Klarinet Archive - Posting 000259.txt from 1998/05

From: "Jason Hsien" <jasonavhs@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re:Soprano Saxophone
Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 20:00:26 -0400

-----Original Message-----
From: ROBERT HOWE <arehow@-----.net>
<snip>
|what clarinet players don't like about the Saxophone is due to the fact
|that not one clarinet player in ten who attempts to play the Sax ever
|takes the trouble to learn to do so properly, with due attention to
|mouthpiece, reed, embouchure, and tone production. Who remembers the
|doubling clarinettist on this list who, a year ago, asked for a
|fingering for high E on the tenor Saxophone, stating that he was doing
|the show Cabaret, had never played Saxophone before, and that
|"intonation was secondary"?? Do we inculcate this attitude in young
|clarinettists?

Robert,

I am going to agree with you wholeheartedly on this issue. I am also
astonished that ANYONE with right of mind would think of playing a saxophone
for a performance without ever trying to play one. Forget the different
fingerings, etc..., just the embouchure alone takes months, if not years,
for anyone who has been properly trained on a clarinet, to play on a sax in
any sort of decent manner. I've tried, and it's been extremely difficult for
me to remember to "loosen up" and "put more mouth" onto my mouthpiece, and I
am sure I am not the only clarinetist out there who has put too little and
held on too tightly to a sax mouthpiece and have that lovely sax squawk in
your face. It took me four months to get any sort of saxophone-like sound
out of it, and then a couple months to be able to reach the lower octave
without that ugly air-blowing sound.

Right now, a year after I first started playing my sax, I can still honestly
say that, despite the wonderful 1968 Mark VI my teacher loaned me, despite
the new pads and the great mouthpiece, I would only call my playing
semi-decent. I still occasionally go into clarinet fingerings, and though my
squawking is to a minimum, I still find myself pushing the mouthpiece
further out of my mouth and my embouchure tightening up.

Whoever that kid was... I just hope he played the right notes, forget
embouchure, intonation, etc...

-jason

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