Professional Baritone Alto
Mouthpiece, Alto Sax, S-80 Selmer Paris, C* Tip Opening: Med Close 1.70 / Facing Length: Med 22.00
As a music student coming from a non-musical family, I get asked a lot of interesting questions sometimes. I have found, as a saxophonist, that numerous people do not realize the physical deviations amid saxophone types. Here is a quick run down on the more mutual types of saxophones and how one may discern them easily. You will be a saxophone-identifying-pro in no time!
Soprano– Most commonly referred to as “the straight one,” “the gold clarinet,” or my personal favorite, “the one Kenny G. plays.” However, a word of caution: not all soprano saxophones are straight! Straight ones are more mutual but not long ago, curved sopranos were gorgeous general as well. A curved soprano is very small… a grown person keeping it, in my opinion, looks kind of funny just because it looks like an alto saxophone that got put into a dryer. However, at the very top, where the mouth goes, it is many times a bit more straight even if it is a “curved” soprano. If it is actually small, assume that it is a soprano (or something even higher pitched… which we will get to later!).
Alto– By far the most normally played saxophone. The size of this one seems to fit a humane more naturally than a curved soprano. One telltale sign that you are looking at an alto is to look at the neckpiece (also referred to as the crook). It is the angular bit at the top of the saxophone where you blow into it. The piece is just short of having a 90-degree angle and the top percentage that is parallel to the floor is straight. There is a possibleness that you will come to see a straight alto. These are in truth not played that often times and are used more as a novelty. Where it is likely you may see a curved soprano, it is less likely that you will see a straight alto. Luckily the only real divergence is that the neckpiece is the same but the body is just unfurled.
Tenor– Considered by some to be one of the more jazzier, raspier sounding saxophones. This one is somewhat more spectacular than the alto but still looks pretty natural when held by a fully-grown adult. The neckpiece at the top, however, has a bit of a dip in it. The angle is still the same, but the share that is parallel to the floor in fact has a bit of a valley. Again, there are straight tenors but these are very hard to come by and are veritably more of a novelty. Like a straight alto, the neckpiece will be the same but the body will be unfurled.
Baritone– This one is very easy to identify. The body is rather long and the bell genuinely doubles back up along the body. The top portion curves down and then back up somewhat along the body, getting the neckpiece. Of course, there is also a straight baritone which, if you in truth ever see one in person, consider yourself lucky; straight baritones are even more hard to come by than straight tenors, of course. Honestly, it looks like a didgeridoo with the same curved bit at the top.
There are, of course, many, a good deal of more kinds of saxophones but the ones listed above are unquestionably the most normally seen. In case you are curious, I will touch on briefly numerous of the more not common saxophones.
Smaller than a Soprano– In Italian, when “ino” is added onto the end of the word, it means in English, roughly, a “mini-blank”. So, naturally, the firstborn saxophone littler than a soprano is a sopranino. It looks incisively like a soprano just a few inches shorter. And of course, there is something even smaller. The soprillo is the next one and it is utterly tiny! It is also from time to time referred to as the sopranissimo or the piccolo saxophone. Without the mouthpiece, the soprillo is only a foot long!
Larger than a Baritone– First comes the bass saxophone. It is not considered to be very mutual but it is seen on occasion in huge ensemble works. It is built precisely like the baritone saxophone just much more prominent in all directions. The curve is larger, the neckpiece is larger, the bell is larger, etc. The next one is the contrabass saxophone. Again, it is incisively built like the baritone and bass just even larger. Finally, there is the subcontrabass saxophone, also known as the tubax… you may in all likelihood guess why. This saxophone is plainly a monster. It is when it comes to 57 inches tall and folds over itself in regards to three times.
There are also some other saxophones out there but these are the huge ones. You may come all over a C melody saxophone, or other saxophones that have lost their popularity over time. But that is an article for another time!
Happy saxophone-spotting!
Professional Baritone Alto Photo
Professional Baritone Alto Picture
Professional Baritone Alto Image
Professional Baritone Alto Picture
Most helpful client reviews
74 of 75 persons found the following review helpful.
 Selmer = industry standard
By P. Petersen
As a professional woodwind instructor and player, I ordinarily commend the Selmer C* mouthpiece to all of my students as their initial “step up” from the beginner’s mouthpiece that came with their horn. When they buy or rent a saxophone, peculiarly these cheap new Chinese/Taiwanese horns like “First Act” or other brands, the mouthpiece that comes with the horn is ordinarily substandard, commonly plastic, and is hardly sufficient for the beginner to get a sound out of the horn. Even so, a good mouthpiece may assuage some of the troubles caused by an el-cheapo instrument.
Obviously, each student ought to always have the best possible instrumentation at his/her disposal, but even if the cost prohibits a student from buying a top-of-the-line pro horn, they must still invest the cash in a top quality mouthpiece. The mouthpiece and embochure form the foundation to tone production, and a good mouthpiece will make it possible to learn to formulate a decent tone on even the worst-quality instrument. Conversely, the best instrument in the world is only going to sound intermediate if the mouthpiece is sub-standard. Garbage in, Garbage out.
Selmer has always had a good reputation for quality, and this piece is no exception. I’m not sure why they decisive to change their nomenclature from C* to C1, but as far as everything I may find to read regarding them, this is the ordinary model S80 C*. The letter C refers to the tip opening, which ranges from A (narrowest) to H (widest) and the star refers to little deviations in tip opening that aren’t sufficient to warrant a whole letter. This mouthpiece, the C1 or C*, has a tip opening of sixty-five thousandths of an inch, which is a good mid-range intermediate which will give students a great deal of control over the full range of the horn without sounding too bright (as with wider tip openings) or too dark (as with narrower openings). Most other mouthpiece manufacturers use numbers rather of letters, ordinarily 1 to 10, with 10 being the widest tip opening. The C and C* Selmers are roughly equivalent to with regards to a 5, so just in regards to medium. For this reason they’re good for students who are still constructing their sound – this piece will give them the most skillfulness and “growing room” for their money.
As with any purchase, each student must spend a lot of time playing a new mouthpiece BEFORE buying it to see if it’s right for them. Every mouth is shaped differently, and so some mouths will naturally take to the shape of the Selmer while others might find a Meyer or Otto Link more to their liking. No matter what you read regarding how this or that mouthpiece is the one, THE TRUE TEST IS IN THE PLAYING, no matter what. Copy the following phrase down and memorize it:
The idealisti mouthpiece is the one that makes it easiest to achieve the sound you want with the minimum of effort.
Notice I didn’t say that this or that mouthpiece will make you sound like this or that. YOU are the major element in what you sound like. Any player with sufficient control over their chops may make any saxophone sound like anything if they contort their face into the right position to make it take place through embouchure. The mouthpiece is shaped to make it more comfortable or harder to achieve a peculiar sound with less or more effort based on what the rest of your mouth is doing. But the overall tone quality is something YOU control by embochure, breath control, and concept.
So – when choosing a mouthpiece, it’s vitally indispensable to have an idea of what you want your tone to sound like FIRST, then try various dissimilar mouthpieces and pay attention to how hard you’re having to work to get that desired tone. Some of the mouthpieces will make it more comfortable to get your Preferred Sound, a good deal of will make it harder. The one you want is the one that lets you sound like you with the least amount of “shape changing” of your embouchure.
With that in mind, it’s indispensable to say that if you’re planning on buying a mouthpiece through mail-order, be sure you’re not affrighted to take vantage of the company’s return/exchange policy if need be. If you plunk down cash for a good mmouthpiece, and then you get it and play it and it’s not making it more comfortable for you to sound like what you want to sound like, don’t be scared to send it back and interchange it for a better one. Sometimes it’s as simple as altering to a dissimilar facing. If a C1 doesn’t feel right, try a C2, etc.
And – don’t be scared to ask the counsel of a pro and take a lesson if you’re calling for help. That’s what we’re here for.
4 of 4 persons found the following review helpful.
THE BEST
By Rudolph B. Jackson
Great mouthpiece for playing all types of music surperb shipping too! Great for intermediate player and pro’s.
2 of 2 humans found the following review helpful.
GREAT MOUTH PIECE
By designomatic
Finally, my primary review… Shipping was lightning fast and this mouth piece genuinely sings. I was told my various alto players that this was a great piece. Sure enough, it unquestionably beats my generic mouth piece that came with the alto. It plays well with 2 1/2!
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