Klarinet Archive - Posting 000769.txt from 1995/03

From: John Henninger <Bunky@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Soprano Saxophone
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 11:32:20 -0500

The Marsalis album refered to is "Romances for Saxophone". I've been
playing classical sax for about 5 years. The 2 solo instruments of the
family are the soprano and alto saxes. The instrument was contracted to
Adolph Sax by the French Army band. They wanted a woodwind that was
easier to play than the clarinet with the potential power to stand up to
brasses.

The biggest problem of the soprano sax is playing in tune. I have
somewhat solved this problem by using a softer reed (#2) and lipping the
note into tune. This just seems to be the nature of the beast. The
soprano tone is variable from a trumpet like blat to a very romantic
oboe sound. Though I "triple" on flute, clarinet and sax I normally do
not interchange the music because each instrument has such a different
tone and "feeling". I would suggest that you rent one for a month and
give it a try if you are interested. The fingerings are almost identical
to the upper register of the clarinet. John Henninger