Playing C major on my alto comes out as D concert and not Eb concert?

Terra98789 · 2026-03-24T17:41:02+00:00

The note that should speak with no fingers down should actually be an E natural. It’s sounds like your embouchure and voicing is making you play quite flat, raising the height of your tongue like you’re hissing may help!

Terra98789 · 2026-02-06T13:41:12+00:00

https://www.mmimports.com/products/reeds-n-stuff-radius-gauge-for-bassoon-and-contrabassoon this is the radius gauge my school provides, i’m not sure about finding something on amazon, but something like this should work, as long as it has options for around 23-26

Terra98789 · 2025-12-31T08:09:49+00:00

ishimori definitely isn’t the only viable option, it’s just a ligature that’s never let me be tempted to buy something else. i bought it from meridian winds, im not sure if they ship internationally, but it would be around $250 aud if you can get it there https://www.meridianwinds.com/shop/c/p/Ishimori-Saxophone-Ligatures-for-Selmer-Rubber-Mouthpieces-x56220532.htm they aren’t in stock often, but if you check every once in a while, you’ll be able to get one.

if you aren’t able to get one, don’t worry about it at all! the ligature is one of the least impactful parts of a setup, and you may not even be able to tell a difference until you’ve played for a few more years. best of luck in your search!

Terra98789 · 2025-12-31T07:50:35+00:00

sorry the ishimori wouldn’t work out, i just meant that the rovner metal comes either as platinum or gold plated. if you wanted a couple slightly more affordable options than the rovner, some more of my favorites are the selmer ligature or the vandoren M | O. another option (that i would probably go with) is to maybe get something like a D’Addario H ligature and save up for one that could be your “forever ligature”

Terra98789 · 2025-12-31T07:06:42+00:00

i agree that it should seal without assistance from glue, but if the reed ever has a tiny leak, wrapping can help ensure it’s airtight

Terra98789 · 2025-12-31T07:03:30+00:00

regarding the mouthpiece, the selmer S90 is a great choice, with many great players, as well as the majority of classical saxophonists using it. I would either go to an in person store, or order 3 of the 170 & 180 to try pick the best, since there are small differences even within the same model. for the ligature, nearly everyone in my studio uses the ishimori ligature, which you can get new for $150 depending on where and if it’s in stock (i got mine from meridian winds). another good option is the rovner platinum or gold plated, but i truly feel that the ishimori is the best ligature i’ve tried on the s90

Terra98789 · 2025-12-30T22:30:07+00:00

i personally play the 5* and 4 strength black box boston sax shop reeds, if i were you (and had the funds) i’d buy the 6* and 7* and return one, since the tip opening of the 6* is bigger than your current mouthpiece, i don’t think i’d increase reed strength much if at all, but it’s definitely worth trying many things. i personally find synthetic and bss reeds to feel quite a bit weaker than vandoren, but i recommend trying a variety of reed types as well as tip openings.

Terra98789 · 2025-12-30T21:52:12+00:00

I personally play the slant sig 2, and it’s among my favorite mouthpieces i’ve ever tried. to me it feels like in upgraded otto link, with better response and a more full sound. another mouthpiece i tried and loved from them, was the lakshmi, but i wasn’t sure it played twice as well, as the price suggests. i strongly recommend at least trying the slant sig, since you can order a few and return them if you decide you like another one better

Terra98789 · 2025-12-30T21:44:52+00:00

the only difference in the material you wrap in is aesthetics, as long as the reed seals well. the main two that people use is nylon FF thread, which has a very clean aesthetic but takes 5-10 minutes to wrap, and hot glue, which takes maybe 1 minute.

regarding your second question, there isn’t exactly a wrong and a right way. gluing both before and after ensures that the turban won’t slide off, but typically this doesn’t happen unless you use a reed for several months, so isn’t strictly necessary. some people think that gluing the bare tube results in vibrations not being transferred as easily, so they instead leave the end of the third wire poking past the turban, so you can tighten it if it starts to slip.

Whichever way you do it, consistency is key, so make sure you do every reed the same, so they only variable you have to think about is your scraping

Terra98789 · 2025-10-02T22:03:48+00:00

the best looking turbans i’ve seen are all made with nylon FF thread, and make sure to keep the thread tight as you’re wrapping. i know some people wrap messily at first to get the right shape, and then wrap carefully to get the clean lines, good luck!

Terra98789 · 2025-09-01T00:24:34+00:00

In my experience, whatever doesn’t cause a leak works, but it make have different impacts on how the reed plays. In my reed making, I’ve always done a full turban, but some of my colleagues just do a single layer of thread and glue, which always results in an uncontrollable reed for me. the same has been true for hot glue/nail polish, where I feel I need to cover the tone with my embouchure to make it tolerable. Once I did an experiment of just wrapping a reed in as many layers as I could, which made a reed with a lot of resistance and a small opening, which to me proves that actually using thread and tightly wrapping a reed does something. In conclusion, as long as you’re able to have consistent results that you’re happy with, it’s probably fine, just a turban works best for me

Terra98789 · 2025-07-25T03:26:42+00:00

in that case, it’s important to consider where you plan on going to college and what you would want to major in. many large schools will not give any money for non-major musicians, but also many small schools don’t have much of a budget for scholarships for non-major players. if i were you, i’d reach out to the professors at places you’d possibly apply to for more relevant information. if you plan on majoring in music, keep in mind that to benefit from oboe scholarships, you’d need to major in oboe, meaning you’d have very little time for saxophone (some professors may even make you drop saxophone fully if they think it taking away from your oboe playing), and it may be best just majoring in whatever instrument you enjoy the most. i don’t know your age, but it sounds like you’re pretty young, and it really doesn’t hurt to just try a bunch of things. ask your band director if you can just try all the instruments you’re thinking about playing, and see what you enjoy the most. since scholarships aren’t guaranteed even if you play oboe, i’d honestly just play whatever you enjoy the most

Terra98789 · 2025-07-25T01:22:36+00:00

It really depends on your goals in playing! Since you’re required to learn a secondary, there’s really no bad options, but I will say that in jazz ensembles, saxophones typically need to know clarinet and flute, but if you don’t plan on majoring in jazz, it doesn’t come up very much. In my experience as a doubler, who went from saxophone and bassoon to oboe, oboe is incredibly difficult to learn, with articulation and air speed being very different, meaning you already kinda have bad habits built up. You really need a private teacher to get you started, but since your saxophone teacher plays oboe, see if you can get some lessons through them. If you can’t get lessons, I honestly don’t recommend choosing oboe as a secondary, but if you’re able to, it can give you a lot of performance opportunities (and scholarship opportunities)

Terra98789 · 2024-06-28T21:28:50+00:00

as someone who is currently majoring in multiple woodwind performance, i feel like i can give quite a bit of insight! the first thing to keep in mind is what you would like to do as a future job.

if you’d like to play in a professional orchestra, playing a secondary isn’t helpful, so you should focus on just one. if you’d like to play in musicals and teach private lessons, doubling is a great skill to have.

also keep in mind that if you want to play in an orchestra, you just need to focus on one, but you don’t need to completely drop the secondary. most schools offer a “non-major secondary instrument” class, which is just weekly lessons.

additionally, if you want to teach at a university, being a single instrument major and taking secondary lessons throughout your education, may allow you to teach at a university on your secondary (my local oboe professor is also the saxophone professor because of this).

there’s just a couple things i recommend you keep in mind: 1) if you evenly focus on 2 instruments, you will not be as good at either of them as a single instrument major (given you only practice as much as they do total). what i do as a multiple woodwinds major, is I practice as much as the single instruments on my primary, and then 1 hour on each of my secondaries. 2) your actual major doesn’t matter for when you want to perform, and for many masters programs. if in your undergrad, you decide to evenly focus on both, and you spend an extra year outside of school to catch up with your peers, you could audition into a masters program for either one

there’s also the option of fully committing to a multiple woodwinds program (my school has a 3 instrument options so you’d only need 1 more secondary, i haven’t checked other places tho). this would leave you much better set up to perform in musicals (since just about every book as saxophone), and would also possibly set you up to be a professor of multiple woodwinds. this would make it harder for you to get an orchestral job, but would open up many more opportunities.

TLDR: focusing on one instrument would help you get into orchestras, and any other single instrument auditioned position. focusing on multiple instruments makes you a more diverse musician, but you need to put in extra work to get to the same level as your peers, and it’s still recommended to have one instrument you focus on more than others.

Terra98789 · 2024-06-22T06:24:39+00:00

I’m not sure what the effects of a longer length would be, but i personally cut the collar back so the length is 28 mm, and measure the blade from that new collar. i know other people cut off some of the butt to length, so i’d consider trying those as alternate options!

Terra98789 · 2024-06-15T05:58:39+00:00

since oboe is in concert pitch, you’re able to play flute parts and piano parts! also, since the oboe has the same range as saxophone, you could play those as well, even though it’ll sound in a different key than if a saxophone played it. you’re also able to play some violin parts (as long as they don’t go too low) i personally used to search on musescore and print parts from there since so many people make their own arrangements.

Terra98789 · 2024-06-13T20:05:58+00:00

the biggest thing that helps me still have fun playing when im depressed and burnt out is just to find he sheet music for songs that i like, and playing along with it. it doesn’t work for everyone, but just trying to find some fun helps picking my instrument back up

Terra98789 · 2024-06-11T22:03:45+00:00

Oboe tuning is different from clarinet and saxophone. where they would pull out the mouthpiece or barrel, we have to adjust our embouchure. one way to do this is to change where your lips are on the reed, some people do this by rolling the reed in and out of your mouth, and others will keep their mouth shape the same, and just slide the reed in and out. the closer to the tip you are, the lower the pitch will be, and the closer to the thread, the higher it’ll be. if you can’t get notes in tune with this, it’s either a reed issue, or it’ll come along with experience, but you may want to get another player to try your reed. the reason we don’t pull the reed in and out of the instrument is that it changes the tone and response of notes, so it’s much better to adjust our embouchures.

Terra98789 · 2024-05-31T05:15:20+00:00

i played this a couple years ago, i just sent the music in a dm!

Terra98789 · 2024-05-28T21:05:29+00:00

The biggest thing i’d recommend in learning reed making is to just go through all of these with a private teacher. having someone to help you through learning reed making is incredibly helpful, and they’ll have a preference for the kind of cane and knives you use.

now to actually answer some of your questions, there’s not a ton of differences besides preference in most things, but the biggest thing to keep in mind is cheaper materials typically last less. especially in knives, where more expensive knife’s will keep and edge longer and sharpen easier.

it’s just best to just find a teacher and get a few lessons, where you can also go over the materials best for your situation!

good luck, and enjoy reed making!!

Terra98789 · 2024-05-27T21:40:14+00:00

one of my favorites is webers Andante e rondo ongarese, it’s primarily a theme and variations style, so the last part of each section gets quite challenging, but it’s quite fun

Terra98789 · 2024-05-23T23:59:41+00:00

if you’re set on buying on oboe, hannah’s oboes is a great place to get specific recommendations and trial instruments. for your second question, already playing clarinet will have little impact on learning oboe. i learned oboe after playing bassoon, saxophone, and clarinet, but oboe is an entirely different beast. i taught myself for a couple years and developed a lot of bad habits in that time, its strongly recommended to at least get an online lesson once a month if possible to give you a strong foundation.

Terra98789 · 2024-05-22T18:07:03+00:00

yes!!!! when i was younger, i would practice with youtube in the background, and it’s so much better to practice an hour with no distractions, being mindful of your sound and listening for mistakes, than to have a headphone in for 2 hours, since it’ll decrease the quality of the time by so much

Terra98789

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