As an established professional musician and professor, I have the luxury of trying many different products, including some interesting prototypes. I am committed to being the best musician that I can possibly be, and I have always enjoyed tinkering, so all the different tools and toys that have passed through my studio have helped me to learn a great deal about how things work, and something about human nature.
When I started my career, things were much simpler. A serious saxophonist could choose a vintage horn, or a new model, but there were really only a few brands that were any good. The same was true for mouthpieces and reeds. You had a few options for ligatures, and even fewer for neck straps. Saxophones were mostly made of brass and you used the neck that came with it, and the screws were generic. Nobody had carbon fiber or cocobolo anything.
This is not to say that we didn’t mess around with gear. Some folks were always chasing a Mark VI with a certain serial number, spending big bucks on the “Michael Brecker” mouthpiece, or discovering a boutique brand of reeds that they would briefly romance before moving on. But that was usually just one or two people in a whole class of saxophonists, and they had to have the money to blow on risky, and often expensive experiments.
The 21st century ushered in a new age of affordable manufacturing and a democratized market for reaching customers. We have so many choices, even within a certain brand. Selmer alone offers the Series II, Series III, and Reference horns, and more models of mouthpieces than I can remember. I endorse RS Berkeley, a brand that I had never heard of until around ten years ago. I have several of their after-market necks, music medic pads and resonators, and boutique neck screws. I have more mouthpieces and ligatures than I could ever use. I also have numerous tools to adjust reeds and to measure and reface mouthpieces. My “neck strap” doesn’t even touch my neck, thus the name “back strap.”
Some of this madness was self-induced by curiosity. A number of products were given to me for testing, and I use quite a few of them with regularity. I try to be as objective as possible by making recordings, taking measurements, and giving blind demonstrations to my peers. I admit that sometimes a product makes me feel good, or it just looks cool. It is dangerous to go too far down that path, but I do believe in the “Dumbo’s feather” effect. I am also willing to admit that not every cool product works, no matter how much I want to believe. So, what have I learned?
Music comes from the person. Everything else is a tool, and you need the correct tool for the job at hand. You don’t want to use a sledgehammer when the job calls for a soft mallet. For that reason, I tend to change mouthpieces and ligatures to best suit the musical situation. There are very few tools that are universally useful. The only exception that I make is that I chose horns that will allow me to do everything, given the necessary modifications with mouthpieces and reeds. The sound is always the most important thing, with ease of use coming in a close second. There are also many modifications that can be done DIY for very little cost. I have done some fine tuning on certain notes with cork crescents, and several of my students use “doughnut” mutes and have done the panty hose trick on their octave vents.
Although I tend to be pretty steady in the equipment that I use over time, there have been experiments that put new sounds in my mind. I have carried those colors with me, regardless of the equipment that I use. There have also been a few eye-opening experiences with gear that brought permanent change. (For example, I will never use a stretchy neck strap again, and I only use a conventional strap on soprano.) As long as the experimentation doesn’t get in the way of actual practice, the only real harm will be on your wallet. Just remember that long tones and deep listening will do more for your musicianship than any fancy accessory. The music comes from you and it only passes through the machinery after you have created it in your mind!
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