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We’re launching a special You Tube channel devoted to all things soprano, and that means detailed information about :   Reeds Horns Practice Mouthpieces Tone Tips Solutions for issues we all encounter Check out the introductory video.  

Steve Lacy : JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS

I’ve been asked so often about giving lessons on playing soprano, and each time I’ve declined. There are a lot of reasons, but perhaps the most important is that I have never thought that there is one way to play … Read More

Fiction. So, we are supposed to believe that there is something about the soprano sax that  requires a tighter, firmer embouchure than an alto, tenor or baritone sax?  I hear this nonsense quite often from players that believe it. Of … Read More

(Note: It is always imperative that you know that your horn is in good adjustment and, most importantly, that your soprano mouthpiece is correctly set up. Failure and trouble are inevitable if either is amiss) Part  2 / BLOWING AND … Read More

SOUND AND SAXOPHONE REEDS:  A Little Clarity I have been planning this article for a while and just kept putting it off. Why? Because it seems like it should be simple, which it is in some respects, but is gets … Read More

Steve Lacy is regarded as a category of one on the soprano saxophone. Here is a PDF of his music notebook from 1965, when he was 31 years old. It is fascinating to examine and to actually play, too. MAY … Read More

We are all living in a new world these days, with normal activities curtailed indefinitely. No performances, no rehearsals, no or limited formal studies, limited musical interactions. It is likely that few of us have ever experienced anything like it … Read More

CUSTOM FITTING FOR A SOPRANO SAX MOUTHPIECE Part 1 There have been a lot of players through my small shop over the last 10 years, players that have come from as far away as Brazil and Japan to work with … Read More

In a previous post, I wrote about delivering air on soprano saxophone. To sum up what I said : solid air support from deep in the body goes a very long way to solving lots of typical playing issues, like … Read More

I’ve never endorsed or recommended any modern soprano saxophone- until now. The first time I played this titanium alloy, one piece soprano sax, I knew it was a pro-level horn. Then I learned it is a pro-level horn at intermediate … Read More

There are a handful of common problems for soprano players that show up all the time in my correspondence. If you’ve been playing soprano for a while, these issues may be familiar to you, but if you are relatively new … Read More

Probably the most difficult thing for many players to realize is that they really have little or no idea about why a soprano mouthpiece doesn’t play well for them. It’s just as likely to be true about the other saxophones … Read More

So, great discussions have arisen from the first post on this subject. It has prompted me to continue down this road a little further. To briefly summarize the general responses asserting that concavity is preferable to a flat table and … Read More

This will be short. The whole idea that some manufacturers of sax mouthpieces actually design their pieces to have concave tables is ludicrous, both in theory and practice. Let’s start with the theory: the concavity is there so that the … Read More