Saxophones, clarinets, bassoons, and oboes all use reeds, and hence are classified as woodwinds. The important difference here is that woodwind instruments use the air blown by the musician to produce sound in some way. Since all a woodwind musician is really doing is blowing into their instrument, however, they do not produce any sound in particular not including the sound of blowing air unless they are blowing into the mouthpiece of their instrument.
In general, woodwind instruments have keys. Keys are buttons on the instrument which can be pressed to either open or close a hole on the body of the instrument. Pressing a key either allows or prevents air from escaping at some point on the instrument, which either raises or lowers the pitch. When the musician presses down additional keys, the flow of air can no longer escape in the same place and is forced to go through a longer portion of instrument, lowering the pitch.
Brass instruments, on the other hand, usually change pitch through the use of valves. A valve is a mechanism which, when pressed, re-routes the air to a longer length of tube.
Note that in the case of brass instruments, the sound always escapes the instrument in the same place. Rather than creating an opening for the air to escape at a different point, brass instruments simply alter the length of tubing that the sound goes through before it reaches the bell. Not all brass instruments use valves. Some, like the trombone, instead use a slide. Slides operate by a similar principle as valves.
The musician simply adjusts the position of the slide to lengthen or shorten the amount of tubing that the air goes through before it reaches the bell. As is the case with all brass instruments, the air still reaches the bell before the sound is released, as opposed to woodwind instruments where the point that the air is released is altered through the use of keys. Once again, this criteria demonstrates that saxophones fall into the category of woodwind instruments. Saxophones have keys which open or close holes, allowing the air to escape the instrument without going through its full length.
Typically, the sound of a brass instrument is pointed in one specific direction, while the sound of a woodwind instrument goes in every direction.
This makes intuitive sense; since all the sound of a brass instrument is released at the bell, all the sound travels in the same general direction. In the case of woodwind instruments, the keys allow sound to escape at various points of the instrument. The sound travels in no particular direction because it is going in every direction. We do not have to result to various accessories to get a vibrating material. The main articulations on the saxophone are very similar to other woodwind instruments.
The saxophone has a mouthpiece every similar to the clarinet, but obviously, it a different shape and size, and so the embouchure is different. Legato is very smooth, tounging gives each note a little bit more definition with the "tuh" sound.
Staccato is the musical term for very short. You start the note the same as a tongued note but quickly cut off the reed with your tongue, so you get a very short, detached note. Where it gets confusing with the saxophone for most people, which has always been made out of metal is when that metal is brass — sometimes they'll use chinesium, sometimes they'll use something else.
For brass instruments, the vibration that produces the sound comes directly from the musicians lips. The escaping air meets resistance from the lip muscles to create this vibration — called the buzz.
A brass mouthpiece is held up to those vibrating lips to slightly refine and amplify the buzz. Unlike the woodwinds, this concept spans across the entire brass family. The only thing that changes across the brass family is the instrument attached to that mouthpiece. A brass instrument's body is essentially a tube that resonates with the air column flowing through.
The way that sound waves travel through this column forms a limited pattern of pitches known as the harmonic series with notes spaced far apart at the lower end but coming closer together as the pitch increases.
The musician can alter the pitch of the note with slight contractions of the lips and alterations to air volume and speed.
Any single harmonic series has gaps where pitches are missing. The versatility of brass instruments lies in their ability to switch between multiple harmonic series. On instruments like the trumpet, valves can be lowered to increase the length of tubing the air travels through. This instrument would combine the power of a brass instrument with the subtleties of a woodwind instrument and the facility of a stringed instrument.
After much experimentation, he had his first working model in , which he called the bass horn. In , Adolphe Sax won two patents for his designs: One for a set of saxophones intended for the orchestra and the other for a set of saxophones intended for military bands. Each set consisted of a range of sizes from the small sopranino saxophone to the huge subcontrabass saxophone.
The first dream was for the saxophone to become a key part of the orchestra. There were a few problems in the way of this dream. First was the fact that Adolphe over the years had made many enemies in the orchestral establishment. His constant desire to improve the mechanics of the wind instruments in the orchestra made many of the players grow angry with him, and his proud nature offended many conductors. Secondly, the saxophone, despite having a beautiful voice and great facility, lacked precise intonation at the time, and this made it problematic for the orchestra.
Although the saxophone has been written for by a few orchestral composers, many of whom were personal friends of Adolphe, the saxophone to this day has not lived up to his dream of being a staple of the orchestra. Adolphe, although Belgian, had a special place in his heart for the French military bands.
Adolphe believed that his instruments, especially his saxophones, could turn the image of the French military bands completely around. Reluctant at first, the French adopted his instruments. This was a very important step for the saxophone because, through military bands, the saxophone would become a remarkable new image and sound that could be seen and heard around the globe.
It was through these bands that the saxophone made its way to New Orleans and became a key component in the formation of early jazz. The saxophone may have gained international exposure through the military bands of the world, but it was through jazz that it became the iconic instrument it is today. The saxophone made its way into jazz simply by being a part of the military bands stationed in New Orleans.
Early jazz bands drew from the military band instruments to form their various ensembles. This is why we have trumpets and trombones and saxophones in Jazz today rather than orchestral instruments like the oboe and French horn.
At first the saxophone was merely a part of the ensemble, blending in, not standing out in any way other than its unique shape. It would take individual players such as Sidney Bechet, Frankie Trumbauer, and Coleman Hawkins to show how captivating the saxophone voice could be. Today many people say that the saxophone is the closet instrument to the human voice, and it is because of these pioneers and others like them that this has become the case. These players and many others would later elevate the saxophone from a member of the ensemble to featured soloist to the lead instrument in a jazz combo.
At the time other horns in the jazz band could not compete with the speed saxophone players could play and with the unique sounds and tones they were able to produce. This would lay the foundation for the saxophone to seep into all other genres of music. The soulfulness of the saxophone attracted it to early blues bands, which would in turn lead into Rhythm and Blues, Doo Wop, Motown, and eventually Rock and Pop music. The punchy and powerful side of the saxophone would attract it to early mambo and salsa and pave the way for all forms of Latin music today from Cumbia to Merengue to Latin Jazz, even Reggaeton.
Despite never becoming a permanent member of the orchestra, the saxophone has been successful in the world of chamber music and other small classical ensembles, especially in contemporary classical music. In India, musicians have been drawn to its ability to mimic the traditional singing there. In Japan, they have been in love with the saxophone ever since Cannonball Adderley first recorded there in the s.
In Europe today there is an ever-growing scene of free improvised music that relies strongly on the saxophone to add new colors and sounds. In America today, the saxophone is becoming a very popular voice in the soundtracks of films, probably due to its ability to tell a variety of stories. The saxophone is actually quite easy to learn to play, probably because it was designed fairly recently in the scheme of musical instruments.
What actually prevents students from picking up the saxophone at a young age is its awkward physical nature. For these reasons, it is best to start learning the saxophone around ages Once you can physically handle the saxophone, however, it is relatively simple to get started.
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