Saxology

Saxology -

^Myfavorate_obsession

Breaking the world record of most number of Saxophones playing the same song at once. Kaktis and I jammin'! 930 was the final count, I think.

Breaking the world record of most number of Saxophones playing the same song at once. Kaktis and I jammin'! 930 was the final count, I think.

Music is the backbone of our society today and without it, we would live in a bland, colourless world. Musicians are what help keep the world spinning. Have you ever been to any kind of function where music was not played in the background? (It was probably a funeral or something to that nature where no music was played if you answered yes.) Music sets the mood for almost anything; love, fear, suspence, joy, etc. Music is absolutely everywhere, it lives in each and every one of us and always will. It will come out being that song that got stuck in your head yesterday, whistling a little tune, drumming on your stearing wheel and other ways. Interpretation of the song is up to the listener, which is one of the ways that music is so free. Relaxing and yet exciting at the same time. There are many different genres of music, all to please many different types of listeners; everyone in the world.

Welcome to my page about Saxophones!

I am a great fan of the saxophone, always have been and always will be. I play the Alto sax and would love to get a soprano by christmas, but since I am poor and have to save my money, it isn't possible. One lonely Christmas eve I stayed up until 3am playing around on the internet researching saxophones. This is the product of that night last year! I can guarentee that you will learn more about Saxes on this page than you ever would have figured possible! Have fun!

Let's see, I think I will start with the basics. A saxophone is a woodwind instrument not much like the other woodwinds. It's body is completely made out of brass and has a different kind of sound. It is mostly seen in jazz which is it's 'claim to fame' because it is so versitile with it's unique sound. It can play grungie, loud and obnoxious, as well as pretty, soft and scerene. There are five popular models of the saxophone on the market today: Bb Soprano Sax, Eb Alto Sax, Bb Tenor Sax, Eb Baritone Sax, and Bb Bass Sax. There are also Eb Sopranino Saxes and Eb Contrabass Saxes too, but they are quite rare.

People don't realize the full range of a saxophone usually, they think that it can only go up to the high F# above the staff, in reality, it can go one octave higher. Those fingerings are hard to find and are not included in most fingering charts, but it is possibly to play. Some saxes cant play up to the high F# though, they lack the F# key so they can only reach the high F.

Saxes are rather expensive, depending on what make, model and sax you want. The prices can range from $500 (around on Ebay) to close to $50,000! Obviously the bigger the sax you want, the more costly it is going to be. Sometimes the smallest ones can be costly as well, I couldn't find any sopraninos under $5,000 and they are smaller than the soprano. It's just because they are more rare.

It's Sax history time kiddies! Since we all love saxophones so much, I will enlighten you with the history of the Saxophone! The saxophone was created by a man named Adolphe Sax, he was born on November 6, 1814. His father was an Orchestral instrument maker, so Adolphe learned the tricks of the trade at an early age. He allegedly was able to drill out the body of a clarinet when he was only six years old. He had the desire to create a versitile instrument that had "the flexibility of the strings, the tonal variety of the woodwinds" and "the power of the brasses." He was attempting to make a new kind of bass clarinet when he created the saxophone. Obviously, he named the instrument after himself; Saxophone. The first sax ever created was a C Bass sax. It's debut was in 1841 at an Exhibition in Brussels. The original intent for the saxophone was to be played with in Orchestras. The bore of the mouthpiece was larger back then, so it blended in a lot nicer than what we are used to now. They also had different keys, but I will list them later. People were not impressed by this versitile instrument. Adolphe sax ran into a lot of troubles a long his life from his creation. Instrument makers were almost threatened by the saxes release into the world. They hit Adolphe with all sorts of law suits, threats and other malicious actions so he would not get a patent on the new instrument. Adolphe started his own instrument factory called; "Adolphe Sax Musical Instrument Factory", easy enough. He almost went bankrupt but an unknown benifactor came in and gave him money so he could afford to keep the factory going. Saxophones were also introduced into marching artillary bands as well. These saxes are the most common ones today (your Eb and Bb keys). Once the benifactor died, sax was hunted down and was demanded to repay all the money that was given to him. He fled to England for a while, but had to return to Paris. When he return to Paris, he was financially ruined. After 1852, the sax was pretty much taken off the market and forgotten about. During 1859 it started to creep back into the music scence slowly but surely. Also in 1859, sax had a son, Adolphe Edouard on September 29th. In 1867, the Paris Conservatory of Music started to educate people on the Saxophone with classes. But, after Sax's collegues died and his patents expired the classes stopped. Sax became bankrupt for a second time in 1873. In 1894 Adolphe Sax died. His son, took over the buisness and built it back up until 1929 where he sold it to The Henri Selmer company.

The different types of Saxophones (Rare and common, Orchestral and Band) I will start by listing the common ones: Eb Sopranino, Bb Soprano, Eb Alto, Bb Tenor, Eb Baritone, Bb Bass and (rare but more common that the orchestral) Eb/Bb Contrabass.

Orchestral or rare saxes: Bb Soprillo, F Sopranino, F/C Soprano, F/C Alto (F Alto is also called MezzoSoprano and a Conn-O-Sax and is highly regarded), C Tenor (also called C-Melody), F Baritone , C Bass (the first sax ever!) and Bass clef bass, and F/Bb Contrabass. There is also one (1) Bb Sopranissimo that exists in the world and there have also been tales of a Subcontrabass Sax, but many people think it was a practical joke from the 60's.

I bet you didn't think that there were that many different saxophones out there, but there are! All of the Orchestral ones are very very rare, some aren't even in production anymore.

Pictures!
Place cursor over the picture to see caption!

Curved Sopranino, Straight Sopranino, C Soprano and Bb Soprano

Curved Sopranino, Straight Sopranino, C Soprano and Bb Soprano

Straight Tenor Sax. The straight Alto is similar but smaller obviously.

From left to right: Eb Contrabass Sax, Bb Bass Sax, Eb Baritone Sax, Bb Tenor Sax, C Tenor Sax, Eb Alto Sax, F Alto Sax, Bb Soprano Sax, C Soprano Sax, and the Eb Sopranino Sax.

(All Saxophone pictures are from Jay C. Easton's Saxophone Family Site It is an awesome site, I suggest you visit!)

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