Saxophone Forum


by Sax Savvy
(2 posts)
15 years ago

Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

I'm the only girl saxophone player in the 9th grade. And I think there is only one girl sax in the 8th grade(but I highly doubt she's going to stick around). And there are like maybe 2 saxes that are girls in the entire high school band. Maybe it's just my school? Does anyone else have a male dominated band?

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  1. by Caelestis
    (5 posts)

    13 years ago

    Re: Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

    I don't know about saxophone for boys, Iv'e played second alto to 2 girls and my brother in middle school and in High School I'm playing Second alto 2 two girls and my brother. The Saxophone is mostly a boy and girl instrument. The Saxophone is Male dominated in the professional field. Two music teachers that Iv'e known played Saxophone, and most professionals I've seen were male.

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  2. by saxophonist_104
    (148 posts)

    15 years ago

    Re: Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

    The band I'm from is mostly female dominated, but I have a theory as to why the saxophone is most exclusively played by males: First of all, brass (in theory) is mostly dominated by males. You're probably wondering, "Why the heck is she rambling on about brass when the sax is a woodwind instrument?" I'm getting to that. The saxophone was originally a brass instrument NOT invented by Adolphe Sax. Sax recieved all the credit when he shoved a clarinet mouthpiece into the brass mouthpiece of the J-shaped instrument, and thus the saxophone was born. So, you see, because the saxophone was born from the brass and adopted into woodwinds, it's really a unisexual instrument, but it characteristically leans toward male players.

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    1. by scarter6
      (9 posts)

      13 years ago

      Re: Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

      I'd like to see where you get your sorces on Adolf Sax taking credit for an instrument that was already around by just sticking a "clarinet" mouthpiece on it. You do know the first saxophone was not an alto..

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    2. by saxophonist_104
      (148 posts)

      15 years ago

      Re: Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

      Anybody agree (or disagree) with me?

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      1. by cuber
        (653 posts)

        15 years ago

        Re: Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

        seems like most girls play clarinet or flute. why? not really sure, but in my band has about an equal ratio of guy/girls

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        1. by saxophonist_104
          (148 posts)

          15 years ago

          Re: Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

          I only know of three guys who play (or have played) flute or clarinet: my band director, my boss, and my boyfriend's dad. Not that I haven't seen any others, but those are the ones I know of personally.

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        2. by saxjunkie89
          (393 posts)

          15 years ago

          Re: Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

          sax104, you're wrong. First off, the lead trumpet player in my high school band had been female for at least 10 years, maybe more. In my college marching band, half of the tuba section is female, 2/3 of the trumpets are female, and there's another decent female populace in the trombone and baritone sections. Don't give me that... Second. Adolphe Sax was a genius. He was an apprentice in his father's workshop when he was a young boy, and by the age of 15, had made instruments that had been renowned at worldwide expositions. He improved/perfected the bass clarinet (switched the fingering system from Heckel to Boehm and/or Albert). He invented the saxophone after experimenting in putting a bass clarinet mouthpiece on a bizarre instrument, the Ophecleide, also known as a "keyed bugle" back in the day. After finding that playing a woodwind mouthpiece into a conical brass instrument made a decent sound, he experimented with making prototypes of an instrument that built off of this concept more intelligently. The saxophone was initially made into the shape of an ophecleide (roughly the shape of a bassoon, and I mean ROUGHLY), until patent infringements were pointed out by his rival instrument manufacturers. He then transformed the shape of the saxophone into the modern "J"-ish form. The first saxophone was a bass saxophone in the key of C. Check me if you don't believe me. Good day! -Lawrence

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      2. by chalazon
        (547 posts)

        15 years ago

        Re: Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

        soo, saxophonist 104...I'm curious as to where you obtained your information as to Adolph Sax not inventing the saxophone..this is the first that I've been aware of this little story, and would like to view your research sources as to this statement thank you.

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        1. by cuber
          (653 posts)

          15 years ago

          Re: Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

          the c-mel wasnt the first sax. if i remember right, its the bari. also, he had to really struggle to get the sax accepted as an instrument that was written for. wasnt easy, like the story suggests.

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          1. by saxjunkie89
            (393 posts)

            15 years ago

            Re: Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

            i didn't say that the first sax was a C-melody. It was a Bass in the key of C. It was invented to bolster the low reed sound in the orchestra, which was represented by the Bassoons and bass clarinets. A few composers (Bizet, Mendellsohn, Berlioz, among others) supported Sax, and composed pieces that incorporated the sax. Some of their pieces even included parts for saxophones that hadn't even been invented at the time.

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          2. by Altonian11
            (39 posts)

            15 years ago

            Re: Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

            I was under the impression that the Bass Sax was the first invented, to substitute as a marching Bassoon.

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          3. by saxjunkie89
            (393 posts)

            15 years ago

            Re: Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

            Well, it was the first invented, that is correct. It wasn't necessarily made as a replacement for bassoons in marching band, but to replace them for outdoor performances. As you may already know, the bassoon makes its most beautiful sounds indoors, but is not very loud. When put outdoors, a listener can barely hear it from a distance. Bassoons also are not used outside because higher quality ones are wood, and react to the elements more easily than brass does.

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          4. by saxjunkie89
            (393 posts)

            15 years ago

            Re: Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

            Oh, by the way. The replacement for the bassoon in marching band would be the sarrusophone family. These were double-reed instruments created shortly after the invention of the saxophone, and had nearly the same fingering system, save the natural range being low A to high G instead of low B/Bb to high F (at the time). They spanned from soprano in Bb to contrabass in EEb. Strangely enough, the contrabass was the most popular size of sarrusophone.

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          5. by chalazon
            (547 posts)

            15 years ago

            Re: Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

            strangely enough ideed..

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          6. by saxophonist_104
            (148 posts)

            15 years ago

            Re: Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

            sorry to get everyone in an uproar...sheesh! Okay, maybe my story about Adolphe was wrong, but were YOU watching over his shoulder when he was tinkering with the idea???? And those were just my observations of the band I'm urrently a part of, thus my theory. No two bands are alike. I simply meant to describe my band, not say that all bands are like this.

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          7. by scarter6
            (9 posts)

            13 years ago

            Re: Why are there so many guy saxophone players?

            professionally, there are more men than women, period. No matter the instrument. I've played in professional jazz gigs and quartets for years, and many times, I'm the only female. However, when in a concert band setting, I seem to be surrounded by more women than men. It just depends on what you're doing, and where you're doing it. Never complain about being surrounded by men, just make sure they know you can be or are already better than they are!

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