BAM makes one, but I'm not paying $1500 CAD for a case.

Thanks in advance.

Hello all ,

My gf did 2 year of saxophones when little , she had to stop for some reason but she dream to start again.

I would like to offer her a saxophones for christmas.

I know nothing about that instrument . I have a low budget ( 250-300) and for that price i see 2 option :

1) second hand but i know nothing about it and will not be abble to asses the quality .

2) a cheap 250 € on Amazon , i know these are not good but maybe enough to start for 2-3 Year ?

Any advice ?

Thanks

The usual problem: the band book is in concert pitch and you're on alto, tenor or soprano.

Upload the chart (PDF, photo or MusicXML) and pick your instrument: Bb (soprano/tenor), Eb (alto/bari), F, and more. The chords transpose along with the melody. There's also a custom mode: any key, up or down by half steps (handy for singers), an octave up or down, bass/alto/tenor clef, and sharps or flats.

You get a printable PDF plus a MuseScore file you can edit. Any bar it isn't sure about is marked so you can check it against the original.

https://www.aihud.net/music/transpose

Free, 3 a day (10 with an email). Tell us what instrument or clef is missing.

trying to sample this & i can’t dig up just the sax track & i don’t play 🥲 lmk!