When you start playing the saxophone, you often end up playing with a Yamaha 4C or the mouthpiece that comes with the saxophone you bought and you don't feel like trying another mouthpiece because you think you won't be able to notice and understand the differences. But it's not true. You are the one playing, and you can feel if something is resistant or free blowing.
A few weeks ago we did an experiment with Danilo Parra. Danilo is a famous singer from Ecuador. He was awarded "Best new artist" and later on "Best Singer of the Year" in his country. He is now living in the USA and has been appointed "Cultural and Artistic Ambassador of Ecuador" in the US.
He recently started to learn saxophone and was using a Yamaha 4C on his Alto sax and a Yamaha 5C on his Tenor sax. For beginners, I think the Syos Steady is a great mouthpiece, because it's homogeneous, easy to control and easy to play. And this model is quite flexible, so you can shape the sound you want on it, it won't force you into a special sound direction. So I suggested him to get the Steady 5 on both his instruments and that's what he did!
Let's listen to the result on tenor: So to translate quickly the Spanish, he basically says that he has always wanted to learn the saxophone and that he started practicing one year ago. He was seeing a lot of musicians playing on Syos so he got curious and wanted to try the mouthpieces too! And then he makes a demo of the same tune first on his old mouthpiece and then on the Steady 5.
It's crazy how the mouthpiece can make a difference, even for beginners like Danilo. On this video we can hear that his notes on the Steady are rounder and less pinched than on the Yamaha. We can also feel that he seems much more at ease on the Syos, especially in the high register.
Now on alto:
I think the differences are maybe a little less obvious on the alto but we can still hear that his sound is more defined with the Steady 5. He has better attacks and the sound is rounder and also less pinched.
And Danilo is happy now and told me: "I am really happy with the power and control of the Steady mouthpieces, the notes come out rounder. The old mouthpieces have been put away and now I will just use the Syos that was sent to me. Thank you! 🙌🏼🎷🎶"
And you, what do you think?
