 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bob Gardner
Date: 2000-09-03 14:25
If one has never played the sax and wanted to become a doubler what would be the best Sax to go to. Which has the same fingering, music etc. Is there a Bb Sax?
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-09-03 14:45
Both the tenor sax and soprano sax are pitched in Bb. The saxophone family is designed to finger the same no matter which of its members you pick up. However there are some differences from the clarinet that you will simply have to get a fingering chart and practice.
The main thing is that the difference between the lower register and the middle register is that on the sax it is only an octave jump rather than the 12th like the clarinet. The sax middle register (with a couple of exceptions) fingers like the clarinet clarion register. The sax lower register fingers like the sax middle register.
The sax range is more limited than that of the clarinet. The soprano sax lies within the range of the clarinet but the clarinet goes both higher and lower than the sax.
Similar to the flute and oboe, the lowest notes take some practice to come well. By low notes, I am referring to the printed middle C and the B and Bb below that.
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Author: Bob Gardner
Date: 2000-09-03 15:06
thank you very much. That is what I wanted to know. I need a no brainer. So I guess I will stay where I am for the time being. I'm trying to be a good as I can be with #1 and i don't want to confuse myself with something else. If I could get a differant sound with the same motions (fingering etc) then I would give it a shot.
Will try and make the chat room if i get back in time
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Author: Docb17
Date: 2000-09-04 01:45
Morning all (well it's really night here)
Anyways... I am a serious double, cept I'm backwards from the most of you as that I have started on sax before clarinet (bad idea). Anyways, starters usually start on alto which is pitched in E-flat... I wouldn't really advise a soprano sax as that even masters of other saxes still find sop hard. So start on Alto, if you YERN to be in B-flat go to a tenor... but the extreme ranges of the saxophone family are hard to control... So take that as it may...
CHEERS!!!
Dave
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Author: William
Date: 2000-09-04 23:49
I started on clarinet but learned to double on sax by starting with the Eb alto Don't be concerned with the difference in key--unless you are cursed with perfect pitch, you will not notice it. You will need to play with a more relaxed embouchure and learn a different fingering for middle c and c# (as well as the little finger low notes and d above the staff and beyond, but you will be surprised how many fingerings are similar to the clarinet. I found it easy, as a high school student, and was able to join the jazz ensemble almost immediantly. Now, if you want a real challenge, try bassoon. Good luck.
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-09-05 02:12
After a little practice the fingering will come naturaly as soon as you pick it up as the difference in weight and feel automaticaly triggers the brain. As for Bb, there is also the bass sax if you're blessed with 10 gallon lungs and a large wallet.
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-09-05 12:55
Willie wrote:
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After a little practice the fingering will come naturaly as soon as you pick it up as the difference in weight and feel automaticaly triggers the brain. As for Bb, there is also the bass sax if you're blessed with 10 gallon lungs and a large wallet.
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...Or you can do what I did and buy a formerly-great bass sax in wrecked condition. That's a way of buying it on time. I found a 1926 Conn that had been dropped, which is a major accident with something that size. Then it had been stored damp. I bought it, then saved up some money and paid the repairman a deposit, then paid the rest when the work was done. (That left me *plenty* of time to save up, since it took him about a year!) He did a great job. I don't care that there's some cosmetic damage left (big scuffs and scratches in the plating) that I couldn't afford to have cleaned up. I wouldn't have wanted such an old sax replated anyway, because I prefer to leave it as original as possible. The final cost, even with a major overhaul, was still a fraction of what I would have had to pay for a new bass or a used bass already in playing condition. Of course, I was taking a risk that the bass would turn out to be a dog, but the alternative was not to be able to afford one at all. It was a "buyer beware" type of sale, but I had enough experience playing saxes by then to be pretty sure nothing catastrophic was wrong with this one. It just had a large number of fixable things wrong.
I don't have any way of comparing my lung capacity to other people's, but I have the impression that the "10 gallon lungs" idea is a myth. I'm not Super Woman. The bass does take more air than a clarinet or a tenor sax, but not all *that* much more. Remember that I don't have to blow clear through it, as if I wanted to blow out a candle at the other end. All I have to do is make the column of air inside the sax vibrate. It's a big column of air, so I do have to take shorter phrases on bass sax than on clarinet before I need to breathe, but it's not enough of a difference to be discouraging to someone with a reasonably good cardiovascular system.
I still would never recommend bass as the *first* sax for a doubler! It would be a major transition from clarinet. My first sax was an alto (I started on clarinet) and IMHO, either alto or tenor is the easiest first sax for a clarinet player, as others have said. Learning the fingerings and embouchure differences took some time, but the differences made sense, if you know what I mean -- the learning curve wasn't impossibly steep. The instruments feel different enough to me that I don't mix them up, but a lot of the basic skills do carry over from clarinet to sax. IMHO, clarinet and sax make a great combination for doublers.
The weight and sheer size of the bass is the biggest problem for me. I'm a short, small woman. I have to play the bass on a support stand that restricts my ability to move while playing. There's a very fine line between having to crane my neck uncomfortably or not being able to reach all the keys with my fingers, and in between those two, there's no place I would really call a comfort zone! I play the old hulk anyway, because I just love the sound. Finding that rescue job at an affordable price was one of the major highlights of the last few years!
But re. doubling in general, I hope if you want to play sax, you go ahead and do it. The change isn't a "no-brainer," but it isn't a huge obstacle. I don't think playing sax has hurt my clarinet playing a bit -- if anything, I'm playing more *consciously* and alertly, now that I'm making comparisons.
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Author: Jim
Date: 2000-09-08 03:25
Bob, I don't know the reasons for your interest in the sax, but you might want to consider the bass clarinet. It is pitched in b flat and the fingerings are mostly the same. (some bass clarinets add a low e flat.) My son was swithched by the band director and was playing it quite decently after an hour or so. (He goes back and forth with ease.) I tried it and had no problem producing decent tones right away. In the upper register it sounds somewhat like a tenor sax. It has the sax problems of being heavy to play (use a strap or the sliding foot rod.) and rather expensive to purchase.
Someone kiddingly suggested bassoon. I tried to switch to oboe in high school... Bad idea. That's a c instrument, but has the octave key arrangement like a sax. The real killer is the double reed, expensive and tempermental!
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