Saxophone

From Oddwinds

Revision as of 21:01, 13 September 2006

Saxophones are single reed instruments with a conical bore. The sax was invented in the mid 1840s by Adolphe Sax, who originally envisioned two families of instruments, one for orchestral use and one for military band use:

Sopranino sax in F (orchestral) and Eb (band)

Soprano sax in C (orchestral) and Bb (band)

Alto sax in F (orchestral) and Eb (band)

Tenor sax in C (orchestral) and Bb (band)

Baritone sax in F (orchestral) and Eb (band)

Bass sax in C (orchestral) and Bb (band)

Contrabass sax in F (orchestral) and Eb (band)

(Not all of these were actually produced.) The orchestral family never caught on, except for a brief fad for the C Tenor (or "C Melody"), and the "military" sopranino, bass, and contrabass are rarely used; thus these are all odd (Category 2) members of the mundane saxophone family. So is the

Soprillo in Bb,

a sopranissimo saxophone.

Usually saxes of alto and larger size are made in a roughly "S" shape while the soprano and smaller saxes are made straight. When they aren't, they're odd.

See also the tubax.