Hi everyone, I know this has probably been asked countless times but I was wondering if you guys had any advice on which kind of saxophone to play going forward.
I have been playing for a decent while now, started when I was 7 and have been playing for a good ten years, I am looking to do my Trinity Grade 8 at some point soon, ideally before I leave school. I started off with alto like most do but have been playing tenor recently in order to add to our school Jazz Ensemble (I used to be captain but then got robbed but that’s a story for another time!) I really enjoy both, and I have been to many a jazz concert with both alto and tenor players. I absolutely adore one player’s tenor in particular, he’s from my local area and genuinely might be my favourite saxophonist full stop, his tone is very melodic, very supple and it’s just so nice to listen to, and I feel like the tenor is more resonant in that regard. But during a lesson with my tutor recently I played tenor with her for the first time and she basically said to me that I’ve learned all the embouchures for notes on alto and I can’t transfer them across to tenor without causing the notes to split. So my sound quality on tenor feels a lot weaker and I don’t know whether it’s worth concentrating on improving my tenor playing.
Then there’s also bari, I would love to play it (mainly because it looks so fun) but am worried it would have the same issue again where my sort of learnt-by-instinct approach to alto means I wouldn’t be able to play it well. I’m also not the fastest with my fingers although I can play quickly and sight read I would really love to play more melodic sax.
Do you guys have any advice just generally?! Including if I’m absolutely wrong about which sax is used for which tone of music!