Hello!

I've played flute for a while, but love trying out different instruments. I love the sound of saxophones, especially soprano sax.

I was just wondering, how hard do people find sax when they've played flute before? Is it a huge change? I've tried clarinet before, but always stuggle- I don't seem to have enough breath and I find the fingerings quite hardhat times. But, I can play simple tunes on it (not very well, I seem to make a lot of dying goose noises at times!). Someone told me that sax would be easier for me, as a flautist, to pick up than a clarinet. Is this true do you think?

Sorry for lots of questions! It's just something I'm wondering about and have discovered somewhere that sells sopranos reasonably cheap and don't wantto get one then struggle like I do with the clarinet!

Hope someone has some useful advice!!

Gemmasue x

hi, i dont know whether ill be of much help, but i have played tenor and baritone sax before when i was at school, i think the embouchure is a little more relaxed than the clarinet but the fingering is more like that of the flutes. Two of my friends went on to sax after flute, they seemed to progress really quickly.

Both of these are true. Many flautists may find the sax easier as it has an octave key rather than the register key on the clarinet which changes the note by a 12th. I can't say for sure as I've only briefly played a soprano but I think it has a tighter embouchure than the other saxes.

I'm not a flautist, but a novice alto sax player. I think the key point is that the sax over blows at the octave, rather than the twelfth, so fingering is essentially the same across the octaves.

From what clarinet players tell me, the embouchure is easier and more relaxed.

I played the flute for many years before taking up alto sax. I'd also dabbled on clarinet.

The sax fingering is so easy to get used to after the flute that I was sightreading exercises during my first lesson.

Between bottom D and top C# the fingering is almost identical to the flute, apart from the B, Bb and C, which are fingered slightly differently due to the lack of a left thumb key. Also the F# is played with the RH middle finger, not the ring finger. You soon get used to it, though. There are the side keys to learn, but you don't need them for a while.

As you've played clarinet, you should find the embouchure a doddle, and the fingering is much simpler due to the lack of throat notes (though that does come in for the top few notes).

I've taken up Alto Sax having played flute for a long time and found it fairly easy to play. The fingering is similar to flute until you get to the top notes. Breathing is different, I was told to breathe through the mouth for sax. Getting used to tonguing against the reed took a bit of practice. Sax players who play more than one would probably advise whether it is better to start on Alto or Tenor rather than Soprano, I picked Alto mainly for the sound and weight as something to start on.

Actually, that's a good point. I have no experience of sop, but general comment from experinced players is that the sop is tougher than alto or tenor to get in tune at first (I suspect support is more critical - i.e. less forgiving as there's less room for error)