I`m in eighth grade and I went to a high school football game the other day (high school band just sits in stands, no marching)and I was talking to the band director, and he said that it would be really easy to switch to sax from flute. I was wondering if anyone here has done this.

It`s "easy" to switch from flute to any instrument as just about every other instrument requires less air.

I personally dislike the Saxophone embouchure. Get a saxophone mouthpiece and stick in your mouth and see if you like playing like that.

The cleaning and mainanence of a Sax is also a lot more work as it is a much larger instrument with more places to clean.. with a curving bell. You need to worry about reeds and cork grease etc.

Now... I do double on Oboe and have no problem with cleaning and maintanence with that. The saxophone is just a headache and I hated having to move my Alto case around the house all the time as it was always in the way.

Also keep in mind the Saxophone is too heavy for you to hold on your own. You need a neck strap to support the weight, generally.

That said... if you listen to classical and jazz recordings. Which instrument among them all calls to you? Choose your instrument based on your calling. Which ideologically fits your personality and what do you see yourself playing for the rest of your life.

Maybe you`re destined for the Kazzoo.

Thought that I would add that if you do not enjoy playing an instrument you will not practice it and you will not get good at it.

However you can prevent that by happening by putting yourself in situation where you would have to practice by such means as playing the instrument in your band or taking private lessons in the instrument.

I picked up the Alto Sax myself for a musical in which I played a character that played the Alto Sax. lol. Since the band was on stage and I was isolated to sit with them and "pretend" to play, I practiced and ended up playing for real with them. Now after the musical ended and it came to practicing both Flute and Alto Sax I eventually stopped playing the Alto Sax altogether as I had no desire to really play the instrument.

I had a horrible time trying to play sax and hated every second of it. I just can`t get myself to like the sound, I guess.

I double on sax and clarinet and it is quite easy as the fingering is the same (for sax). If you want to learn it - try it and see if you like it, You won`t know otherwise...

I started playing sax and then learned flute - I know it`s the other way round!lol - but i thought it was quite easy to pratice flute then sax, whereas if i played sax first I found it harder to play flute, as the embouchure on each is very different! lol

Back in the day I played Bari Sax in my high school jazz band. Learning Sax for me was a piece of cake, although it took a little while to sound good (like a week). I found the sax to be pretty fun to play. However, I personally would only play the sax in a jazz band. I think that the music for wind ensembles has better flute parts than sax parts, but that`s just my opinion.

try it and see if you like it, if you want to go into music as a profession, you have a greater chance of getting work if you play mulitiple winds

I have heard that the saxophone and the flute have similar fingerings.

very similar, try it sometime

Flute, Sax, Clarinet, Oboe... all have similar fingerings, but enough differences to require a fingering chart.

Flute is great.
Clarinet is great.
Sax is great.

1st 2.5 octaves of sax (i.e. most playing if you are not into flamboyant jazz or flamboyant improvising, or very serious classical) is a lot easier than most playing is on the flute, so go for it. You have nothing to lose. You`ll pick it up VERY fast. But do use a fingering chart. Fingering is very similar to flute but very few notes - without thinking too hard, low C & D only - are actually identical.

Fingering at:
http://www.amromusic.com/Band_Instruments/Saxophone/fingering_chart2.htm
or
http://www.wfg.woodwind.org/

(It is more difficult to successfully go from sax to flute, so you learnt the right instrument first!)