Good morning from Troy in Virginia Beach – Beginner

[Troy]

Good morning all,

First, thank you for putting this page together. I'm sure it will prove to be a valuable resource to all who take the time to gather here.

My name is Troy and I'm 41 years old and just picked up an alto saxophone for the first time maybe two or three months ago. I have a friend that plays the bass guitar in a band and I've always wanted to play an instrument, and after my first vacation in years and talking to my wife, I decided I'd pick up a sax. First, I love the sound of a sax, and second, if I'm playing a sax, nobody can ask me to sing. :0) That sounds like a win/win to me.

I'm really strapped for money – we were flipping a house just before the market crashed and ended up stuck here – we got screwed by our carpenter. We also have an 18 month old daughter…she's awesome, so I am renting a sax from Music & Arts at the moment. I'd prefer the sound of a soprano, but I could not find a soprano locally to rent, and believe me, I spent many hours searching. The only store online I found for a rental locally was Ego, and their rep on site said they hadn't seen a soprano sax in the store, ever. Oh well, I'm learning on the alto for the time being. I am taking music lessons online from the Dallas School of Music. I was looking for more information outside of this online class because I feel like something with the sax just isn't clicking for me and I feel like I'm getting a tone/sound more like a goose that has been goosed than a smooth sax tone. I've been using Hempke 2.5 reeds and I've swapped 3 of them around a bit trying to see what is going on. I thought maybe I had a crack in my reed and changing reeds has helped a bit, but I'm wondering if it's just me, my mouthpiece, or if I'm not setting up my reed and mouthpiece correctly. I've moved the tip of the reed closer to the tip, further back, blown harder and blown softer, moved the mouthpiece further in and out of my mouth, and I'm just not happy with the sound. The bad part of that is that it's starting to become discouraging and I really do want to learn to play well. I'm currently using a Selmer model sax, the AS500, with the deafult (pun intended) plastic mouthpiece. I'll repost most of this in a more appropriate forum, but that's my intro. :0)

One of my inspirations (after I started practicing) was Julian Smith on Britan's Got Talent. I know there are better out there, but if you haven't seen his performances, I think you'd like him. Actually, he is so humble, and passionate about the sax that it's hard not to like Julian.

Quick question…are the mouthpieces interchangable between types of sax, such as from alto to soprano to tenor etc.?

[Dave Tucker]

Troy,
First thing, try not to get discouraged. If you start letting it get to you things will go down hill pretty quick. Keep at it and follow the videos Johnny has posted. They really do work. I noticed you saw the picture I posted of my Sax. It is the same as you are renting. You just started playing about the same time I did. I to would get a little frustrated but I keep at it. I purchased a couple of books before Christmas. One book has 140 Christmas songs and the other book was Henry Mancini songs with play along backing tracks. Johnny has posted some backing tracks also. I'm having a great time learning to play with an orchestra behind me. LOL I do not have any recordings of myself playing.
I am starting lessons this coming week. I really looking forward to this. Any bad things I'm doing can be corrected.
I am currently using Rico 2.5 and Vandoren 2.5 reeds. I am not an expert but I think the #3 reed may be to stiff for you at this stage of the game. Maybe try a 2 or 2.5 reed until your embuchure gets a little stronger.
Embuchure has allot to do with the squeaking. I find that after I practice for awhile and my jaw and lips start getting tired I tend to squeak a little.
I hope this helps a little.

Dave T

[Troy]

Thanks Dave,

First, I apologize for the length of the reply. I type pretty fast and end up with huge posts before I realize it…

I'm currently using 2.5 Hempke reeds, the number 3 was from where I had swapped around 3 of the reeds in the pack. :0) Your suggestions did help, and I think I'll probabably see what answers I get on my mouthpiece and ligature post and upgrade from my current one, and buy a couple different brands of reeds and see how adjusting the setup changes things. The reed I am currently using was performing better then the rest, but now it has gone downhill a lot. I noticed today when I pulled the reed out to reference for an explanation of how I had my ligature and reed set up in another post that my reed had a build up that I could feel when I ran my fingernail over it. A couple of those bumps were at the sweet spot where the reed and mouthpiece make contact with the side rails so it could have been affecting the reed's vibration and helping me squeak. I don't need extra help, I can squeak fine on my own :0). I haven't been able to test it yet, but I will tomorrow or this weekend and I'll post if there is a difference. I do not practice as much as I would like to, but when I do, I no longer end up with a sore face or jaw, but I know my embuchure does need to be strengthened more.

Have you checked out the online Dallas School of Music? http://www.discoverlearnandplay.com That is the link and it is roughly ten dollars per month. Besides that one point that I keep beating myself up over, I like the course. It's self paced and you can upload video's or sound clips for the teacher to review and leave feedback. There is a theory section at the beginning of each lesson. Each lesson has 9 songs for you to use for practice and each song has 3 sound clips to help you through. The first clip is a slower paced tempo so you can more easily learn the key sequence. The second clip is at the normal tempo with background music, plus a piano keystroke at each point where you should be playing a note. The third sound clip is the normal tempo with the music background, but without the piano notes as a guide. All 9 songs in the lesson are set up like this. Each song opens with the typical drumsticks to set the tempo for the song. If you are interested there is a link to contact the school and they will set up a conference call and web meeting to show you how the course goes (basically what I just described), where you can upload clips for review and assistance, etc. The part I really like is the quiz section, which is also broken up into three pieces. The first portion has easy multiple choice questions and a few sound clips with questions, the second is similar with mix and match type answers and the third portion is more difficult with fill in the blank type answers that make you think. Don't get me wrong, I've only found Johnny's website today and I like the information here and I have already learned some useful information just because it is presented differently and with great video's, but the information above is another good resource if you want to check it out.

I think I'll keep at it another month or so and if I am not feeling more confident, I'll just have to break down and pay for some lessons and fix a few things I'm not quite doing right. I think there are few things that I will need to fix with face to face lessons versus videos and reading.

[Author]

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