Background - I'm a strong musician, having played piano and oboe for a long time (though I sold my oboe a few years back). My music theory is strong enough that I was able to test out of the intro theory class in college, so that's not what the post is about. This is about my transient, random desire to study the alto saxophone... and I already have a sax to play - or do I???
The sax - My grandfather used to play in jazz bands back in the 40s and 50s. He passed on his Conn Naked Lady saxophone, which was manufactured in the 1920s. It's even got the white mouthpiece! Now, the twist is that I've actually had this saxophone repadded and played it for a few months, as part of an attempt to escape pit percussion in marching band. This was six years ago, and it hasn't been touched since. It's been stored in a temperate and not overly moist enviornment (mom's closet), but still - six years, untouched.
My questions - are twofold:
- Do I need to replace the pads on this baby? It'll cost money, but not that much, if I remember correctly. I'd just be playing for myself but I'm pretty sensitive to pitch so if it'd be out of tune or something that's a dealbreaker.
- What strength of reed should I buy? On the one hand, I played a double reed so my embouchure will naturally, I assume, expect something harder. If it's too thin a reed I'll probably squawk. On the other hand, I haven't played oboe in about four years, so no fuckin idea how deep that embouchure thing got embedded in my wee brain (started when I was ten).
sax wizards please help thanks
Submitted August 29, 2019 at 05:22PM by thousandyearsdungeon https://www.reddit.com/r/Learnmusic/comments/cx6c1b/taking_out_an_old_saxophone_some_questions/?utm_source=ifttt
Javier Rodriguez
Thursday, August 29, 2019