Klarinet Archive - Posting 000217.txt from 2000/02

From: "Patricia Smith" <david-patty@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] How DID you learn saxophone
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 13:10:31 -0500

I played Tenor Sax in stage band in high school just to have something to
do and to hopefully double on clarinet. however, those many years ago, the
stage band there was not all that great. I found Tenor to be heavy and
uncomfortably gawky to hold. I had also picked up flute around sophomore
year in h.s., which was more enjoyable and was a more transferable skill to
clarinet, certainly in the breathing department. IMHO, we sometimes can let
certain minutiae slide breathing-wise on the clarinet; we may even justify
it saying in effect that it is how we prefer to sound. Whatever the case on
clarinet, the truth will be exposed in its naked entirety when the same
person plays the flute, because of the fact that there is no reed on the
flute and the resistance created by mouthpiece reed and ligature on clarinet
is created by the lips of the player balancing so as to blow across the hole
on the head joint of the flute! The clarinet player who plays flute will
find that s/he will need every bit of air s/he can muster to produce a deep
full sound on the flute and that the embouchure has to be highly developed.
As a result, I became much more aware of my breathing and how I needed to
improve once I took up the flute.
Back to saxophone. When I entered the U. S. Navy music program as a fleet
musician, I was required to double on saxophone, so I purchased a beautiful
YAS 62 which I would buy again if I could. I found that what I had to get
used to primarily was overblowing an octave instead of a twelfth, and since
I already had done it on flute using basically changes in embouchure and
some in air support, the main thing was simply to get used to using the
sax's octave key.
What I found most difficult on saxophone were two things. First of all, I
found it difficult to relax enough and still be comfortable playing when I
went into the lowest notes on the instrument. Secondly, I wanted a real
saxophone sound, so I tended to play at more of an angle than for clarinet;
as my teacher wanted me to use a clarinet embouchure on saxophone, it was
really a mess. I was lucky, in that once I went to the fleet, I spent most
of fourteen years without many saxophone gigs. We all were fortunate, in
that respect.
Patty Smith

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