Assignment 20 - Julia Meadors

Every day I come to school early and leave school late several days a week for various band rehearsals so it only seems fitting to write my “How to..” over something I do so often. So here is my guide on How to play the saxophone.

First, you must have all of the necessary materials. This includes a neck strap in order to help hold the saxophone, the horn which is the largest piece of the saxophone, the neck which is the smaller piece that attaches to the top of the neck, the mouthpiece, a reed which you will attach to the mouthpiece, and the ligature which holds the reed to the mouthpiece.

Once you have gathered all of the necessary materials you can begin assembling the instrument. First, take the neck strap and place it around your neck so that the hook is hanging down by your chest. Next, pick up the largest section of the saxophone and attach it to the neck strap by the small metal hook on the back. Next, you will grab the neck of the saxophone and attach it to the top part of the horn, turning the little screw so that the neck is secure and will not move. Then, you will put the mouthpiece on the cork part of the neck, pushing it on until it is secure. Later, when you are playing the saxophone, you can adjust how far the mouthpiece is on the cork in order to tune the instrument. Finally, you need to prepare and attach the reed. Unwrap the reed from the plastic and remove it from the hard plastic case. Put the reed in your mouth for 2-3 minutes, flipping it over in your mouth occasionally in order to thoroughly wet the reed. After you have done this, place the reed on the mouthpiece, thinner side towards the tip of the mouthpiece. Align the reed with the mouthpiece, the tip of the reed should be just at the tip of the mouthpiece so you can see just a little bit of black above the reed. Then, put the ligature over both the reed and mouthpiece and secure it tightly by turning the screws.

Now that you have your saxophone assembled, all you have to do it set your embouchure, which is how your face is set to play the instrument. For a saxophone, you will take your bottom lip and barely cover your bottom teeth. You will then put the mouthpiece in your mouth, place your top teeth on the top of the mouthpiece, but your bottom lip on the reed, firm the corners of your mouth, and blow.