How To Set Up A Saxophone

Video Tutorial on how to install the saxophone The lessons in this course are completely free, enjoy and share. I created this beginner’s course to get anyone starting out on the saxophone on the right track to establishing good habits from day one. When you’re done, please move on to Lesson 2.

Start here for beginners

Contents

This is the first and most important step now and every time you take out your saxophone. Before taking the device out of the box, we must first set up the mouthpiece and the mop, which we always like to spend some time on as it requires some very careful alignment. As a beginner you will want to go slow at first, these are saxophone bellows, they come in a variety of colors and sizes and can be made of a variety of materials, most commonly plastic, high hard rubber and metal.These are saxophone reeds. The reed works together with the mouthpiece to produce sound by vibrating as you blow air into the instrument. Traditionally, reeds are usually made from sugar cane, but there are also synthetic reeds made from other materials.If you’re a beginner, I recommend starting with a #2 intensity reed. For younger children, you can even start with a 1.5 device, known as a pairing device. Its job is to hold the mop in place on the mouthpiece.Remember that there are saxophone mouthpieces and reeds made specifically for each sized saxophone. With an alto saxophone, I would use an alto sax and an alto sax reed. So if you’re looking to buy any of these, you may need to verify that you’re purchasing the correct size for your instrument.

My Sax Gear Beginner Suggestions

Visit this page to see my recommendations for saxophone gear to get started in case you’re missing anything. Remember that the saxophone you have probably already has all of these.

Prepare the reed

Let’s start by preparing the reed. The mop is very fragile and will break easily, so you need to avoid touching the tip of the mop. We always want our reed heads to not fall apart or fall apart. So when handling the reed, I always keep it in the back. Read more: Here’s how you can be smart with someone in 5 easy steps reeds need to be wet to function properly. You just need to put it in your mouth for about 15-20 seconds or soak in a cup of water, remember to wet both ends of the mop.

Attach the reed to the mouthpiece

We need to position the plane of the reed relative to the plane of the mouthpiece, line it all up, and then secure it all in place with the extension cord. First, make sure you have plenty of light so you can see what you’re doing. I hold my mouthpiece and adapter with my left hand (I’m right-handed). Notice where I am keeping the ligature. My adapter screw or screw is loose, then take my wet mop and use it to moisten the flat part of the mouthpiece like this.This moisture will act as a glue to help create a better air tightness between the mop and the mouthpiece. Now I slide the back end of the mop between the adapter and the mouthpiece while pulling the adapter down into place. During this procedure, I never touched the tip of the mop.

Option

Once I had the mop and loose wire in place, it was time for fine tuning. I want to make the mop perfectly align with the mouthpiece tip and rails. With this, if the reed gets bent a bit your sound will suffer and it will be harder to play. Usually there will be a bit of aperture on the sides, so I wanted this to be even and symmetrical. I want the tip of the mop to align exactly with the tip of the mouthpiece. , I tighten the screw or screw of the connecting pipe. neck.

Suction test

When I’m done, I always do a suction test. This is completely unnecessary but it helps me to know if my reed is sealed with the mouthpiece. I place the open end of the mouthpiece against the fleshy part of my palm and then suck the air out. A good pop song I am very satisfied. It could be poor alignment of the reed, broken reed, or there could be a problem with my joint. Now I have a stethoscope around my neck. You want a tube that fits snugly but isn’t so tight that it’s hard to move the mouthpiece back and forth over the cork. If your instrument is new, you can put some cork grease on it for the first week or so and rub it in. Be sure to download the PDF manual and finger-chart that accompanies this course. Make a note below with your thoughts. Stay up to date with us on news, giveaways, and other saxophone tips and tricks. Read more: how to use gridlayout in java