Should i start out playing an alto or soprano sax? Going to start in Middle school next year.
thanks

Start with Alto. The soprano is (a) more difficult to play (b)always a part of the arrangement.

A soprano is more difficult to play well and school band teachers, often, don`t play it well because they were not sax players.

No arrangements in elementary or middle school will have the instrument included. Only higher level arrangements in high school arrangements will have any soprano part, and it will be part of the first alto arrangement. This means that there may be a soprano feature or solo that the first alto player will play. If you attend band concerts, you will (often) see an instrument stand beside the first alto sax player. He will play the alto until the soprano feature, change instruments, play the soprano feature, change back to alto.

When you can play the alto well and are in high school, begin the soprano. If you continue with the sax, you will- eventually- play all of them. Possibly, you will add the clarinet and flute. But for now, learn the alto.

Someone named keke asked about the white helmke alto sax on ebay i bought from there and found that it is a pretty good alto sax. The air flow is is good and i won third place in a solo competition and was told by the adjudicator that i had a beutiful tone. All in all I think it is a pretty good sax for beginner to intermidiate.

for my daughter who has been playing the trumpet, but now wants to switch to saxophone. I`ve been looking for something inexpensive to begin with, but that will work well for her, and I think yamaha is the way to go for now.
Thanks again.

id say accadamy... but its a really old brand and will cost alot more then newer brands

Hey guys, I`m new here and I read all the entries for this topic. I actually searched the web for information on sax brands and didn`t really get any good website (I would suggest for stevesklar to create one :D).
Alright, here is my situation: I`m from Brazil and I played sax for a year (4 months of lessons, the rest by myself). I played on a chep old sax with a leak (that I realized one year later, and understood why I couldn`t get the C note very good). Anyways, last year I sold it and moved to Canada and here I encountered sooooooo many different brands to choose.
Therefore I was confused. Ok, I don`t want suggestions on every brand possible, because I have a tight budget and I will tell some options I have to buy and you can give your opinion on what would be the best choice:
1)New Jupiter
2)New Conn
3)New Vito
4)New Keilwerth
(all student series)
5)wait for a used one, and look for the major brands (like Yamaha/Selmer), but I would have to buy maybe a damaged one or a `student of student` series to reach the same price as a new average brand one.

I know about the major brands (because they sell in Brazil), but the first 4 options, I don`t have any idea of which is the best. I intend to keep it for maybe 1 1/2 year or 2 years. Later buy a better one. But right know I have this buget (let`s say CAD$1200, about US$1000). What do you suggest (important, between the brands I mentioned because they`re the ones available up here)? Plz consider the time I plan to keep the instrument, as mentioned above.

THANKS A LOT for the help!!
I hope I can get some good advices!

Jupiter is Jupiter.
The new Conn saxes are from Selmer. They are putting a lot of money into the advertising now. They are all student models. The new Buescher saxes are also from Selmer, but are not getting the advertising, and they are all student models.
Vito is a Yamaha YAS-23.
Keilwerth is Keilwerth.

With equal prices, I would recommend the Conn or Keilwerth because they are from companies who make high quality saxes and would incorporate some features of the more expensive saxes in the student saxes- but it won`t make much difference at this level.

If you don`t have a sax now, get what you can afford and save up for a better instrument. If you do purchase a new sax:

1. Clean it after each time you play it. Your sweat can damage the lacquer, so wipe the outside of the sax as well as the interior.
2. Don`t wear clothing with any metal on it. It will scratch the sax.
3. Be careful where you put it and how you handle it.

If you take good care, you will not lose all of your investment.

I just bought a Helmke from ebay today for my daughter. I will update you when I receive it and let you know how it is...........

I`m buying a Helmke tenor sax and I dont know if its a good brand.has anyone played it and is it good.

i just bought a red Helmke on ebay and I guess I will find out if it is any good

Let me know any thing you know about Helmke i am still interested.
TX!

I myself am looking for a new sax just for school purposes and was wondering about Helmke saxes. I have also found a cool plays that has all kinds of instruments at realy low prices like a Yamaha YAS-82Z Custom Z Alto that is originaly priced at 3,800 on sale for 2195.99 US dollars. just go to www.giardinelli.com and look for your self i think i mighty get one from there if i decide not to get a helmke.

Adam

I saw a posting on another forum from someone who bought a Helmke. He said he would pay someone to take it away from him.

some helmkes r good and some r bad?
if mr. crandell replys again:
could you tell me what kind of helmke sax your friend has?
keep me posted.

Although you say that the Helmke saxes are not good i beg to differ because the alto helmke saxes work like magic i have been playing mine for about 7 months and won 3rd place in a festival with it and got a compliment that I had a beautiful tone. Plus everyone loves a white sax.