Adolphe Sax 's birthday-November 6

Subject: Adolphe Sax 's birthday
From: The Shambles
Date: 06 Nov 06 - 05:01 AM

Adolphe Sax was born this day (6th November) in Belgium, 1814.

He did not invent sex but he was the inventor of the saxophone.

Subject: RE: Adolphe Sax 's birthday
From: fat B****rd
Date: 06 Nov 06 - 06:20 AM

If it's a case of - No Adolphe Sax = No Parker, Coltrane, Lee Allen etcetc, then good on ya Mr. S.

Subject: RE: Adolphe Sax 's birthday
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Nov 06 - 08:00 AM

I think it would be more a case of no (Adolphe) Sax please, we're British:-)

Subject: RE: Adolphe Sax 's birthday
From: Scrump
Date: 06 Nov 06 - 09:40 AM

(I think his name was spelt Adolph Saxe but what do I know).

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned that it was also John Philip Sousa's birthday today (6th November) too.

What criteria are used to decide who gets 'remembered' in these birthday posts and who gets ignored? Being a folk musician/singer doesn't seem to be one of them.

Subject: RE: Adolphe Sax 's birthday
From: Wolfgang
Date: 06 Nov 06 - 09:59 AM

No, the name is Sax. Maybe, there was an intrusion of the Saxe-Coburg noble family.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Adolphe Sax 's birthday-November 6
From: fogie
Date: 06 Nov 06 - 11:13 AM

Anybody find pictures of what the earliest saxes looked like? I think they evolved in complexity as more paddles were added, and they are still evolving- an extra note here and there every so often. I consider them elaborate metal recorders.I went to Oxford and spent a couple of hours in the Bate musical museum- very interesting, they had a plastic "Charlie Parker" sax, but not much in the way of very early ones. There's a musical instrument shop in Shrewsbury called "Windband", and when I bought my first C-melody tenor ( a Wurlizer) I went into the workshop, and saw some really old instruments which seemed like hybrids between horns, and saxes, with very thin pipes, to attach probably something akin to a bassoon reed- fascinating how wind instruments have developed.

Subject: RE: Adolphe Sax 's birthday-November 6
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 Nov 06 - 02:07 PM

My 1932 model (Martin) tenor sax has distinctively different key mechanisms than my 1955 model (King) alto, and in many ways I find the older model much more "satisfying" to play. The newer one is less versatile. Newer instruments have additional "improvements."

When someone shows me a recorder with a true four-octave playable range, I'll reconsider the "elaborate metal recorders" slur. (Offense taken, but not seriously.)

John

Subject: RE: Adolphe Sax 's birthday-November 6
From: Scrump
Date: 06 Nov 06 - 02:09 PM

Oops, you're right about the spelling Wolfgang. Sorry about that.

Subject: RE: Adolphe Sax 's birthday-November 6
From: Bernard
Date: 06 Nov 06 - 02:55 PM

He also perfected the bass clarinet...

It's rumoured the Saxophone was a lucky mistake... he was trying to make a metal clarinet, but it wasn't very successful until he made the 'bore' conical instead of cylindrical... and the Saxophone was born!

It's so odd... the clarinet and flute are both cylindrical, yet the flute overblows on the octave, but the clarinet on the twelfth. Make the bore conical, and the 'clarinet' behaved like the flute!

Subject: RE: Adolphe Sax 's birthday-November 6
From: fogie
Date: 07 Nov 06 - 05:29 AM

Dear JohninKansas would you kindly give me lessons as I dont know how to get 4 octaves out of a saxophone. I've seen the alternative fingerings for overblowing, but have yet to manage a true note above high g (Bb)
Interesting that a recorder has a conical bore in the opposite direction to a sax and yet the fingerings are so similar! aint nature wonderful.

Subject: RE: Adolphe Sax 's birthday-November 6
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 07 Nov 06 - 11:04 AM

fogie -

The fingerings above the two and a half octaves found in most beginner lesson books are of course played on overtones. The fingerings aren't "linear" like they are for the lower range, but are no more complex than what many people use for p-whistle or recorder.

For a starting point, finger the low Bb (all pads closed¹) and practice playing it like a bugle, without moving your fingers and using only lip control to "overblow" harmonics of the low Bb. With a little practice at this, you should be fairly easily able to blow all the harmonics up to the Bb four octaves above the tonic note of the horn. When you are able to produce all these overtones, you're ready to move from the "just tuned" bugle notes to the fingered chromatic notes in the upper one and a half octaves.

Note that it helps a little to have an actual "saxophone" mouthpiece. The bore of the mouthpiece should continue the conical taper of the instrument itself, and the "flat" that the reed presses against should have an even curve to it so that pressing the reed against it moves the contact point toward the tip. It's control of the "free length" of the reed that allows you to control the overtones. Quite a few "jazzed up" mouthpieces have a deviant sort of mouthpiece bore, and a very flat rim where the reed seats, to intentionally produce a "rougher" tone. Buescher was noted for generally using a "proper" sax mouthpiece when I was playing actively, but most others are "close enough" unless you've got one of the really extreme ones.

The "textbook" I used as a kid is long out of print: Top Tones for Saxophone by Sigurd Rascher. I'll have to do a bit of searching to see if there's another more current one that would be easy to find.

¹ The low Bb is the normal bottom note for all saxophones, although I've seen ads for a few that add an A a semitone lower. Just use the whole bore for your bugle practice.

John

Subject: RE: Adolphe Sax 's birthday-November 6
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 07 Nov 06 - 11:21 AM

fogie:

Check out Wikipedia: Sigurd Rascher

John