Welcome and Saxophone Stuff

I am nearing the end of my college career with only one piece of the puzzle left to go: student teaching. My first placement is in a middle school and the other is in an elementary school. The bottom line is that I’m excited and terrified at the same time. I have looked around to see if there are other blogs out there with people in my current situation, but I haven’t found much. I want a place to put my experiences in this pivotal point in my life and all of the resources that I have found in my journey as a music education major. Hopefully I can also put together my own version of saxophone pedagogy (that I am sure will be revised many times before I am done). 

To start off with saxophone stuff, the first thing students need is a good setup. So far my experience has been that students can’t go wrong with a Yamaha YAS-23, Selmer C* mouthpiece, Vandoren blue box reeds, and a functioning ligature.

I haven’t had bad experiences with the regular, cheap ligatures, but I like my Rovner Mark III and love my Vandoren Optimum. If my students are looking for a step-up ligature I am going to recommend the Rovner. The change in my tone from my old no name leather one to the Rovner was an amazing improvement. My sound was darkened dramatically after the change, but it doesn’t allow as great of flexibility as my Vandoren Optimum.  

Thus far my favorite reeds are the Vandoren blue box. They are consistent, have great tone, and last much longer for me than any others. The Rico Reserves are not bad and have more options for reed strengths than other brands. I find them to be somewhat reedier sounding, especially after the first couple of blows. I would use them when having students step up a strength but are not ready for as large of a step between Vandoren sizes.  I haven’t tested this theory yet.

I don’t see much wiggle room with the choice in mouthpiece because the C* is consistent and develops the proper embouchure muscles leading to a warmer tone. The only other mouthpiece that I have tried was a Yamaha 4C which was very bright. After I land a real job I will experiment with other mouthpieces, until then I need suggestions and opinions others!

As far as the instruments themselves I am firmly in the Yamaha boat. The instruments are well built and are phenomenal student instruments that sound great for a modest price. The Selmers are good too, but my preference is definitely Yamaha.

The accessory that is not as vital, but still important to me is the neck strap. In the private lessons that I have taught at the middle and high school level almost every student has trouble with their neck strap not staying in place or being very uncomfortable, especially for tenors and baris. As far as functionality, the cheap ones that come in the kits are do their job but are often uncomfortable because they dig into the player’s neck, are itchy, or are not close to the right length. I have also seen tragic accidents occur when the plastic hook gives out and the horn gives the ground an unexpected hug. The most reliable and comfortable neck strap that I have found is made by Neotech. They are only $15 and not only are the comfy, but mine has lasted through the rigors of marching band and college playing. Not to mention they come in all sorts of fun colors!

In a perfect world all of my students will have my preferred equipment, but that is obviously not the case. After all, life doesn't like to go as planned. The students I taught today had reeds that were chipped and cracked beyond being playable. It's amazing that they managed to produce a sound! My heart sunk when they told me that it was their only reed that they had all school year. It makes me wonder if it would be worth it to make crappy reed identification activity a grade in beginning saxophone and clarinet classes...