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The Complete Guide to Playing Saxophone
What it really costs, what you'll really play, and how to start without wasting money or quitting in frustration
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: What Is Playing Saxophone and Why People Love It
Here's what nobody tells you before you start playing saxophone: the first time you make a sound, it will not resemble music. It will resemble a goose being startled. That's okay. Everyone who has ever played this instrument has been through that exact moment, and the fact that you're still curious after reading this sentence is a good sign.
The saxophone is a brass instrument that plays like a wooden one. It's made of metal, but the sound comes from a thin wooden reed that vibrates against a plastic or hard rubber mouthpiece. You blow into it, the reed buzzes, and that buzz travels down a cone-shaped tube with a bell at the end. The instrument has around 20 keys that you press with your fingers to open and close holes along the tube, changing the pitch. If that sounds like a lot of moving parts, it is. But that complexity is exactly what makes the instrument so expressive.
Day to day, playing saxophone is a physical activity before it's a musical one. You hold the instrument on a neck strap that loops around your neck or over your shoulder, because the whole thing weighs between five and seven pounds depending on the model. You support your embouchure - that's the position of your lips and jaw around the mouthpiece - with the muscles in your face. Your thumbs carry a lot of the weight, and your three middle