But the saxophone is an instrument with a tone that penetrates into thelistener's heart more than any other, stimulating it to enthusiastic supportor to scornful rejection. The listener's experience is in no way determinedby musical traditions or by social ties of any kind. The player and listenermust rely completely upon themselves. We may say that the listener or playeris the "only one" and the instrument "his property".

The history of the saxophone begins, unlike that of any other instrument, inthis spirit of its inventor, around 1840. Adolphe Antoine Sax's desire for awind instrument with greater power of expression led to his decision toconstruct one. The details of his research and construction are only knownto us in a fragmentary way.

Sax tried all kinds of tubes and mouthpieces and wanted to build aninstrument relatively easy to play, uniting within it the expressive powerof string instruments, the impetus of brass wind instruments and the manyshadings of wooden wind instruments. These requirements were met closely byan instrument equipped with a metal conical tube and a mechanism of valves,rather like an oboe, and with a mouthpiece outwardly resembling that of aclarinet. But it presented different proportions, especially in regard toits inner structure.

In his native Belgium, Sax did not find the recognition he deserved when heexhibited the new instrument at Bruxelles, and so he went to Paris in 1841.Paris was at that time the Mecca of music and the abode of the greatestmusicians such as Rossini, Berlioz and Meyerbeer. They all praised the newinstrument unstintingly: its "beautiful sound", "priestly calm", "pontificaldignity", and said that future composers would derive from its tones anundreamt of power of expression in the orchestra. But today, on hearing thebawling saxophone on the radio or television, the above remarks induce us toask: Has the tone of the saxophone changed, or have our own concepts ofmusically beautiful sounds undergone a change? It is easy to ascertain thatthe first is true. The saxophone has, during the past 20 or 30 years,undergone changes greater than that of any other musical instrument. Manyreasons may be adduced for this.

As already mentioned, the saxophone has no noble traditions, as for instancethe clarinet, the youngest orchestra instrument. In France, the saxophonehas often been used in orchestras, but it could never assert itself becausemusicians are slow in accepting anything new. ("Mozart managed without asaxophone, so why this passion for innovations?") Then came the rapiddevelopment of dance music, chiefly in America in the form of jazz.

The saxophone with its unrivalled power of expression and flexibility washighly welcome in this field. Its musical entourage greatly differed from anorchestra; trumpets and trombones tried to outdo the noise of dancing feetand animated talk and the new arrival (at first, the saxophone was not usedin jazz music) had to assert itself. The mouthpiece, not the instrumentitself, was altered, so that it could be played very loudly.

This implied the loss of many of its original characteristics. Today, thevulgar, obtrusive sound of the saxophone is so generally accepted that it iscommonly known as "saxophone tone". The non-existence of a traditionallyrecognised tone-quality gave rise to this grotesque situation. No wonderthat serious musicians disdain the saxophone.

But I must remind readers that in reality, it is the player who determinesthe quality of the sounds coming from the saxophone. It is he who choosesthe instrument, the mouthpiece and his own individual way of playing.

According to the inventor's original intention, the saxophone'spossibilities of expression exceed those of other wind instruments. Thisextraordinary advantage is at the same time its greatest disadvantage-in thehands of certain players! For they cannot resist the temptation of givingexpression and simulating certain emotions which should better be kept inthe background. Thanks to the saxophone's almost unlimited flexibility, itis more adapted to this purpose than any other instrument. And we havealmost reached the point where its partial possibilities are taken for itsfundamental character.

Courtesy: www.classicsax.com