Switching from Tenor to Soprano

[Sid]

I have played tenor sax exclusively for about 12 years, but recently gave in to an irrational urge to buy a soprano. My tenor is a Selmer SA80 II on which I use a stainless Berg 180/2 SMS (thats not a mis-print!) and Rico Royal #2 reeds. Never having played a Soprano, but being aware of the intonation horror-stories and generally thinking that buying a cheap horn is false economy in the long run (and I've been spoilt by my Selmer!), I bought a Yani S991. Tried it in the shop and liked the feel and sound over the other horns I tried. After about two weeks I can now play the bottom two octaves in tune (more or less), but am having difficulties in a couple of areas. The first is tonguing (higher octave) which I put down to kick starting a tenor reed in the Berg - I'm sure I'll learn a little sensitivity with practice! The second, and that with which I'd appreciate some advice, is with the high notes - Palm keys and front F - Palm key notes (D to G) are hit & miss - not too bad if they are run up to, but more miss than hit if I try to hit one clean from lower down the horn. I haven't been able to hit an F at all using the front F key!. I'm still experimenting with mpc's and reeds but find myself mostly using an SR Tecnology Pro with RR #2 or a HR Berg 110/2 M with RR #2.5. The mpc's are very different (as you'd expect), but both have tonal aspects that I like. The Berg is probably the easier of the two to play (very free and full toned, but I'd like a little more brilliance, and the beak is sooooo big!), the SR is nice and bright but stuffy at the extremes, bell key notes are thin and the horn "closes up" a bit in the second octave. Can anyone give me a spot of advice on what I should be doing with my jaw to facilitate the high-notes? I probably have a very slack embouchere and numerous bad-habits from the years of tenor abuse.

Thanks.

[Luke]

sid,
i had a similar problem and my teacher told me the following (don't know how to describe it exactly but am going to give it a try)
On high notes, the jaw itself stays in place but the front chin muscled have to be pulled down, this increases the tension on the lips but not on the reed
I don't know whether the explanation/description makes sense but it helped in my case.
Luke

[kc0pvx]

Hey Sid,

I am kind of like you on that one also. I played tenor for nine years in school and then dropped off of it for a while. Then about 5 years ago I picked the tenor back up, got really good at it, and then started playing the alto. (even though alto ain't the same as soprano) anyway, one thing I did find out about is alot of it has to do with the switching from a bigger mouthpiece to a smaller one. You just have to practice and learn how to form your jaw and mouth to produce the higher pitches. It also doesn't hurt to do some diaphragm exercise to increase the power of your lungs. (a lot of air goes a long way :D also, don't I have also found out that getter a better quality reed makes a ton of difference. hope this helps you out. happy playing. David