My son has been playing alto sax for a couple of years (about to take Grade 3), and has got it into his head that he would like to play soprano as well. Is this a good idea, and can you recommend a make? He has a Jupiter 500 alto, which I know is not brilliant, but he seems to be happy with it at the moment. I don't want to spend too much on a soprano, as I am aware that I may need to buy him a more expensive alto as he progresses.

Thank you. I've had a look at the website you suggested, and am afraid I'm still unsure. On another listing I read the advice "never buy anything with a planet or an animal in its name", which I am a bit uncertain about, as my son's Jupiter seems fine (but he has played on some Jupiter loan saxes which have been awful). Are Elkharts OK? Should I splash out on a Yamaha Soprano, or buy a more expensive alto and a cheaper Soprano?

Chris,

Okay, how old is your son?

Grade 3? Let him play a few grade 5 pieces before he thinks about changing!

I play the alto and have never wanted to try the soprano. It's supposed to be the most difficult of all the saxophones to master.

I personally think it's to do with the mouthpiece and control required to produce a decent tone within such a short tube.

Most alto players want to go down to the tenor.

The sopranos tend to very expensive and tempermental.

Why doesn't he try the clarinet? ;-)

If he really wants to try the soprano, you should try and rent one - just to make sure he definitely likes it!!!

Steve

PS Don't worry too much about the instrument. If you want to help, make sure he has a good mouthpiece.

I'm no soprano specialist, but I'd tend to agree with stevensfo on getting more alto playing under his belt before moving on to soprano. Soprano is a lot harder than alto.

If you're set on getting a soprano and still unsure what to get, there are probably 3 options

1) Get a Yamaha (I think YSS-475 is the entry level Yamaha) for the simple reason that I've never heard anyone say they regret buying a Yamaha

2) Get a cheap option and accept the fact that you're taking a risk and may end up with something that isn't as good value for money as it at first appears

3) As stevensfo says, rent for a while

I think the problem with cheap sopranos, as opposed to altos is that they just don't sell in the sort of volumes to make them commercially worthwhile. This means it's more difficult to make and get hold of decent, reasonably priced instruments.

I've been playing sax for over ten years now and have pretty much stuck to tenor. Every so often I toy with the idea of either soprano or baritone, but keep deciding against splitting the limited practise time I have over different instruments.

Thank you very much for your useful replies. My son is 12, and has been keen on the idea of playing a soprano for quite a while now - he considered clarinet a couple of months ago, but is now back to wanting a soprano. I think that we may try renting one for a while to see if he likes playing it . I'm glad you suggested doing that, as strangely enough it had not really occured to me. He had been left some money by his grandad, and I was going to add to it and buy him the soprano for his birthday. I think if he tries it, and has problems playing it he may well change his mind and try the clarinet instead. Is there any advantage to him learning two instruments, or should he just stick to the saxophone?

Chris, if he's enthusiastic, then learning a few instruments is fine. Most people seem to play at least two, often more, but generally have their favourite. My favourite is definitely clarinet, but I've played lots of others!

Apart from the cost, the other consideration has to be time. Playing musical instruments is like playing computer games. The time goes by so fast!

Going from the clarinet to the sax is dead easy. The sax embouchure is a more relaxed version of what's used for clarinet, and the basic sax fingering is the same as the clarinet clarion (2nd) register.
Going from sax to clarinet would be harder, but at least a lot easier than for a beginner.

Just a word about buying an instrument. There is glut of second hand clarinets on the market - and saxes as well. With the increasing number of chinese imports, there's no shortage of cheap instruments.
I would suggest buying a well know make. The resale value will be much higher. Yamaha saxes have a great reputation and will always sell easily and for a good price.

Good luck!

Steve

Thanks for your advice, Steve. My son is certainly keen, and will spend from an hour to an hour and a half every evening playing his saxophone, although he doesn't spend much time on practising his Grade 3 pieces - all the effort goes into pieces from Star Wars and Harry Potter. You are right, I don't know where the time goes, and I do wonder if a second instrument will call for excessive lengths of playing time. His little brother gets a bit fed up, because he doesn't play an instrument, and my eldest often insists on roping me in to operate the CD player for him. He also gets very bad tempered on days when he makes mistakes, and takes it out on his little brother, who doesn't help by winding big brother up.

I have shown my son your replies, and he has agreed that it would be a good idea to hire a soprano - I think I'd better also check with his saxophone teacher!