when you said your first woodwind instrument was clarinet i got very excited mine was too but i switched to bass clarinet this year but i still am a clarinet technichally the clarinet will always be inside of us clarinet crew!!!
I'm in sixth grade band and after my first concert I am officially switching to saxophone.Ive always wanted to play a soprano saxophone specifically so this information is really making me think before I do things lol still a good review thank you
Hi i started in 6th grade also. But if you are going to switch to saxaphone i would not recommend doing soprano. It is really hard to do and not much songs are written for it. I would much rather recommend doing tenor or baritone
Saxophones are definitely gonna be pricey no matter which way you go, schools don't usually have the greatest saxophones (from my experience) and even if you do use a school sax you have to get reeds and then you might even want to find a new mouthpiece for it. Its also kinda hard but not too much.
I'd try a lip out embrouchure, will help massively with the sound. Check out the "get your sax together" on this, Jamie does a great video on this. Mouthpiece placement is quite critical. TJ saxes are great. Keep working and you'll love soprano 😀
You're doing absolutely fine Chris, and you can play much more of the upper register than I can! I took up the soprano at Christmas, hubby bought me one as a present this year, and I'm really loving it too. Having real trouble with the upper register though, which is very frustrating! Lower register sounding fine though. I've been trying to teach myself using "A tune a day" for saxophone, and now it's getting really tricky, so today I got in touch with the lovely music shop where my hubby bought my soprano from, Britten's Music in Tunbridge Wells, where they also have their own music school with a really super saxophone teacher. I'm feeling mega excited about starting lessons, can't wait to get to Tunbridge Wells ASAP!!!!!!!!
I have played alto sax for 4 years. When I first started learning to play soprano sax 2 years ago, I had a one piece straight soprano (Conn-Selmer Advant DSS-200) and the weight on my right arm got me for a while and I found it hard to hold and I noticed I found it harder to keep in tune but since I had played alto sax every day for 2-3 hours at a time for a year, I was able to get a smoothish sound from the soprano. I started with a Selmer Concept mouthpiece which was similar to the Selmer Claude Delangle alto mouthpiece I was using, only smaller and without the metal ring. I played it for 6 months then switched to a curved soprano for a year as I found it much better to hold and a bit easier to play but harder to keep in tune in the low notes. I was still playing mostly alto sax at the time so only occationally soprano sax. I realised that I preferred the sound of straight sopranos so I was able to exchange my curved for a two piece straight soprano in the same make. I have played every other day for about 6 months now and switched to a Selmer S80 D and now a Selmer Super Session E. I play it with a curved neck and I can mostly keep it in tune now but I still have slight issues with high notes sounding a little thin. I found the wider tip opening Super Session easier to play than the narrow opening of the Concept.
In my experience, Any note low G and under will have that weird motorboating sound. It's most likely NOT your gear. That's just a first time thing, I believe. Honestly, all you can do about it is practice a lot, and it will go away. At least that's how I did it. I honestly have no idea what I did different to fix the issue. *I think* i applied a bit more pressure to my jaw, or used more air or something. But it may help to push your mouthpiece in, but It probably won't do much. All you can do is practice a lot, and it will go away.
Definitely! I'm so guilty of blaming my gear on my out-of-tune or bad playing. More than likely just me and my lips! Thanks for the tip on the mouthpiece, I think it definitely helps to have a bit more of the reed in my mouth and stops me constricting it near the tip!
I had never played a Soprano before, but I played tenor sax and tuba in high school. After HS I learned numerous other instruments and my favorite is to throw people off by switching between tuba and oboe.
The thing about the soprano is that you cannot play it with the same embouchure as a clarinet. You’re going to have to really relax the mouth and switch to lip out rather than classical lip over teeth. Always always always grease a new cork…always!! The closed mouthpiece which came with your horn should not be used if you are playing Jazz. Go for tried and true before experimenting - start with a 2.5 green or red box and make sure to always use a properly fitted lig. Your reed placement looked high in the video and the lig definitely needs to be below the Reed heart. Work low Bb until you can sub tone it easily. You’ll need to really focus on your abdominal core. Try to play with as loose an embouchure as possible at all time. Run every note as a long tone and have a tuner going all the time…ALL THE TIME Remember, even though it is the same range as a clarinet, there is a completely different way to play the soprano. Loose embouchure cannot be overly emphasized I play a Selmer Super Session H with a 2.5-3 Boston Sax Shop reed. You can probably also get a really nice BSS lig for that mouthpiece
My grandfather gave me his soprano since he can't play it anymore. I've never ever played any saxophone. I'm practicing it for a year now and I still play it like a 4 year old
Hi, seems like you are tightening your embouchure way too hard.. The saxophone embochure is one of the most relaxed embouchures you need to form in order to get a big robust tone (assuming you play pop/jazz music). Even if you do classical, it isnt as hard as that of the clarinet. Soprano sax embouchure is a tad bit tighter than alto or tenor but still way more loose compared to the clarinet. When you squeeze your lips, you choke the reed and it cannot vibrate as well. This is more sensitive on the Soprano as compared to Alto/Tenor. Do check out Jamie Anderson on UA-cam. He has some really gd and useful videos on forming a gd embochure and getting a fat tone out of your horn.
Soprano is super fun and you should definitely consider playing it if you have access to one - I actually started on soprano and when I was told to play bari as well I felt like I learned it way quicker than starting on bari from scratch. My point is playing soprano can potentially accelerate your progress on all the other saxes
Every sax player should play straight soprano at some time because it is a serious lesson in breath control. The bends in there other saxes gives a back pressure and the straight soprano feels like falling off a cliff.
Soprano has significantly more back pressure than alto or tenor. The neck does not change this. In fact, my curved neck is ever so slightly more free blowing. The major difference is felt in reed and mouthpiece choice. You’ll almost never have a free blowing soprano
To any aspiring beginners I implore you to find someone who can impartially adviseyou on your first purchase Hint: "Professional" horns are easiest to play
when you said your first woodwind instrument was clarinet i got very excited
mine was too but i switched to bass clarinet this year
but i still am a clarinet technichally
the clarinet will always be inside of us
clarinet crew!!!
Amazing! Bass clarinet looks so cool and it sounds incredible! Clarinet crew for life!!
@@SaxSonclarinet crew for life but I wanna play soprano sax for a bit
I love the soprano saxophone. All the saxophones are amazing, but the soprano has become my favorite after many years, together with the tenor.
I'm in sixth grade band and after my first concert I am officially switching to saxophone.Ive always wanted to play a soprano saxophone specifically so this information is really making me think before I do things lol still a good review thank you
good luck on the journey
good luck! I started on alto and i'm in 7th grade band and now I play baritone, I love it.
Hi i started in 6th grade also. But if you are going to switch to saxaphone i would not recommend doing soprano. It is really hard to do and not much songs are written for it. I would much rather recommend doing tenor or baritone
Do tenor
Saxophones are definitely gonna be pricey no matter which way you go, schools don't usually have the greatest saxophones (from my experience) and even if you do use a school sax you have to get reeds and then you might even want to find a new mouthpiece for it. Its also kinda hard but not too much.
Very inspiring and informative 👏
At times, it sounds like a clarinet when you use the octave key.
Go for it, champion 🏆
I'd try a lip out embrouchure, will help massively with the sound. Check out the "get your sax together" on this, Jamie does a great video on this. Mouthpiece placement is quite critical. TJ saxes are great. Keep working and you'll love soprano 😀
You're doing absolutely fine Chris, and you can play much more of the upper register than I can! I took up the soprano at Christmas, hubby bought me one as a present this year, and I'm really loving it too. Having real trouble with the upper register though, which is very frustrating! Lower register sounding fine though. I've been trying to teach myself using "A tune a day" for saxophone, and now it's getting really tricky, so today I got in touch with the lovely music shop where my hubby bought my soprano from, Britten's Music in Tunbridge Wells, where they also have their own music school with a really super saxophone teacher. I'm feeling mega excited about starting lessons, can't wait to get to Tunbridge Wells ASAP!!!!!!!!
I have played alto sax for 4 years. When I first started learning to play soprano sax 2 years ago, I had a one piece straight soprano (Conn-Selmer Advant DSS-200) and the weight on my right arm got me for a while and I found it hard to hold and I noticed I found it harder to keep in tune but since I had played alto sax every day for 2-3 hours at a time for a year, I was able to get a smoothish sound from the soprano. I started with a Selmer Concept mouthpiece which was similar to the Selmer Claude Delangle alto mouthpiece I was using, only smaller and without the metal ring.
I played it for 6 months then switched to a curved soprano for a year as I found it much better to hold and a bit easier to play but harder to keep in tune in the low notes. I was still playing mostly alto sax at the time so only occationally soprano sax. I realised that I preferred the sound of straight sopranos so I was able to exchange my curved for a two piece straight soprano in the same make. I have played every other day for about 6 months now and switched to a Selmer S80 D and now a Selmer Super Session E. I play it with a curved neck and I can mostly keep it in tune now but I still have slight issues with high notes sounding a little thin. I found the wider tip opening Super Session easier to play than the narrow opening of the Concept.
In my experience,
Any note low G and under will have that weird motorboating sound. It's most likely NOT your gear. That's just a first time thing, I believe. Honestly, all you can do about it is practice a lot, and it will go away. At least that's how I did it.
I honestly have no idea what I did different to fix the issue. *I think* i applied a bit more pressure to my jaw, or used more air or something. But it may help to push your mouthpiece in, but It probably won't do much. All you can do is practice a lot, and it will go away.
Definitely! I'm so guilty of blaming my gear on my out-of-tune or bad playing. More than likely just me and my lips! Thanks for the tip on the mouthpiece, I think it definitely helps to have a bit more of the reed in my mouth and stops me constricting it near the tip!
I had never played a Soprano before, but I played tenor sax and tuba in high school. After HS I learned numerous other instruments and my favorite is to throw people off by switching between tuba and oboe.
The thing about the soprano is that you cannot play it with the same embouchure as a clarinet. You’re going to have to really relax the mouth and switch to lip out rather than classical lip over teeth.
Always always always grease a new cork…always!!
The closed mouthpiece which came with your horn should not be used if you are playing Jazz. Go for tried and true before experimenting - start with a 2.5 green or red box and make sure to always use a properly fitted lig. Your reed placement looked high in the video and the lig definitely needs to be below the Reed heart.
Work low Bb until you can sub tone it easily. You’ll need to really focus on your abdominal core. Try to play with as loose an embouchure as possible at all time. Run every note as a long tone and have a tuner going all the time…ALL THE TIME
Remember, even though it is the same range as a clarinet, there is a completely different way to play the soprano. Loose embouchure cannot be overly emphasized
I play a Selmer Super Session H with a 2.5-3 Boston Sax Shop reed. You can probably also get a really nice BSS lig for that mouthpiece
My grandfather gave me his soprano since he can't play it anymore. I've never ever played any saxophone. I'm practicing it for a year now and I still play it like a 4 year old
For the low note it works for me to push up with my left thumb to the upper teeth and push down with the right hand at thesame time
Hi, seems like you are tightening your embouchure way too hard.. The saxophone embochure is one of the most relaxed embouchures you need to form in order to get a big robust tone (assuming you play pop/jazz music). Even if you do classical, it isnt as hard as that of the clarinet. Soprano sax embouchure is a tad bit tighter than alto or tenor but still way more loose compared to the clarinet.
When you squeeze your lips, you choke the reed and it cannot vibrate as well. This is more sensitive on the Soprano as compared to Alto/Tenor. Do check out Jamie Anderson on UA-cam. He has some really gd and useful videos on forming a gd embochure and getting a fat tone out of your horn.
In some Chinese sopranos the curved neck does not work as well as the straight ones.
Long tone first, man 1 upto 2 octaves
The extra key next to the high F# key is for a high G
Hopefully one day I'll be able to get up there!
@@SaxSon dw you'll get there it's a slow process and soprano is a very hard instrument good luck !
I play baritone sax and alto, I’m scared to try soprano lol
It's great fun to play, but yeah, a bit frightening... I bet this video put you right off too haha!
Soprano is super fun and you should definitely consider playing it if you have access to one - I actually started on soprano and when I was told to play bari as well I felt like I learned it way quicker than starting on bari from scratch. My point is playing soprano can potentially accelerate your progress on all the other saxes
It's really fun you should go for it I've played all saxes but main bari and have an alto and soprano but the soprano is so fun to play
Every sax player should play straight soprano at some time because it is a serious lesson in breath control. The bends in there other saxes gives a back pressure and the straight soprano feels like falling off a cliff.
So that's why I'm always out of breath... Haha! I have a lot to learn about watching my breath!
Soprano has significantly more back pressure than alto or tenor. The neck does not change this. In fact, my curved neck is ever so slightly more free blowing. The major difference is felt in reed and mouthpiece choice.
You’ll almost never have a free blowing soprano
What’s ur rate on baritone????
Same
With Practise, u will get better n b Great,TQ
To any aspiring beginners I implore you to find someone who can impartially adviseyou on your first purchase
Hint: "Professional" horns are easiest to play