by ericdano
September 6, 2002 in Articles
saxophan writes “I thinking about buying a new mouthpiece. I tried and liked the yanagisawa 5. I was wondering if anybody could reccomend a good metal mouthpiece for alto. I don’t really like the meyer 5′s, and I have tried them. Also, does anybody know about the otto links for alto? I would like something less than $120. Also, with a tip opening less than 80 hundredths/inch.”
A lot of guys use metal Beechlers on Alto.
by ericdano
December 28, 2001 in Articles
saxxxxxxxxx maaaan writes “Well! I bought a jazz Meyer mouthpiece with a tip opening of 6 for my tenor sax and it just doesn’t play worth a flip, I use a 2 1/2 Rico and La voz medium my ligiture is the one that came with it.
Can you make any suggestions that might help!!
THANKS!!”
Lets see……
First, what did you play on before? Opening the same size as the Meyer? Same type of reeds?
Does the sax play ok when you use the old mouthpiece? Did you try out other mouthpieces before you bought that? Did it work when you tried it out?
I have never tried a Meyer on Tenor, though I have heard good things about them. I have a GREAT old meyer for Alto that I love to death. If the problem you’re having with the mouthpiece is perhaps tone/projection quality, then maybe you should try something else, maybe a metal Otto Link, or Metal Berg, or something else.
I’m just guessing here, you kinda need to explain what is and is not working with the mouthpiece…….
by ericdano
December 27, 2001 in Articles
NewGuy writes “I’m in High School in a small town in the middle of nowhere. I’m kinda just looking for advice on sax playing in general. I sound too “plain”. Another thing is the kind of saxophone I have. I own a Conn 10m tenor. It sounds beautiful compared to the STUDENT saxes I played, but I have no clue how much better a true pro sax sounds. And, are older saxes like my Conn better than those cheap new ones when it comes to tone quality?
I just need people to help me out, cuz I got no other way of getting advice!”
I don’t believe that there is NO ONE in your area that could help you. Local music store? Community band player? The best thing to make rapid progress is to hook up with a teacher even just for a few lessons. They can see and hear what is going on, and make recommendations.
As for sounding “too plain” there are a number of things to consider. First is the mouthpiece. 9 times out of 10 changing the mouthpiece on a horn will radically change it for the better. You could try a Berg Larsen mouthpiece, rubber or metal, or an Otto Link and more. Places like Woodwind and the Brasswind will let you try out a bunch for a small fee. For me, I’ve kind of settled on a Rubber Berg 110/2. Though I have been going back to an old Rubber Otto Link 5 that I have.
The other thing to consider is time. The more you play, the more your embrouchure will develop. Though I’ve found that this takes time in students, at least a year. And playing on the same equipment (IE: mouthpiece, horn, etc) is better than constantly switching between mouthpieces and horns.
So, my recommendation is to get a good mouthpiece, like a 100 or 105 opening Berg or a 5 Link, or something similar. You don’t need the $500 Guardala mouthpiece. Start using some good reeds, like Rico Royals or LaVoz or whatever EXCEPT for those standard Rico reeds. Those are bad. Bad Bad Bad. And then practice 24/7/365 
by ericdano
September 28, 2001 in Articles
Anonymous Coward writes “Man, it took me a long time to find a good reed. I’m using Daniel’s these days. They’re really good, but I’m still looking of course.
I started with javas. Those were the first ones I played when I got off the student reeds. After about two years, I started looking around for better mouthpieces, and the search for reeds came soon after. I went from java to Rico Jazz, then back to java. I wasn’t REALLY happy with either, so I decided to stick with java and buy a new brand along with my box of java every time I ran out of reeds.”
When I found something better, I would buy those and a new brand when I ran out. So I went from java to Alexander Superial, to Alexander DC, and now Daniels. The Alexander reeds had the same kind of feel that I liked about Java and jazz, but a much, much better sound. Switching from the Superial to DC is really just a matter of taste. They’re both fine reeds. It’s been about four years now, but I’m really happy with Daniels, even though they taste a little bit like bleach because of the chemical treatment (a little known fact). But they’re very responsive, warm and dark. They were everything I liked about the DC cut, but when I go back to Alexander DC, I feel like they have a greater tendancy to kind of close up on me. Over the time, I’ve tried at least a dozen different brands or reeds/synthetics.
I’ve got two reeds left, and my next experimental box will be Zonda Supreme. Apparently they aren’t from the Var region of France like most $2.50+/per tenor reed brands, but from Argentina in the mountains. The wind apparently makes their fibers stronger, and vegetables are grown between the cane to give them more sunlight. Sounds kind of hippy-dippy but I’ll give ‘em a try.”
Interesting. I’ve pretty much settled on LaVoz Medium Hards for Alto and Tenor, Vandoren V12 #4′s on clarinet, and Vandoren Blue Box #3s or 3 1/2s. Though the soprano reeds/mouthpiece situation is kind of up in the air at the moment.
by ericdano
June 23, 2001 in Articles
saxtyrant writes “I was wondering, does anyone know about any websites where I can get technical information about mouthpieces and what each part does? Such at the baffle, chamber etc.? And possibly a comparison chart for different brands?”Excellent question. Luckly, Jon Van Wie has an excellent chart which shows everything you’d want to know about Mouthpiece terminology.
by ericdano
December 6, 2000 in Articles
I got to spend some time with the great Don Menza tonight. It was very good. For those of you who don’t know of Don Menza, you need to sell your saxophone. Now!
01/24/2001 Updated a little more
Don Menza is a very gifted woodwind player who is probably most known for his stint with the Buddy Rich big band. But, Don Menza is deeper than that. Don is a very active in the music and teaching scene, and he is playing all over the world currently. In fact, he says he keeps a horn in the various locations he goes to rather than carrying a horn around….but that is another story.
Anyways, Don Menza had a stories about everything. I didn’t get to hear any of the famous Buddy Rich stories (or horror stories) because I got there a little late (maybe Rory could fill us in?). He retold a great story of seeing Charlie Parker playing live, with Strings. He said Charlie Parker’s sound was big, kinda like a tenor, and would fill the room. He said Charlie Parker’s play looked like he wasn’t play because his fingers were soo close to the keys. He also had a story of how Charlie Paker’s playing changed after playing 2nd Tenor in the Billy Eckstine band. He was playing second the Gene Ammons. Don insists that you can hear a trading of ideas between Gene and Charlie after that time.
Don Menza is insistant that the best saxophones ever made are Selmer Mark VI’s. He says that once Selmer stopped making them, they lost the art. Current saxophones being made have aspects of the Selmer Mark VI, but he says that nothing captures it.
Don is also insistant on mouthpieces. He doesn’t buy that “this mouthpiece will make me better” arguement. I remember seeing him in 1995 or 1994 at the IAJE in LA, and he did this demo of sounding the same on 3 different mouthpieces. The $500 special, the $100 middle of the roader, and the $5 special. It didn’t matter, he made them all the same. I think he now likes old Otto Links that he strips the rubber off of. We didn’t get into details about that.
Don’s also very passionate about his teaching. He’s very proud of a couple of student, especially this girl (and I can’t remember her name!). She was always something he’d talk about. He’s very proud of her.
I’ll probably remember something more later………
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