Low C problem

[Gregor Rencelj]

Hello all,
i received my alto sax and now starting to practice scale (basic one). I notice when i get from low D to low C i get strange tone and sometimes it change to high sound. Is this cose my mouthpiece and reed (original some chinese) ? Is it worth to invest on start in to SELMER S80 C* ? Like Johnny F. said in pdf file?

Here is video to check (posted 2):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0A1WueqLkQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9IOXAIokPo

Regards

Greg

[jake]

Hello, sounds to me like you have a leaky pad down there. I had that same problem, needed to have it adjusted. When you press the low C, look and be sure its fully closing like it should.
Another thing you could try is to push from your diaphragm, those lower notes take a little more ummph to get em out.

Good Luck.

[Anonymous]

Hi Greg – Does the D always make that noise everytime if you just play the D on its own?

When i first started playing i sometimes used to make the same noise low down when i was running out of air, but it didn’t do it if i played the note on its own.

in the 1st video the E sounded bad but the D was acceptable, in the 2nd video the E sounded ok, but the D broke up.

Also the G didn’t sound good in both videos.

I was looking to see when you played the D, if you were lifting any of your other fingers slightly off the keys, or if one of your fingers was touching another pad when you played the D.

I can’t really tell, unless you play the D first on its own several times, to rule out loss of air support.

[Anonymous]

Sorry Greg – too early in the morning, meant to say

Does the C always make that noise everytime if you just play the C on its own?

When i first started playing i sometimes used to make the same noise low down when i was running out of air, but it didn’t do it if i played the note on its own.

in the 1st video the D sounded bad but the C was acceptable, in the 2nd video the D sounded ok, but the C broke up.

Also the A (1st video) and the G(2nd video) didn’t sound very good.

I was looking to see when you played the C, if you were lifting any of your other fingers slightly off the keys, or if one of your fingers was touching another pad when you played the C.

I can’t really tell, unless you play the C first on its own several times, to rule out loss of air support.

[Gregor Rencelj]

Tryed another one, mayby you can see here :

https://youtu.be/f1hfc-SDfkU

[Anonymous]

Wow – find the pad that moves when you press the Low C key, and look round all the edges of the pad and see if all the edges are closing the gap AT the same time. (i once bent a pad slightly by knocking it, you can easily bend them with your fingers).

Other than that you sound like you are blowing overtones on the lower keys (hopefully you aren’t touching the octave key behind the neck)

[Marc]

Hey, Greg… without knowing about the mouthpiece/reed combination you’re using, I would risk it’s a matter of breath support, like suggested in his second option.
Can you blow and sound the lower B and Bb (i.e. notes below that C) consistently for several seconds? Or do they start sounding fair and after 3-5 seconds they begin to wow? (I mean: toooooooo … ooowowooowoooowooooww….)
If you have more or less the same problem from low C (even low D) and below, try to blow more steady. Lack of air immediately leads to weak sounds like those you recorded. Do not trust in short sounds, those you play on a quick scale. Blow loooong, steady notes. All of them should sound good.
Be well aware that if you’re a beginner, a MP with more than 2.0 mm (0.078″) of tip opening could give you a hard time on some notes. Try something lighter, if you have access to a closer MP and/or softer reed, perhaps borrowed from a friend, you should be able to make a comparison with yours.
Check that before taking tour sax to a repair shop.

Good luck.

[Gregor Rencelj]

Hey,

i ordered Selmer S80 c* alto. I checked pads and are ok to me. Also i have problem when i put new reeds 2.5 on it, i almost cant get sound or it short, because i loose lots of air and for me, looks like they are on end a but curved upwords, any idea ?

Will let you know when i received selver and test it.

Greg

[Anonymous]

Hi greg – for a beginner you need to use reeds of a lower strength than 2.5 (more like a size 1) a 2.5 reed would be too hard for a beginner (can take up to a year for a beginner to move from a size 1 to a size 1.5 and upwards!).

Also when you put the reed on, the tip of the reed should be level with the tip of the mouthpiece, when you press the tip of the reed down onto the mouthpiece (JF says to leave a hairs width below the mouthpiece tip, i level mine with the tip).

The ligature needs to be in the middle of the mouthpiece, not too far forward or too far backward (that changes how the reed vibrates).

Buy JF’s e-book thats very helpful!

Like i say i had exactly the same problem when i first started playing, it had nothing to do with the pads, i think my problem was embouchure related! I was biting too hard on the mouthpiece and i’m sure it happened when i was running out of breath, slurring down the scale like you did.

I think with the right reed size, reed in the correct place, and ligature in the correct place you should be ok.
with the embouchure, do the following steps.
1 relax breath out in and out normally and hear your breath
2 place the top teeth on the middle of the mouthpiece (or there abouts)
3 place the bottom lip on the underside of the reed (with your teeth below your bottom lip)
4 DO NOT BITE
5 now blow like in step 1, playing a mid B key!

6 once you can play a B key properly for a count of 4 WITH NO BITING
then go down to a A key
7 when you can play the A Key try the mid C Key NO BITING

8 Don’t start on another note until you can play the previous one properly for a count of 4 with NO BITING

just keep going.

It took me several weeks to play a note for a count of 4 (so be put off if you run out of air for any note)

[Anonymous]

The other thing i forgot to mention, when you buy a box of reeds say size 1, when you try them out, some will be slightly harder to play, and some will be ok, you might get one or two good reeds in a box of 10 reeds – so don’t let that put you off! Welcome to the crap world of reeds!

[Author]

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