How to Switch from Clarinet to Tenor Saxophone

Be sure that you really want to switch to tenor sax. If you plan for this to be a total switch, keep in mind that you may go from the first chair clarinet player and one of the best players in your band to the last chair tenor and weak link of the band for a while, and you'll be learning everything but reading music all over again. If you think you're up for it, though, go ahead and proceed.

A used tenor saxophone in its case with all the things needed to play and clean it.]] Purchase or borrow a tenor sax in decent condition and all the things necessary to play and maintain it. If you're in a school band, the school will probably have an instrument that you can rent, or you can rent one on a rent-to-own program at your local music store. You will also need a method book or two, preferably the same one you used to learn the clarinet.

Assemble a Tenor Saxophone|Assemble the saxophone]]. Put the neck strap on, pick it up, and just walk around with it to get a feel for the weight, size, and different angle of the mouthpiece. Figure out where your fingers are supposed to go. The right hand should be obvious, but there are 5 mother of pearl keys on the upper part of the instrument. Your fingers go on the second, fourth, and fifth ones, in the same way they would on the clarinet. Think of the first one as the A key on the clarinet, and the third one as the little lever that you use to play low Eb and high Bb.^[1]

Familiarize yourself with the keys and fingerings, and see how they relate to the clarinet's mechanism. If you study a fingering chart for the tenor sax, you'll see a lot of similarities to the upper register clarinet fingerings. For instance, thumb, register (octave, on the sax), and five tone holes produces a high E, just as it would on a clarinet.

• The key above the thumb key is the octave key, which makes notes higher, just like the clarinet's register key, except it takes them up a whole octave, hence the name. If you finger an E and hit the octave key on the sax, you get a high E, unlike the clarinet, where all the fingerings have two names.^[2]
• The three keys at the top of the instrument are operated by your left hand, and are mainly used for notes above the staff (D, D#, E, and F).
• There are four keys with rollers between them that are operated by your left pinky finger, about the same place as the 4 "left pinky" keys on the clarinet. On saxophone, this is commonly referred to as the "table," or "spatula keys."
• L - R: Two bottom keys with rollers (see below), offset key, three aligned keys. View from in case.]]There are four keys on the side of the bottom of the sax that are operated by your right hand. Three are in a row, and one is nestled further in. The top key is used in conjunction with the left hand side keys, and plays high E. The middle one is used as a trill fingering for middle C, and the bottom of the three aligned ones is used for one fingering of Bb.^[3]
• There are two keys at the bottom of the sax with rollers between them that are operated by your right pinky. The top one makes an Eb, and the bottom makes a low C. Think of them as the equivalent of the top two of the four keys at the bottom of the clarinet.

Play a few notes -- you'll need a fingering chart for this. You'll soon pick up on the many similarities and will be playing simple music within just a few minutes. Different methods start with different notes, but most suggest starting with the higher notes. As a starting point, you might want to try the notes below. Many simple tunes can be played with only E, D, and C, and F and G just add to the fun. You'll notice how most of these fingerings are the same as the ones for the upper register of the clarinet.^[4]

• Top space E: Octave key and first five mother-of-pearl keys.
• Fourth-line D: Octave key and all six mother-of-pearl keys.
• Third space C: Only the second mother-of-pearl key (covered by your left middle finger)
• Top-line F: Octave key and first four mother-of-pearl keys.
• G on top of the staff: Octave key and top three mother-of-pearl keys.
  • Releasing the octave key on the G, F, E, and D fingerings produces the same note, but an octave lower. Pressing the octave key for the C sounds a C, but an octave higher.

Adjust your embouchure. As you experimented with the fingering chart, you may have noticed that the octave key doesn't seem to be "working." When you finger a D, the sound is the same with or without the octave key. This is common with clarinet players switching to tenor. It'll take some practice to be able to play low notes well, but it's also considerably due to your embouchure. A clarinet requires a tight embouchure, but a tenor saxophone requires a looser one. Adjusting the position of your tongue in your mouth is crucial to gaining full range on the saxophone. The tongue placement varies based on the range, for example: when playing low notes, your tongue will be low in your mouth. The tongue rests in the middle part of the mouth when playing in the middle and high ranges. When teachers say "Drop your jaw for low notes," this is really what is going on; the placement of the tongue and the jaw coming off of the reed permits it to vibrate at a lower frequency. You may also need to adjust the amount of lip you have rolled over your teeth. Saxophone experts generally say that about 2/3 of your bottom lip should be rolled in. Experiment and practice until your low notes sound as good as your high ones.^[5]