Saxophone
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
A saxophone is a musical instrument that is made of brass and often just called a "sax".
Due to the fact it is made from brass it is often involved in what is referred to as a brass section alongside true brass instruments like the trumpet or trombone. However, it is not a true brass instrument but a member of the woodwind family of instruments because it has a reed. It was developed from the clarinet and shares many similarities to the clarinet. The player blows into a reed fitted into the mouthpiece of the instrument. The instrument is rarely used in a classical orchestra.
There are several different kinds of saxophone. In order from low to high pitch they are: Contrabass, Bass, Baritone, Tenor, Alto, Soprano, Sopranino. However, only the baritone, tenor, alto, and soprano are in common use.
It was invented in 1842 by Adolphe Sax and is very popular with modern rock and pop musicians, and often used in jazz music. The big bands of the 1940s and 1950s always used it too. A famous saxophone player was Charlie Parker.
The saxophone family is known as a transpositional family of instruments due to the fact that you do not have to alter the fingering when playing different saxophones.
