History of the Saxophone
The Saxophone was invented by Belgian instrument maker Antoine-Joseph Adolphe Sax in 1840 in Paris. Adolphe was working in Paris when he invented the saxophone. The saxophone was patented by Adolphe Sax on March 20, 1846. One of the reasons why sax created the saxophone was to balance the strings, woodwinds, and brass, the end result of Adolphe's thoughts and ideas was an instrument with a brass body and a woodwind mouthpiece. Sax also created the saxophone to perfect the bass clarinet's key work and construction.
There were originally around 14 saxophones which Adolphe Sax created however not all are common today. There are 4 saxophones that are most common today; the Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Baritone saxophone.
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There were many alterations that were applied to the original design of the saxophone made by Adolphe Sax. Originally the sax was designed to have a mellow, balanced, smooth tone, however this had to be changed due to the booming drums, blaring trumpets, shuffling feet, and the overall loud surroundings. One main alteration was the mouthpiece being made smaller and more parallel.
Time line of main alterations done on the saxophone:
1866- Millereau Co. adds a forked F# key
1868-Gautrot Pierre Louis and Co. adds screw in pad system and mechanism to keep the pads flat outside
1875- Goumas patents saxophone with a fingering system similar to the Boehm system
1881- Adolphe Sax lengthens the bell to include low Bb and A, Sax also extends the range upwards to F# and G by using a fourth octave key
1886- Association Des Ouvriers add right hand C trill key, plus a half note system for first fingers of left and right hands
1887- A.D.D (Association Des Ouvriers) also invents a tuning ring and the indication of an articulated G# key.
Evette and Schaeffer improve the G# key so that the G key can be held down while any finger on the right hand is being used
Evette and Schaeffer also improved the forked F# key
1888- Lecomte invents the single octave key and rollers low Eb to C