I am a senior all-state tenor sax player that plans on majoring in Music Education.
Well, this year I auditoned for the district band on alto and tenor, jazz and concert band. I made chairs on all four:
Alto:
Concert: 3rd
Jazz: 2nd alt.
Tenor:
Concert: 1st
Jazz: 1st alt.
I looked at my judge sheets afterwards and the judge's biggest remark on my alto sheet was my JAZZY TONE. I've been fighting my edgy sound forever on my Yamaha 82Z even with my Rousseau NC5 and Vandoren Traditional 3s with BG trad. GP lig. I've tried harder reeds. . . just a stuffier sound. I've tried my Rovner Dark lig. . . too resistant/only slightly darkens the sound. I've tried the S-80 C*. . . a little richer, but no less bright.
So, now I'm thinking of trying a Caravan or Rascher piece. Does anybody have experiences with these darker pieces on a brighter sax like the 82Z? Any advice on getting that classical tone?
I know that a lot of the problem is the way I approach classical music, but huge part of that is that when I hear my sound, I automatically think jazz. It's like this: my sound fits so well into the jazz genre that I play with the jazz style too.
I don't have this problem with tenor because I don't think I have a very good jazz sound on it, so it's harder to get genre confused. My tenor sounds like a mix of euphonium/trombone and bass clarinet. (YTS-23, S-80 C*, Rovner Dark, Vandoren trad. 3s)
Well, this year I auditoned for the district band on alto and tenor, jazz and concert band. I made chairs on all four:
Alto:
Concert: 3rd
Jazz: 2nd alt.
Tenor:
Concert: 1st
Jazz: 1st alt.
I looked at my judge sheets afterwards and the judge's biggest remark on my alto sheet was my JAZZY TONE. I've been fighting my edgy sound forever on my Yamaha 82Z even with my Rousseau NC5 and Vandoren Traditional 3s with BG trad. GP lig. I've tried harder reeds. . . just a stuffier sound. I've tried my Rovner Dark lig. . . too resistant/only slightly darkens the sound. I've tried the S-80 C*. . . a little richer, but no less bright.
So, now I'm thinking of trying a Caravan or Rascher piece. Does anybody have experiences with these darker pieces on a brighter sax like the 82Z? Any advice on getting that classical tone?
I know that a lot of the problem is the way I approach classical music, but huge part of that is that when I hear my sound, I automatically think jazz. It's like this: my sound fits so well into the jazz genre that I play with the jazz style too.
I don't have this problem with tenor because I don't think I have a very good jazz sound on it, so it's harder to get genre confused. My tenor sounds like a mix of euphonium/trombone and bass clarinet. (YTS-23, S-80 C*, Rovner Dark, Vandoren trad. 3s)