Saxophone Forum


by kitnachi
(41 posts)
19 years ago

How can I manage

I might seem crazy but I want to learn every instrument in band...though sax is gonna be my main instrumetn cause it is just so cool. My problem is that I have to go from Bari to soprano and I just got a clarinet and I notice that I have to work harder to either get high or low notes. I need to know how I can help my mouth do better in a range for instruments. Especially since I use the bari and the soprano a lot.

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  1. by Cannon
    (23 posts)

    19 years ago

    Re: How can I manage

    I encourage your interest in different musical areas and definitely wouldn't tell you to be narrow minded. HOWEVER, if you are seriously considering playing a musical instrument in college (since you're 18), you are going to need a high level of dedication to that one instrument to progress. I believe you said music education you were thinking about? You are required to take brass and woodwind tech classes in college where you learn how to play the basics of each instrument. You have to be proficient in your main instrument to have any success and get into the music school though in the first place...so take that as you will. Don't forget that the sax (the best instrument of them all) can't be neglected.

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  2. by jaggtagg7
    (40 posts)

    19 years ago

    Re: How can I manage

    yes! i am not alone! i also aspire to learn every instrument... i just started playing soprano this week, and i notice now that my tone on bari is not as full. for me its a matter of apply the difference embouchures to the specific instrument.

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    1. by spifster
      (67 posts)

      19 years ago

      Re: How can I manage

      I'm in the same boat. Right now I can play trumpet, trombone, french horn, clarinet, all saxes (duh), bassoon, and just recently oboe. I've actually found that learning odd instruments can actually improve my tone. For example, right when I learned oboe, my intonation improved on alto. Why? I'm not sure.

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      1. by jaggtagg7
        (40 posts)

        19 years ago

        Re: How can I manage

        hmm.. maybe just because ur working out ur embouchure. well, ur ahead of me. i just took up this want recently. i've learned clarinet, soprano, alto and bari sax. i'm thinking about taking up oboe over the summer and i am looking for a place to rent a decent 1 from.

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        1. by kitnachi
          (41 posts)

          19 years ago

          Re: How can I manage

          I actually started on trumpet when I started learning piano, then I went to the bariton then vaulve trombone then slide trombone then tenor sax and bass guitar then alto then bari and soprano and now clarinet. It is gettin harder n harder to get low notes on the bari but I am learning to strech my mouth. do you think using different size reeds might help??

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      2. by Cannon
        (23 posts)

        19 years ago

        Re: How can I manage

        So...are you guys planning on just being able to see how many instruments you can say you play? I would much rather pick one type...and learn everything about that one choice. I do clarinet and alto...but that is b/c i switched to alto from clarinet b/c i love jazz. i'm not trying to conquer the whole band instrument world like you guys apparently are. Be a master at one instead of mediocre at 10. Just my opinion.

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        1. by kitnachi
          (41 posts)

          19 years ago

          Re: How can I manage

          Now how do u know we are all mediocre?? I am actually good at all the saxes, I am first chair in band... I only suck at the trumpet and bass guitar. since I sucked at the trumpet my teacher switched me but I am rather good at all the other stuff, except I am still learning the clarinet cause I JUST GOT IT! But I am rather good at all the instruments I play, I never settle for mediocre. Besides it is a good still to have since I am thinkin bout teachin band.

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          1. by The_§ax
            (147 posts)

            19 years ago

            Re: How can I manage

            I am backing Cannon here! I can understand that it seems really fun to play any instrument possible, but, I personally think that its better to stick to one intrument, by one instrument i mean saxophones. Its rather normal to play saxes and clarinets but then when you go onto oboes and trumpets it gets pretty weird! to play sax as your main instrument you will be able to perfect the playing more than if you play oboe and expect your tone on sax to get better.

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        2. by Cannon
          (23 posts)

          19 years ago

          Re: How can I manage

          "Its rather normal to play saxes and clarinets but then when you go onto oboes and trumpets it gets pretty weird! to play sax as your main instrument you will be able to perfect the playing more than if you play oboe and expect your tone on sax to get better." Sums up my thoughts pretty well. I plan on playing my clarinet every now and then to not lose any of my clarinet skill. However, this is because being able to double on clarinet is useful in a jazz band situation. However, my main focus CLEARLY is to improve my alto sax playing. It took me forever when i picked up sax to make my mouth relaxed and not try to play a sax like a clarinet. I can't imagine how having 30 other different embochures of other instruments would be beneficial to improving the sound of your main instrument, as well as the other additional instruments for that matter. Good luck to you kitnach and others who want to attempt this, but I'll stick to my philosophy and become the next cannonball. ok...maybe a bit of wishful thinking. but i'd rather be a semi-talented alto than being able to brag that i know how to make a (bad, unrefined) sound for every instrument ever made. YUP! this logical...

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          1. by kitnachi
            (41 posts)

            19 years ago

            Re: How can I manage

            well Maybe we aren't bragging, and basically when u are all saying that we should stick to one instrument u are basically saying to give up stop trying, not broaden my sense of musical iterests and learn many new things. You are telling me to be narrow minded and focus only on one or two instruments. Well if you have ever played a different kind of instrument, or gone through the different places in band like I have you will see that all the instruments in band have a link. But you haven't, and hearing what you are telling me probably never will. Then encouraging me to be narrow minded makes ME feel a lot better....

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            1. by The_§ax
              (147 posts)

              19 years ago

              Re: How can I manage

              I don't beleive that you are bragging, I just think that some people seem to have an obsession with picking up and playing every instrument in their band.

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              1. by kitnachi
                (41 posts)

                19 years ago

                Re: How can I manage

                okay I get what u are saying, I do know ppl like that, but I at least wait till I start to get really good at the instrument before I leave it. I was 2nd chair trombone before I picked up the sax and I am 1st chair sax right now because I practiced a lot and try hard the other two have more years of expierence than me. So you see I try hard to get good at it before I leave it. I could still pick up a trombone a play at a good level, it is mostly if u have to ever....... skills that is why I like it.

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              2. by GzsKerqt
                (77 posts)

                19 years ago

                Re: How can I manage

                that's cool.. that's bragging.. but if i were u, i wont tell cannon that he/she is making u narrow minded..... but IN MY OPINION, its better to either be gd in either brass or woodwind. It affects the embrochure. Maybe the only thing u'll benefit is better breathing skills?

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              3. by spifster
                (67 posts)

                19 years ago

                Re: How can I manage

                The reason I can play louder and more supported than any other player in my section is because I was a first-chair trombone player.

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              4. by kitnachi
                (41 posts)

                19 years ago

                Re: How can I manage

                yeah that is basically what I was saying. Though this might seem wierd, it also helps me go from soprano sax all the way down to Bari cause you have to tighten and loosen your lip, and I learned those skills in the brass.

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              5. by spifster
                (67 posts)

                19 years ago

                Re: How can I manage

                And the thing about embouchre: I think it does help to play more, because when you switch back, you have to remember how you played before. It really forces you to define what you are doing pressure wise and helps to correct those little unconscious things that just kind of get picked up when you're learning. And if one would want to become, say, a high school band director later in life, one would be ten steps ahead because they already know how to play everything. I don't know how it is around your guy's area, but our band director plays all the instruments in our band.

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              6. by kitnachi
                (41 posts)

                19 years ago

                Re: How can I manage

                Well I have two choices of proffesions that I wont want to kill myself in, that is BAND DIRECTOR or forensics. I just wish I could stop going flat on my little soprano. I know I am going flat so I have to play louder, ohwell its just one song, I love playing loud though......heh heh

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              7. by jaggtagg7
                (40 posts)

                19 years ago

                Re: How can I manage

                by no means do i claim to be more than mediocre at any instrument and often times i wish i had just stayed on 1 instrument. Often i wonder what my abilities would be if i had stuck to just one. i never really wanted to learn every instrument. it was never my life's goal. just recently we needed a bari player in our concert band so i voluenteered to do it. but my learning instruments goes back to 1rst grade when i originally took piano lessons. although i stoped them after less then a year. so i'm not even very good on piano.so its not even that i just want to be able to say that i can play all these instruments. its more that i am just intrigued by all the sercet wonders that each instrument holds. i've never even considered a career i music before this year (i am a hs senoir graduating in 12 days) and only then b/c i didnt want to give up playing. so maybe i should consider switching my major to Music Ed, although that doesnt appeal to me as much. I do, although have a want to open my own music supply/instrument store due to the lack of well stocked ones in my area. so maybe i'll consider that instead of my intended major (which btw is secondary ed-mathematics).

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              8. by jaggtagg7
                (40 posts)

                19 years ago

                Re: How can I manage

                kitnachi - i think you said at one point u have trouble w/ low notes on bari. so i did i when i first started playing it. but then i also had trouble on alto too. but then i was forced to play them on bari as a song we played went that low ALOT. the difference is in strong air support. lets emphiasis strong. i dont mean blow air harder or faster. i mean work ur diaphram and related muscles more. i find this the only way to get the notes out sounding decend at mp levels and to not sound over blown at high dynamic levels.

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              9. by kitnachi
                (41 posts)

                19 years ago

                Re: How can I manage

                well yeah that sounds bout right, for some reason that has been hard lately...well just means more practice yeah!!!

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