Music Voices

Soprano-- Most commonly referred to as "the straight one," "the gold clarinet," or my personal favorite, "the one Kenny G. plays." However, a word of caution: not all soprano saxophones are straight! Straight ones are more common but not long ago, curved sopranos were pretty popular as well. A curved soprano is very small... a grown person holding it, in my opinion, looks kind of funny just because it looks like an alto saxophone that got put into a dryer. However, at the very top, where the mouth goes, it is often a bit more straight even if it is a "curved" soprano. If it is really small, assume that it is a soprano (or something even higher pitched... which we will get to later!).


Alto-- By far the most commonly played saxophone. The size of this one seems to fit a human more naturally than a curved soprano. One telltale sign that you are looking at an alto is to look at the neckpiece (also referred to as the crook). It is the angular bit at the top of the saxophone where you blow into it. The piece is just short of having a 90-degree angle and the top part that is parallel to the floor is straight. There is a possibility that you will come to see a straight alto. These are really not played that often and are used more as a novelty. Where it is likely you may see a curved soprano, it is less likely that you will see a straight alto. Luckily the only real difference is that the neckpiece is the same but the body is just unfurled.

Tenor-- Considered by some to be one of the more jazzier, raspier sounding saxophones. This one is slightly bigger than the alto but still looks pretty natural when held by a fully-grown adult. The neckpiece at the top, however, has a bit of a dip in it. The angle is still the same, but the part that is parallel to the floor in fact has a bit of a valley. Again, there are straight tenors but these are very hard to come by and are truly more of a novelty. Like a straight alto, the neckpiece will be the same but the body will be unfurled.

Baritone-- This one is very easy to identify. The body is quite long and the bell actually doubles back up along the body. The top part curves down and then back up slightly along the body, becoming the neckpiece. Of course, there is also a straight baritone which, if you actually ever see one in person, consider yourself lucky; straight baritones are even more hard to come by than straight tenors, of course. Honestly, it looks like a didgeridoo with the same curved bit at the top.

There are, of course, many, many more kinds of saxophones but the ones listed above are definitely the most commonly seen. In case you are curious, I will touch on briefly some of the more uncommon saxophones.

Smaller than a Soprano-- In Italian, when "ino" is added onto the end of the word, it means in English, roughly, a "mini-blank". So, naturally, the first saxophone smaller than a soprano is a sopranino. It looks exactly like a soprano just a few inches shorter. And of course, there is something even smaller. The soprillo is the next one and it is absolutely tiny! It is also sometimes referred to as the sopranissimo or the piccolo saxophone. Without the mouthpiece, the soprillo is only a foot long!

Larger than a Baritone-- First comes the bass saxophone. It is not considered to be very common but it is seen occasionally in large ensemble works. It is built exactly like the baritone saxophone just much larger in all directions. The curve is larger, the neckpiece is larger, the bell is larger, etc. The next one is the contrabass saxophone. Again, it is exactly built like the baritone and bass just even larger. Finally, there is the subcontrabass saxophone, also known as the tubax... you can probably guess why. This saxophone is simply a monster. It is about 57 inches tall and folds over itself about three times.
There are also many other saxophones out there but these are the big ones. You may come across a C melody saxophone, or other saxophones that have lost their popularity over time. But that is an article for another time!

Happy saxophone-spotting!

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