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 Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 9:43 am
So, I play the Alto Sax, and I'm having issues with my C sharp. I know that it's always out of tune, but mine is worse than usual. The opener for our marching show has soooo many C sharps. D: I used to be able to get mine close to being in tune, but now it's like, really flat (I think-well, it's definitely very out of tune).
So, this was last night, and it was kind of humid out, but I've been having problems with my C sharp for about a month now. Now it won't even go in tune. Other than the weather, what else could cause this? It's messing me up really badly. (Could a bad mouthpiece be a part of the problem? I'm getting a new one this week, because the one I have now is really gross. And I've been told that tightening your embouchure helps, but I've tried that, and it's not working. Could the ligature also be part of this? Mine's pretty bad... On that note, when you buy a mouthpiece, does a ligature come with it? I've never bought one before, the one I have came with my saxophone when I got it in third grade... sweatdrop )
Thanks!
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Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 2:53 pm
It's more likely, since one note started the whole problem, that you need to send your sax to the repair shop. Woodwind instruments that go through marching band need roughly a yearly trip to the repair shop just for maintenance. The pads get shot easily and start to leak and that only gets worse without a repad or overhaul.
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Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 7:41 pm
Ashokan Farewell It's more likely, since one note started the whole problem, that you need to send your sax to the repair shop. Woodwind instruments that go through marching band need roughly a yearly trip to the repair shop just for maintenance. The pads get shot easily and start to leak and that only gets worse without a repad or overhaul.
Yeah, I've been planning to get it sent to a shop to be checked, just to make sure it's okay for marching, this note doesn't even have any keys down.
Oh, while I was practicing today, I tried fixing it. It was easier to get to sound right, but at first it sounded a lot like my C, so it was realllly flat. Adjusting my embouchure helped a lot, and I'll probably check to see if the key was leaking. (It's probably my embouchure, though.) Could getting rubber bands for braces also do this? Because I got them about a month ago when this started...
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Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 4:29 am
Terra of the Lilies Ashokan Farewell It's more likely, since one note started the whole problem, that you need to send your sax to the repair shop. Woodwind instruments that go through marching band need roughly a yearly trip to the repair shop just for maintenance. The pads get shot easily and start to leak and that only gets worse without a repad or overhaul.
Yeah, I've been planning to get it sent to a shop to be checked, just to make sure it's okay for marching, this note doesn't even have any keys down.
Oh, while I was practicing today, I tried fixing it. It was easier to get to sound right, but at first it sounded a lot like my C, so it was realllly flat. Adjusting my embouchure helped a lot, and I'll probably check to see if the key was leaking. (It's probably my embouchure, though.) Could getting rubber bands for braces also do this? Because I got them about a month ago when this started...There are some keys which are closed when all your fingers are up and if these are leaking, that would be most noticeable while playing notes with few keys down. You should not have to lip notes up or down so dramatically. This is very likely to be a problem with your instrument that it needs repairs for.
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Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 9:09 am
Ashokan Farewell Terra of the Lilies Ashokan Farewell It's more likely, since one note started the whole problem, that you need to send your sax to the repair shop. Woodwind instruments that go through marching band need roughly a yearly trip to the repair shop just for maintenance. The pads get shot easily and start to leak and that only gets worse without a repad or overhaul.
Yeah, I've been planning to get it sent to a shop to be checked, just to make sure it's okay for marching, this note doesn't even have any keys down.
Oh, while I was practicing today, I tried fixing it. It was easier to get to sound right, but at first it sounded a lot like my C, so it was realllly flat. Adjusting my embouchure helped a lot, and I'll probably check to see if the key was leaking. (It's probably my embouchure, though.) Could getting rubber bands for braces also do this? Because I got them about a month ago when this started...There are some keys which are closed when all your fingers are up and if these are leaking, that would be most noticeable while playing notes with few keys down. You should not have to lip notes up or down so dramatically. This is very likely to be a problem with your instrument that it needs repairs for.
Alrighty then, I'll get it checked out as soon as I can. Thanks!
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Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:08 pm
If it is still out of wack when you get it back, I'd suggest getting a Selmer C* mouthpiece and a dark Rovner ligature.
You can get these the cheapest at brasswind/woodwind.com, or whatever it's called. =)
The ligature is about 30 dollars and the mouthpiece is about 100; hopefully those aren't too out of your price range. =)
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Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:04 pm
.Savage_Kitten. If it is still out of wack when you get it back, I'd suggest getting a Selmer C* mouthpiece and a dark Rovner ligature. You can get these the cheapest at brasswind/woodwind.com, or whatever it's called. =) The ligature is about 30 dollars and the mouthpiece is about 100; hopefully those aren't too out of your price range. =)
Well, I am getting a new mouthpiece and ligature either tomorrow or the day after. Is it possible that since my mouthpiece and ligature are about 4-5 years old it could cause this? (They've been gross for awhile, I just never really noticed it.)
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 4:42 am
Terra of the Lilies .Savage_Kitten. If it is still out of wack when you get it back, I'd suggest getting a Selmer C* mouthpiece and a dark Rovner ligature. You can get these the cheapest at brasswind/woodwind.com, or whatever it's called. =) The ligature is about 30 dollars and the mouthpiece is about 100; hopefully those aren't too out of your price range. =)
Well, I am getting a new mouthpiece and ligature either tomorrow or the day after. Is it possible that since my mouthpiece and ligature are about 4-5 years old it could cause this? (They've been gross for awhile, I just never really noticed it.)You can clean mouthpieces up, you know. Don't put them in the dishwasher though - hand wash only. Buy one of those cone-shaped bristle brushes for mouthpieces from the music store, probably in the brass section. You can use regular dish soap or buy a grit soap from the hardware store. Once you've scrubbed the mouthpiece and the ligature clean, you can soak them for a few minutes in a cup of mouthwash. That's how they're cleaned in rental refurbishment operation (which I used to do as part of my apprenticeship in woodwind repair). If you have any dings on the rails of the mouthpiece, you can have your repair shop take care of it if you request it when you drop the horn off. Different people find different mouthpieces are better than others for perfecting their tone, but it's really only the chips taken out of the mouth end of the mouthpiece and any chips to the rails that would make a mouthpiece unplayable. Cleaning one's mouthpiece should be done every month, at least and the mouthpiece should never be put away in the case with a reed on it. The mouthpiece cap isn't there to protect the reed, it's there to keep the mouthpiece from getting dinged up (but if you have the crappy metal one's with a ring at the end that does damage the mouthpiece, make sure you trash that and replace it - don't use it on your new mouthpiece).
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:56 am
Yeah, I've tried cleaning it, but the stuff comes back a day after. Plus, the end of my mouthpiece is chipped a little (don't remember when that happened, probably happened in elementary school and slowly got worse sweatdrop ), and my ligature isn't in the best condition, so to say... xd Oh, and it has indents from my teeth. >_> I don't think that really affects my playing, but it just seems weird.
Thanks, I'll definitely do that when I get my new mouthpiece. 3nodding
Edit: Okay, so I got the new mouthpiece, and it's working well. A little airy, but that's probably the way I'm playing it (I don't like to play at home, so I try to play quietly). I got a tuner, and it said that my C sharp was in tune after I fixed my embouchure. Thanks for all the help!
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