 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Kontragirl
Date: 2000-05-27 00:26
Well, me being as enthusiastic as I can be, told my band director that I would just LOVE to learn bari sax over the summer. Well, I do want too, but I don't know the first thing about sax. I bought the Rubank's Elememtary and Intermedate sax book today. I'm not too intimidated yet...
What kind of a mess have I gotten myself into this time?
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Author: bill
Date: 2000-05-27 01:17
Kontragirl-
Well, a similar thing happened to me when I was in school. Over the summer of 6th and 7th grades, my mother went to a music store and rented me an alto saxophone so I could play in the stage band (it was a piece of junk. today i play on a yamaha YAS-52). I got home and opened the case. I picked up the beaten, old sax and started to play "In the Mood" right away. There is a simple trick to learning sax - the notes are generally the same as the clarinet with the octave key. (For example, if you finger a 4th line D like you would on clarinet, it would come out an octave lower on sax if you did not use the octave key. Quite simple) When school started next year, I went to the stage band rehursals, and I was a little (more like a lot) confused. In a few months when I got my YAS-52, I was the best sax player in the stage band. I would have been the first chair and had all the solos had my band director not been jealous of me. Oh - one other thing. The LOW notes are harder to play than the high notes, so make a looser embochure at first and close your lips in on the sides. Good luck!
~Bill
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Author: Kontragirl
Date: 2000-05-27 02:10
I remember how hard it was to get across the break on clarinet...it's really hard at first, but once you get good you don't give it a second thought...and you can tell when the poor thing is sick (broken) because it's the first thing to go wrong.
I'm picturing this, but on the low notes instead. I'm just going to be renting from the school, so we'll see what I get. Thanks for the tips on fingerings...that's what I'm most worried about learning.
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Author: Terry Horlick
Date: 2000-05-27 04:05
First, I appreciate the nice reception I have gotten from folks on this board. It seems most of the readers are young and all nice. I am not a professional musician but have played sax and clarinet for about thirty six years now. I taught myself to play with a Rubank book and have played lead Alto in good jazz bands for the past 20 years. In junior high I offered to do the Bari thing so I could get into jazz band. I took it home and drove everyone crazy for one summer and it worked! But I played alto first.
<img src=http://www.jps.net/horlick/Alexis/Sax(1).gif
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You will find most school bari saxs are student models in poor condition and are horribly hard for a professional to play and almost impossible for a student to play. I suggest you insist on the loan of an alto which someone play tests to be sure it is working ok. Then consider taking the bari also. Start tooting on the alto first and seriously for at least a month before you touch the bari.
A sax has a conical bore so it doesn't skip every other overtone like a clarinet does. Therefore the two registers have the same fingering and there is really no problem "going over the break". The bari takes lots more air and rattles your head. Practice playing a note long and full and then hitting the "octave key" to jump up to the next octave. Then practice the same thing without the key, just with your lip (do this on alto).
Good luck, it is fun and opens a door to a whole different genre of music to play! If you really want a kick, borrow the school's soprano sax!
Terry
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-05-27 05:42
Hey, baris are cool. If you like the contra, you'll like the bari. You just have to get used to a more relaxed embechure in the low reg (hope I described that right). PLUS! You can compete with those danged trumpets when they forget what pianissimo means.
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Author: ron b.
Date: 2000-05-27 06:37
Well, Kontragirl, with your enthusiasm, love of music and a Rubank sax book - what's to intimidate??? You have a lot of playing experience behind you.
You're in no kind of mess yet, wait 'til you've fooled around with it for a while... have fun with the thing first, before you discover any problems you might run into. You have some good tips posted above. I don't think you'll have any difficulty.
If you do, so what? There are plenty of people here, probably some you'll be playing with, who can and willingly give others good advice.
Above all, have fun!
ron b.
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Author: Mike Irish
Date: 2000-05-27 13:17
Hi sis....
the alto sax, it fingers real close to the flute and the oboe..... I played Bb and alto clar til end of marching band season in 10th grade, then added Orch when the director gave me an oboe.....when he did he told me to go to the practice room and two weeks to get on line for concert in 4 weeks....the change in the fingerings will be the most dificult part, but when I got my flute, I sat and just got use to the sounds and what fingers ddid what....(didnt have a booK) then got finger chart from sons teacher, and learned fingerings... dont take long.... enjoy it and have a blast.....I know you will
God Bless..... Mike
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Author: Contragirl
Date: 2000-05-27 14:18
Well, if you played the contralto clarinet, BAri sax is fun. It's great. I played for a week in school, and got tired of it. Just remember a few snags in wut you think is a clarinet fingering for a note, and it's actually different. Low notes are kinda hard, it might be easier to have a piece of felt in the bell ( a mute) when you play, my band director uses that for all the loud saxes. I noticed it makes it a bit easier for low notes, not totally. It takes time, but the notes come out easy.
--Your sister in crime
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Author: Terry Horlick
Date: 2000-05-27 18:02
I never tried felt in the bell. Most of the sound of a sax comes out through the tone holes not the bell. So packing the bell should make the horn sharp on the lower notes, but shouldn't make a lot of difference on volume. I usually try to control volume with air pressure and embrochure.
Since you will be playing at home at first, don't worry too much about volume. Fill the horn with air and try to get a pleasing sound!
I want to repeat my earlier caution, it is frustrating to try to play a leaky horn (most school horns fall into this category). Have the teacher or some other player try it out before you get frustrated with a bad horn and give up. Also ther is a huge difference between the playability of a well adjusted student horn and a professional model. If you like playing sax, you will LOVE playing a good sax.
Terry
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Author: laur
Date: 2000-05-27 19:48
Hey ~
If you want to learn, your director supports your decision and you have a chance to learn - your set ! Why be intimitated. I would love to learn sax, etc .. but I cannot for the pure notion that my director is a beliver of the
"It's not good to be a jack of all trades and a master of none" gig. If you want to learn, and have the desire to .. then your fine. There is nothing stoping you now..
Laur
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Author: Kontragirl
Date: 2000-05-27 20:37
I haven't actually played around on the sax, but I have a book of fingering charts (I bought it for ranges of instruments for composing, I never knew I would love it so much) and I looked over the sax fingerings. I was so relieved! The fingerings are almost identical. From fourth line D to Bb above the staff, the fingerings bare a very close resemblance, and drop the octave key, you've got the lower octave. So I have some low notes to learn, and some high notes, but I should be alright. I'll keep you posted.
I love clarinet too much to ever trade it in, but we are losing all of our baris, so we'll see what happens. I think I'm going to live through learning sax. Thanks for all of your great help and encouragement!
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-05-27 23:45
Terry Horlick wrote:
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I never tried felt in the bell. Most of the sound of a sax comes out through the tone holes not the bell. So packing the bell should make the horn sharp on the lower notes, but shouldn't make a lot of difference on volume
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The trick of putting something in the bell (a lot of people toss a wine bottle cork in there) is a way to deal with a mechanical problem on certain saxes, especially antique ones. Some of them growl or gurgle on the low Bb, B and C because the bottom of the inside of the bell is a bit too cavernous. Throwing a wine bottle cork down the bell, or putting a piece of felt in there (anything soft and small that won't scratch up the bell would probably work) can disrupt the formation of the unwanted extra sound waves that disrupt the ones you do want. I've got one old sax that benefits from this treatment, although the others seem to do fine without it. I like doubling on clarinet and sax and hope you enjoy it, too!
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Author: Pam
Date: 2000-05-28 03:11
Learning Sax sounds like fun! You can do it!
Hey Willie -- I never knew that trumpets EVER learned what pianissimo means! In our church orchestra the clarinets sit right in front of the trumpets (in rehersal) and boy are they loud! Dynamics is just another word in the dictionary to them. :-)
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Author: Kim L
Date: 2000-05-28 03:41
I am a music ed major and had to learn the sax last semester. I was kinda intimidated of it at first. But, it is not that bad. Once I got used to it, it was easy. There is a slight change in embouchure, but the way you hold a sax is the same as the clarinet. Most of the fingerings are the same. Have you ever played the flute? The fingerings are similar to the flute too.
Don't worry about the fingerings. Once you learn the lower octave, you will be in pretty good shape because of the octave key!
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