After playing tenor sax for many years, I decided to learn to play the soprano .

Since I sell high quality Professional  saxophones, I selected a GT-Sax Red Bronze straight soprano.  A while ago I read an article that seemed to indicate that the straight soprano would have less intonation problems than the curved model.

Next I paid a visit to Joe Giardullo of sopranoplanet.com. Joe is a good friend, an amazing musician and, as you can see from his website, an expert on all things soprano , especially mouthpieces.

I spent a few hours with Joe trying several mouthpieces and finally selected one of his premier models.  We then spent another hour as Joe tweaked the mouthpiece to better accommodate my “double embouchure” (I don’t let my teeth ever touch the mouthpiece) and explained some of the differences between a tenor and a soprano embouchure.

I’m now beginning work on the altissimo overtones, but enjoying the feel and sound of the soprano.

More to follow soon…

Vintage horns, those “oldie but goodies”  such as Conn-Selmer, Yamaha , Keilwerth etc..used to be referred to as the Gold Standard, the finest..etc, etc….

They are all time-tested, proven excellent reliable saxophones.  

Over the past 40 years or so, other, somewhat less expensive horns have become major additions to the market.  These new companies, many who have started out making saxophone parts, (in some cases for the “Vintage” models) are now producing excellent quality horns at affordable prices on the American marketplace.   

When spending a considerable amount of money to buy a professional horn, one should ideally be able to play the horn for a while in the store, however, with the shift in buyer shopping habits to the internet, it is not always possible to try a horn before purchasing.  The growth of the “Global Economy” has opened the market to many excellent quality horns from various countries.

Here at Old Dog New Saxophones we offer professional quality hand crafted saxophones  produced by the Gu Tai Corporation who’s president is  Chi Tsung Wang. GT-Sax

We have a 7 day return policy so that a buyer can try the horn and if it’s not a perfect fit, can return it for a FULL refund.

I sell saxophones, I import them from Taiwan, from the Gu Tai company (GT-Sax). My shop is located in upstate New York, about 40 miles north of the city.

I often wonder about the psychology of buying a new saxophone.  I understand the concept of sticking with a winner and erring on the safe side, I also own a Mark VI that I bought as a young person many years ago.

But I gotta tell you, these Taiwanese horns are high quality instruments, they are made with the same pads & springs as Selmer and other long standing horns.

The Gu-Tai company makes a beautiful red bronze tenor modeled after the Mark VI and I played it and cannot tell the difference. 

I would love to have someone take a blindfold test.  Anyone in the New York/New Jersey/ Connecticut area that would like to come on over and spend some time with these beautiful horns just let me know.  914-523-8436

It’s one of the easiest instruments to learn how to play…..but it’s not easy..!!

Let’s begin by acquiring a used but good Alto. This can be accomplished at any of the online marketplaces. Ideally, someone who knows how to play should play the horn before you buy it. Look for dents, any key guards that may be bent, this would indicate that maybe the horn has been dropped….you should pass on it. With a little fortitude you should be able to get a decent used student horn for anywhere from $300-$450.

Next up, find a teacher who has a lot of experience teaching beginners. I would begin by interviewing a few. Once you have lined up a teacher and he/she has told you what beginners book to buy…..The fun begins…..Yes Fun..!!

During the first few weeks it’s really important to focus on blowing the horn. How to place the mouthpiece in your mouth, how to form your lower and upper lips around the mouthpiece, and how to blow.

Once you are able to blow into the horn and listen to the sound coming out of the bell, around the second or third week, amazing things start to happen. Think about it, that sound is you, your breath, that note is yours..!! After a few months, you can begin to personalize your sound, yes, even while you’re still learning the key positions. Experiment with tightening the corners of your mouth and lifting your teeth off of the top of the mouthpiece, how does that feel…? Change the position of the mouthpiece in your mouth. First put more of the mouthpiece in your mouth then gradually less. As time goes by and your lips firm up, you will begin to develop your embouchure as your facial muscles begin to adopt to your personal style of blowing the horn. How cool is that….!!!

Sometime toward the end of the first year of lessons, you should know if you’re going to stay with the saxophone, if so, you you may want to think about a better quality saxophone. The $300 student horn has done its job and it’s now time to think about a better horn

Photograph by Joseph Squillante

By this time you have finished book 1 & 2 and are probably on an intermediate or advanced book. For the purposes of this report we are  going assume that you have decided that you love the saxophone and that you feel that music is in your long term future…Yea…! For this reason I’m going to skip over moving to an intermediate quality horn.  

Let’s look at the differences between a student saxophone and a professional one. 

1. One difference I believe is the quality of the brass. The quality of the brass is determined by the purity of the copper and zinc. For a student sax, one wants a sturdy, durable well built horn, but not necessarily capable of producing a fine tone. Many student horns are made with a cheaper and in some cases recycled brass. A saxophone made with high quality brass will have a warmer, richer tone, giving the player more freedom to develop his/her own unique sound.

2. Quality of construction, & craftsmanship Many of the newer professional horns with modern keywork design have a more comfortable feel and allow for a faster response, which is not possible in a student saxophone.

3. Other materials such as Italian leather pads (Pisoni) German springs, Pearl or Abalone shell buttons and metal resonators add to the general higher quality of construction.

These are some of the basic differences in the comparison of student to professional quality in a saxophone.

Next up we will look at acquiring a professional horn, vintage horns versus newer models.