Alto Sax Tips

Video Transcript

"Now let's take a look at an alto saxophone. This is a standard alto saxophone. Again, it's the kind used by beginning and intermediate players. A saxophone's a little bit heavier of an instrument as compared to the ones that we looked at because of the amount of brass in it. It's played with a mouthpiece attached here that has a wooden reed on it, and you control the pitch of the sound coming from the instrument by controlling your lips on the reed and the operation of the levers to control valves that change the air column and change the pitch of the sound coming out of the saxophone, as well as its' tone. The sax has pads in it that are leather covered and the instrument needs to be cared for in a way such that you put it away clean, dry, and swabbed out, such that the pads are not destroyed by moisture putting them away in a wet case. So this is your standard saxophone that a beginning and intermediate player would use."