I went to Dowling Music today, which is located in Houston, Texas at 2615 Southwest Fwy @ Kirby and had a chat with Gus who works there about my saxophone.  I asked him to take a look at it and see what he thought of  the keys and if they needed any adjustment.  He said the saxophone was in good order, and the LH palm keys were light to the touch.  In fact he said that he’s experienced others that were much harder to push in than mine.  I was given some suggestions on why I might be having a hard time with those LH palm keys.  He said to make sure not to use your fingers with those keys, but rather your palm (as the key names suggest).  I wasn’t sure if I was moving my fingers to press the keys or not, but figured that I might, so when I practiced today I made a conscience effort to make sure I press those keys with just the palm of my hand.  I am getting better with it now, just need some more practice and I’m sure I can iron out the issues.  As I can easily play from low C to high C on the Saxophone I am going to focus on going from high C to high F and back down to get that area worked out.  Once that is done I can start working on my scale studies better.

While I was there I purchased some Vandoren #2 reeds, as after trying one from my teacher I liked them better than the Rico reeds I had previously.  I also placed an order for a Sabine tuner/metronome, which should arrive within a week.  Up to this point I have not had one, and I know I really need to get one to one, make sure my saxophone is in tune, and two, to ensure I am playing in time.  I’m fairly good at doing it without a metronome, but not good enough, so it’s time to do it right, as it will only help in the long run.

He showed me what sheet music they had for the saxophone (plenty to keep me occupied for years to come).  I didn’t buy anything today, as I still have other issues I really need to focus on before I get too involved in that.  I’ll stick with my simple melodies, scales, and long tones for now until I can last at least 30 minutes to an hour before I get too tired.  Then I’ll look into getting some music to play.

Gus also let me know I’ll probably play my Vito saxophone for about 2 to 3 years before I outgrow it.  He said I’ll know when the sound I push through the horn becomes too much for that particular horn and it starts to hold me back.  At that point I’ll start looking into more advanced models.  That’s good to hear, as I’m sure once I get another  saxophone I’ll spend at least $3,000.00 on one, and it will take me a while to save up for that type of purchase.