Please forgive me if this question has been asked before! My son will be doing Grade 6 saxophone some time this academic year. He has been playing a beginner's Jupiter saxophone, and his music teacher at school seems to feel that he should be upgrading now to something better. He has very large hands, and she has told him that he is playing with one of his hands in a cramped position. Do more expensive alto saxophones have keys in slightly different posititions? My son seems to think this is the case and it will improve his playing. Is this true?

Also, his teacher seems to be recommending Selmer - what do people think?

Different saxophones do have different key positions, and some people may well find one more comfortable than another, but this is by no means the big differentiator between student and intermediate/pro level saxes - the key layouts of some of the cheap Chinese saxes have been modelled on the big names.

Grade 6 seems to be an appropriate time for an upgrade and Selmers are very nice saxes. I believe many teachers advise the Series II alto rather than the Series III, especially for classical. I have a Series III alto, but that was bought secondhand because I knew someone selling rather than it being selected by me and I've had one or two niggling problems with it. If he's looking to upgrade to that sort of level sax he really should try Yamahas and Yanagisawas as well to see which he prefers. I've found Yanagisawas in particular to have very nice ergonomics and judging by the number I've seen on various courses and events they're becoming ever more popular with serious sax players. There are other makes that might be worth trying as well - P. Mauriat have had good reviews, and I know a couple of people playing Cannonballs, Kielwerth are also considered by many people to be up there with Selmer/Yamaha/Yanagisawa. At the very least I would advise him to try Selmer v Yamaha v Yanagisawa.

Great advice above, just to add that Selmer's are lovely saxophones. I have a series II and as TSax says these tend to be recommended more than the series III.

Having said that, when upgrading any instrument it's really important to try out lots of different makes, as it is such a personal choice.

as ever Tsax is right on key!

Selmers are lovely saxes, but some of your money goes towards the name. Which is why it is absolutely right of Tsax to suggest you compare with Yamaha and with Yanagisawa.
Lots of professionals use Selmer, but you will find that these tend to be Mk VI models, which are not always easy to come by and command a good price (for a good one)! I haven't tried any of the Mauriat, Trevor James or Keilwerth, though I am sure they are good.

I have had (and still keep) a Yanagisawa A901 - alto - and it is a really nice instrument. There are other models [like the 902 which is bronze] and others going up to the silver if you have a spare £30,000 or so! No? Ok, praps not that one.

I also have a Yamaha tenor - YTS62, and I really like that as well. Good sound, good mechanism, plays well.

My present alto is a Selmer Reference 54 Hummingbird, which is modelled on the Selmer Mk VI - it is really beeeoootiful and lovely!

The criteria, I think, are: your budget and then which one do you like the feel and sound of? Unfortunately no sax is made specifically to fit a certain hand size. Find the one that seems best for playing, sound and price and at some stage you might need to find a good instrument maker/repairer who can customise. You can buy 'risers' for the side and palm keys to help adjust a little.

Good luck.



ps to Tsax: hope this is fair comment.

sounds fine to me...

Ha ha! No, I think £30,000 is going a bit far - I'd never trust him to take it to school

Thank you, everyone, for your recommendations, I think a visit to a music shop is in order.

You might also consider taking a look at second hand instruments. My large handed friend prefers my conn to his (yamaha?) just because it suits his hands better. That doesn't mean it'll suit your son, but it might be a place to look as well

Well, he tried two Yanagisawas, a Yamaha, a sax beginning with G that I'd never heard of and two Keilwerths. To my surprise he hated the Yamaha, only liked one of the Yanagisawas, hated the G sax, but loved the cheapest Keilwerth. (The very expensive one just didn't sound as good!)The Keilwerth definitely sounded the best when he played it, which surprised me, as a lot of people have been recommending the yanis, and I really thought we'd end up with one. It just shows that choosing a saxophone is quite an individual thing, and that in the end you just have to go with the one that suits you.

I was a bit disappointed, as I thought that he would play better on all the saxophones than on his Jupiter 500, but that wasn't the case at all. (Luckily his playing sounded fantastic on the Keilwerth, though) Perhaps it's his inexperience? Or could it be that if you are used to playing a Jupiter it influences you in the types of saxophones you are able to play well?

Sometimes, that's the way things go Chris. When I tried out some wooden recorders last month, I found a relatively cheap recorder was better for me than many more expensive ones. And I then went and bought it!

Bargain! It's nice when that happens.

Unluckily the Keilwerth was more expensive than the Yanis But it is lovely And at least he didn't like the expensive Keilwerth.