Does anyone know how to mute your sax? I tried a shirt, but it won`t let my low C come out. Give me some pointers. Thanx



Ps: I didn`t know people cheered when you hit a saxophone with a bat, Has anyone tried it?

try shoving a towel in it, that should mute the son of a bi*ch :p

*Gasp* oh god...if someone hit a sax infront of me...i swear, i would cut their balls off and eat them for breakfast.

NEVER NEVER HIT A SAXOPHONE!!!

Back on topic, I have never ever heard of someone trying to mute a saxophone, I suppose its possible, but why would you want to? It would only deafen the sound and make it sound low and flat, not getting the proper and beautiful tone of the sax. And I myself, in all my years of playing have never come across a piece saying you have to mute the sax.

If I am wrong, someone please tell me how they actually do mute it.

I need to mute it because my parents tell me to practice in the bathroom if I don`t. The toilet doesn`t exactly work as a combfortable seat. It also scratches my sax.

You can get a mute, looks like a doughnut, but I am sorry your C B and B flat will be virtually unplayable. I wouldn`t recommend using one though because you will start to stay away from playing those notes, which will hurt your technique in the long run. If possible, if you have a basement, or even in your room, see if your parents will let you do some sound reinforcement, such as foam against a door. It should help dead`n the sound a bit.

If I went in the basement I would get run over. LOL

But I think the foam thing is a good idea. maybe i`ll find some around the house

Why won`t your parents allow you to practice? Don`t they realize that (this is assuming its true) sax is really important to you? They are deffiantly hampering your potential if they only allow practice in the bathroom. sry

I think its because since i already play piano, and the neighbors like it, they don`t want them to hear it. Even though I am good enough that it won`t hurt anybody if i practice outside the bathroom

you dont need to mute the sax, learning how to play very quite, and very loud are both important. you can still fill the horn with air and play soft, once you get good enough at this you will able to have a solid sound when playing almost inaudably.

I tried playing quietly but the sound doesn`t come out right.

I`ll just say what everyone else has said once more.

There is no effective way to mute a sax unless you are playing low Bb (Low A on bari) for an entire piece, which is highly unlikely.

The second thing, is that unless you live in a one room house (which is also highly unlikely), then the parents have no reason to complain that you are playing too loud! For one, it is not possible to do for a non-amplified/non-percussion instrument. And even if you decide to play obnoxiously loud for some reason, your parents should just accept the fact that you love music, and embrace your practice sessions with open arms. If they have trouble doing that, then there`s a problem.

There are far too few talented musician out there (I say that in comparison to all those fuc*ing pop stars). So don`t stop playing just because your parents think it is too loud.

That`s my 2 cents.

Oh, and also about that last point that you made. Don`t worry about not being able to play quiet yet. The sax may be an easy instrument to learn, but to play it well takes years of practice. I should know that, as I only started to get really good about my 4th year of playing. That was also the second year I started taking lessons. So if your parents do care about your quest to become a pro musician (I`m also assuming that), then them paying for your private lessons is a must!

Thanks thomas (thats my last name lol)

I`ll definately take your two cents and spend it.
My parents gave me some kind of certificate for 10 private lessons is that enough?


Ps: my sax teacher is so boring molasses would fall asleep in this guys class. Should I just ignore it ( which is what im doing now) because if I want to keep playing in middle school then I have stay in this guys class.

I know it is changing topic a bit, but why is he/she boring? Is it because he doesn`t show you anything, or is he is not showing you what you want to learn? As a private lessons teacher, I really tend to listen to how my students are playing, and make suggestions and work over difficult area`s, like moving from C to B (sometimes you will get an extra note in there from not moving your fingers equally). This is the type of stuff that players usually don`t pick up on their own (I did it for 10 years unknowingly and it became a difficult habit to break). Your teacher may have a plan for you and your playing. Some stuff is really boring, like scales, arpeggio`s, but they have an extremely important use. Imagine listening to any Jazz musician when improving didn`t know chords or scales, you would have to plug your ears so you wouldn`t hear so many bad notes.
That being said, if you are bored, you should let your teacher know. Give them suggestions too, like if there was some song you wanted to learn. More than likely they will work with you on that, (heck its your money, right) saxophone playing is suppose to be fun in the first place.
Last point on this maybe he/she is actually a bad teacher, if that is the case stop wasting your money and find someone who is better.

its actually my teacher at school ( I go to a public school so I don`t pay anything) and he doesn`t take any suggestions from anybody except oboes or bassoons. He hates the saxophonists and has already made us write two essays that have to be "exactly one page long" because we put our instruments together early and one of us was playing.

I can`t drop out because even though he might be a cR**y teacher I love saxophone a lot.

A couple of days ago I heard him talking about a piece we were going to play and I thought To myself " FINALLY!!!" but he hasn`t given us it yet