How Does a Saxophone Work?

Series Summary

A musician is a person who plays or writes music. A musician can be self-taught, or they can learn by formal education in a conservatory or from a private instructor. Musicians have varying levels of activity and ambition in music, which often makes music both a hobby and a profession. The concept and the status of the musician in society varies widely, depending on sociological, cultural and economic factors. In this free video series, a professional saxophonist provides information on playing a variety of instruments, in addition to tips on becoming a DJ. Find out how a saxophone works, how to become a singer and how to become a mobile DJ. Learn about different types of woodwind instruments, bell mallets, and participate in flute lessons. Become a better overall musician with help from these free videos.

Video Transcript

"Hey, I'm Brian Medeiros. I'm a saxophonist. I've been playing since I was about ten years old. I'm going to explain how a saxophone works. Basically, you've got a reed. A saxophone is a woodwind instrument. It uses a reed that vibrates when you blow through it, and it creates a sound. (Plays) So, what I'm doing as I'm going down that scale, blowing through the mouthpiece, creating a vibration in the mouthpiece. The wind goes down through the saxophone, and each one of these holes allows the air to come out. So when I'm actually....when I'm pushing the keys down, I'm actually making the instrument longer every time that I push it. Every time that I go down the scale. So when I hold down the B, you see the keys go down for the B, and the air's coming out of this hole, here, which creates the B note. And, basically, when you're going down the saxophone, you have to blow more air to get the air from here down all the way down through the sax, and the lowest note being a low B flat, which takes a lot of air. (Plays) So, this is an alto saxophone. There's several different kinds of saxophones. There's lots of different kinds of saxophones, the most popular ones being the alto saxophone. There's also a tenor, which is a little bit bigger than this one. Baritone sax is probably another popular one, it's pretty big. You've gotta kinda...you don't have to sit down, but it's a pretty big and heavy instrument. It takes a lot of wind. And there's a soprano sax, which is a straight saxophone. They do make soprano saxophones shaped, curved like this, as well, but, the most popular one being straight. Looks kind of like a clarinet. Saxophone's a real popular instrument, and that's how it works."