Hi. I have rescued my alto sax from my sister after decades, and am re-learning EVERYTHING.

I was a reasonably good amateur player for high school. But I knew how to read music from violin, and just had to learn fingerings. As a result, I moved too fast, before my embouchure was ready. By the time concert season came, I was first seat alto, but had only been playing for 9 months. All the concerts led to a mouth that was a bloody mess. I didn’t play after that season, because the memory of my sore mouth scared me off from continuing.

35+ years later, I’ve decided to pick it up again, and now realize I remember nothing. But I played my first scale today, after a refresher course on basic fingering on this site. I am unduly proud of myself.

So this time, I plan to be more careful to build a true embouchure, and stick with it. I don’t know what kinds of groups are around to play with (once I am better), but I am told that everyone plays instruments in Salt Lake City. I guess I’ll discover if this is true in a few months.

Happy to have found this site!