Hi - wondering if anyone can give me any suggestions. I just rented a saxophone to fool around with. I have played clarinet for over 15 years, so I figured sax would be easy enough to just "pick up". I just tried it out yesterday. While I can play it fine, I have a problem getting the low notes! There is a key on the back of the intrument near the thumb rest which I assume is the octave key, like a clarinet. However, I get get high notes just fine without even using that. In fact, it`s very difficult for me to get low notes - if I blow into the instrument softer, it helps, but with any force it immediately goes into the higher octave. Any ideas?

I had that problem when I went to sax from clarinet. You need to work on your embouchure. On the clarinet, as your know it is very tight. On the sax the upper lip is loose and the bottom lip is slightly tight, just a little less then on the clarinet. If that does not work try putting in more mouthpiece.

When you lower the tone there needs to be a larger area-not volume- of entering air. Try lowering your bottom lip.

Ahhhh, I had a feeling it might be that. I`ve been reading previous posts and it looks like many new sax players have quite the opposite problem. It must be I`m using "clarinet embouchure". Many thanks for the advice!!

hey people
just wondering if i should take up sax too.
i already play the clarinet.
my teacher wants me to take up bari...
can i play alto and tenor too if i play bari?
thxz

"However, I get get high notes just fine without even using that"

Yeah, you can hit higher notes without using the octave key, but it pretty much has to do with sound quality and stuff. Like someone said, it has to do with how tight your embochure is. If it`s way tight you can play the high notes, but it`s just all around better to use your octave key.

Also, lower notes you just need to loosen up a bit with everything, and blowing softer can help when you`re just starting it out. But yeah, good luck.

play tenor!

Be versatile, play all of them! (ha ha)

Play anything you want! Lol I went from clarinet to tenor for jazz band, then my director was like "I need a bari, will you play?" SO i`m playing bari now but the only dis advantage is that thing is HEAVY and hard to get around. It hurts ur neck after a while too but since altos are so stinkin numerous play tenor. and... the fingerings all are the same.

Yeah, croosah like these guys said, drop your lower jaw when you get to the low notes.