[john springer]

Thanks guys for the great response. I will keep working at it. Very cool suggestion on how to tune the sax to itself. Thanks for the tip

[john springer]

Well, my Selmer La-Voix arrived. I believe it came directly from the factory. It was professionally wrapped in plastic and tissue and had all of the pad-locks in place. It also came with original brochure. The case smells new and every thing is pristine. It even came with a 2.5 reed, MP, cork grease, soft cloth, and a hard case with software outer shell and back straps. Everything needed to start playing immediately.

The first thing that I noticed is that it is lighter than my Jupiter 760 – perhaps by %30. I was able to play it longer without my back and neck complaining too much.
The other thing that I noticed is how responsive the keys are. The slightest relaxing of my fingers starts changing the notes as the pad starts to lift sooner than I am used to. Also, it is easier to blow through it. This was unexpected. It seems less congested and requires less force to get the low notes to start. It also switch to high register very easy – do not even need to use the octave key.

The other thing that I noticed is that even though I am using my own MP, the sax more responsive to changes in my embouchure than the Jupiter. This is a little frustrating because, it keeps playing unexpected overtones. I will count that as a plus, although I feel I have regressed about a month in my intonation control. However; I believe I will get used to it in a couple of days. The timbre seems comparable to my Jupiter.

So far, I am really happy with this purchase.

In summary, I feel I now know some of the differences in student model and professional sax and in my opinion, buying a professional sax for a beginner may not be a service to them.
1) Professional sax is lighter – which is not very appreciable if you are sitting in a chair for only 30-45 mins, but is appreciable if standing for a while such as when performing in a band on stage.
2) Professional sax lets me all too easy play out of tune – meaning it does exactly what my mouth tells it to do instead of what I want it to do (LOL). This could be frustrating to a beginner.
3) There is not any noticeable change in the sound quality over that of my good student model
4) Name brand and engravings are nice, but they cost money and do not add to the sound.

Although I have only been playing for two months now, considering all of the above pros/cons of purchasing a higher-end sax, for me the time seems right. I did not out grow my student model by any means – however; I feel that I am at a point where the differences are tolerable and appreciated (though not needed). I upgraded because I wanted to not because I needed to. The Jupiter plays well I think. But I know I will not outgrow my Selmer and it makes me look good as long as I do not play – ha ha.

Got to go, its time to practice…

[john springer]

Thanks for all the responses.
Wow, Johnny, I was not expecting this to be called a pro sax, I was hoping for intermediate, but really? I got a pro?
I cant wait for it to get delivered. I have a couple of songs that I have been working on and I will make those videos with it.

[john springer]

Thanks for your input guys!

saxomonica I made them the offer of $1850 as you suggested and they accepted. SWEET!

[john springer]

Seems to me like you already know how to play sax.
Yes, I think that is Johnny Fever on the drums!

Great sound! What MP and reed do you use?

[john springer]

WRT those notes, that come immediately after the “slide”, I think there are five of them within what seems to be a mordant. I can’t seem to get the sound just right. Can you tell me what notes you are playing and the technique involved. Once I can get that I think I have most of the song down. Also, what is the highest Altisimo you are playing.

[john springer]

I think I did it. I played the D, then slowly lifted my fingers to E and the slowly the F#, but did it like reverse drumming or even rolling of my fingers (so as to get s smooth even transition and that produced a slide effect. Is that how you do it?

[john springer]

So D to F# then down to the E. The slide from D to F# is what I am talking about.

[john springer]

OK, so after practicing some more I have noticed some improvements – some hints of what is possible had accidentally revealed themselves during practice today and then I managed to recreate them and now the next level in my playing is being realized.

I was practicing the so disappointing sounding A, C and B of the middle range when I tried to clear my throat while playing and I accidentally hummed into the mouth piece at the perfect match of the harmonic of the note being played (electrifying). The note was beautiful!. It resonated, vibrated, and had punch and power. It was not a growl – just a hum and it added so much. I then remembered Johnny’s flutter tongue video and tried that. YES!, I can flutter tongue to and that sounded cool. I also managed to make my tenor play ever sooooo soft – those low whispy/airy low notes and high note fades (JAVA reed 2.5). Now mind you I can only do this in fragmented 1 seconds periods of success and only over a select few notes – but the revelation came. I now know what to practice so as to make it better – the germ of my sound has started to sprout (about the 5 week mark)

[john springer]

OK. I will confess, I was playing electric guitar at a coffee shop during mike night (the gig), my band and I (me and my backing track) were cruising along pretty well during my solo part when some girl screemed “whoo whoo” like she was digging me! I got so excited that a girl was screaming for me I total messed up the solo and so I just started random picking and bending notes over the scale for the key I was in. It worked pretty good. Sadly as it turns out, I later found out that the girl who was screaming was my daughter cheering me on LOL :O (OK Can you see why my first story is better)

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