- A saxophone belongs to a family of instruments called the woodwinds. In woodwinds, sound is produced through a vibrating reed or reeds at the mouthpiece (or simply with air passage and no reed in the case of a flute).
- The particular mouth positioning on an instrument's mouthpiece is known as the "embouchure." With a saxophone, the lips are closed tightly around the mouthpiece and the top front teeth positioned with their edges on the top of the mouthpiece (the part opposite the reed). The reed runs along the mouthpiece's bottom side and is held in place at the back end of the mouthpiece by a clamp called a ligature (a sort of fancy hose clamp). Whereas the top teeth bite down directly on the mouthpiece, on the bottom, the lower lip is curled back over the edge of the bottom teeth. So the top teeth are directly on the mouthpiece and the lower teeth are covered by the lower lip. The only thing left to do is to blow (and practice, of course).
- A saxophone has to be one of the most convoluted looking instruments in the band or orchestra. It has an intricate system of levers and springs, and pads that interconnect in specific ways. The main body of the saxophone is perforated with a series of holes of various sizes. Mounted above each of these holes is a pad made of leather or some similar synthetic material. The pad is housed in a metal sort of a cap. You could think of it almost as a bottle cap. Each of these caps is connected to a lever with a spring attached. The lever and the spring keep the pad either closed and sealed over the hole, or open and resting just above the hole. This is how a saxophone is at rest, when it's not being played--some of the holes are in the open position and some are in the closed position.
- Fortunately, the player really doesn't have to think about or even understand all those mechanical parts and what they do. On the other hand, the player does have to master the set of finger keys that operate all those other parts. The main keys are around the size of a dime, others are smaller, and still others are oddly shaped. When the player blows through the mouthpiece and depresses the various keys, pads either open or close according to their resting position, and sound in the form different notes is the result. Different keys and different combinations of keys produce different notes.
