alto reeds on a tenor mpc?

[Mavis]

a few months ago my band director gave me a hite premier mpc. to replace the old one that came w/ the sax. (the sax belongs to the school,as does the mpc, so i have little to say in the matter). The first thing i noticed was that the lig that came w/ it didn't fit! I quickly fixed that problem by getting an old lig from a bari player(i guess that's a sign of how huge those stupid mouthpieces are). The other problem was that my tenor reeds seemed too long for the mpc. I didn't think much of it, and basically used them anyway. Well i hadn't played that tenor sax since the end of school, and now i'm back, and i'm wondering if there's some reason i can't use an alto reed, if it fits. I'm not sure it will, but I'm just curious, is there any reason why i shouldn't. I'm also wondering if that couldn't be one of the problems with my tone, that the reed is too big?

[Michael Ward]

Hi Mavis , If a tenor reed is a little too long on your Hite tenor piece this is not a problem so long as the reed is a good fit to the tip rail and side rails. A little overhang at the other end is often seen. I wouldn't recommend using alto reeds on a tenor mouthpiece, it will really mess with the response and tuning of your tenor. Sometimes players use larger reeds on mouthpieces ie baritone reeds on a tenor mouthpiece and tenor reeds on alto but generally it's best to use the correct reed for the particular mouthpiece. Regarding your tone consult your teacher, listen to players who have a tone that attracts you and practice.