There is this unending myth that the soprano sax is a beast, but it isn’t. Play a well balanced mouthpiece on a soprano and you will know it very quickly. But most players have never played on a good soprano mouthpiece.

Now, that doesn’t mean they don’t like the piece they are playing. They may love it, but they might not love it so much if they played a good one. The reason is this: once they know how a good soprano mouthpiece should feel and respond, they’ll understand what their mouthpiece has been doing to them.

I know all the stories about Charlie Parker playing anything and sounding great, and the same for scores of other players. But none of them were soprano players, were they? I don’t know a single dedicated soprano player that will play any old mouthpiece with no problem. The fact is that the soprano is different.

There are folks who want you believe the soprano is a beast, that it is different, but when you say the soprano isn’t a beast but “is” different, they tell you it isn’t different, it’s just like any saxophone. What?

There’s a lot of information on this website about the soprano and soprano mouthpieces. Here’s one thing that I believe is very important:

Play on a well balanced soprano mouthpiece as soon as you can. You will learn a lot and that will save you a lot of time, frustration and, not least, money.

Most soprano players do not play the soprano as their main horn, but rather they double on it. Get on a good mouthpiece and play. It’s that simple.