My daughter is doing Grade 1 sax on Monday. Yesterday she came to me and complained that when she plays low D, she keeps on getting D an octave higher instead. Apparently this was a problem in her lesson on Monday but she only thought to mention it to me last night.

Her teacher thinks that air is leaking through the pad on one of the group of three long side keys for the left hand (hope this description makes sense).

I've tried playing the notes myself and she's right - it is very difficult to play the low D. I notice that the 'accidental' high D is flatter than the D played properly with the octave key.

I am going to try to contact a repairer this morning to see if I can get it sorted out before the weekend, but wondered if there's anything I can do myself to fix it. Would be nice to save the expense of the repair (not to mention losing a day's earnings ).

Sometimes it's also due to the octave key mechanism leaking on the crook. Many a time I've used an elastic band (just at the right tension) before a concert!

Thanks, Appassionata. Obviously we will have to become more self-reliant, but have both been playing for only a year (me on clarinet, daughter on sax) and are a bit clueless still.

Daughter's teacher doesn't seem to be very pro-active about this kind of thing either - I would have thought he could have suggested a fix or recommended a repair shop.