Suggestions for classical and jazz player

[saxmaniac11]

I'm a junior at my high school for the last month i have been practicing Sonata by Paul Creston. I like to play classical and also play in my schools jazz band. For the last year i have been playing on La Voz medium on my Meyer 5m. lately when i have been practicing the sonata it feels like im over blowing and not producing a good quality sound. Last week i brought a Vandoren 3 reed to try. i liked the sound of my upper register but i was struggling on the lower middle and low range notes. Sould i try to go to a vandoren 2 1/2 or will that just bring me back to the sound of the La Voz medium??? or should i try something else??? Suggestions??

[sxmix]

You would probably get the best results if you get a different mouthpiece to use when playing classical stuff. A Selmer C* would be a good one to try, and would work very well with the Vandoren 3 reeds.

If a new mouthpiece is not a possibility, I would guess that the size 3 reeds are too hard for your Meyer. It couldn't hurt to try a 2.5.

[Roger Aldridge]

It's possible to have a general-use mouthpiece that works equally well for classical and jazz. If memory serves, I think that Dan Higgans uses a Meyer for all of his playing. I use a Morgan 6C for everything I do. I consider a Meyer 5 to be a middle-of-the-road mouthpiece. When one gets into using a more open tip kind of mouthpiece then it may become necessary to use a different mouthpiece for classical. However, I don't think that Saxmaniac needs to get a different mouthpiece.

Cane reeds have a natural inconsistency. Thus, a box of #3 Vandorens will have various strengths with some being stiffer and some a bit softer...as well as some that don't play well at all. Trying some 2.5 Vandorens is worth a try just to see. It's also a good idea, I think, to learn how to adjust your reeds. If you're studying with a good saxophone instructor he can help you learn how to work on your reeds. That said, of all of the cane reeds on the market, if I was going to return to cane I'd first try Gonzalez reeds since their quality of cane is superior to what Vandoren or LaVoz uses.

Another possibility is to see if you might be able to tweak your ligatue to help your set up be more responsive. I was amazed at how much a Vandoren Klassik string ligature made for me when I first tried one. An alto sax version of the Klassik is sold at 1stopclarinet.com. It's the only store in the US that I know of that sells the alto Klassik. I'm thinking that it might help to better open up your response in the lower range.

Of course, all of these suggestions are given with the assumption that you're practicing the usual long tone exercises and other things to build up your sound and response throughout the range of your horn.

Roger