One fantastic resource I’ve found is Sheet Music Plus. While you can buy fantastic saxophones at Musician’s Friend, they don’t have a great selection of saxophone sheet music. That is unfortounate, but lukily they aren’t the only site on the internet for sax addicts.

Sheet Music Plus is an outstanding site with a plethora of sheet music available for every instrument I can think of. They have over 11,000 different books and collections of saxophone sheet music available. Everything from jazz standards and classical solos to modern pop music can be found. They have a truly outstanding collection. They also have music for saxophone quartets as well.

What is great about Sheet Music Plus is that not only do they have a wide selection of music, but they also have reasonable prices. I’ve seen some stores, like say your local music shop, that charge an arm and a leg for sheet music. Sheet Music Plus is not out to rip you off with sky high prices just because saxophone music can be somewhat hard to come by.

If you are looking for alto sax sheet music, you got to check out Sheet Music Plus. They’re the best.

Well, the reason behind the classification for the saxophone being a woodwind has less to do with what it is made out of and more to do with how it produces sound. There are four main classifications for musical insturments: percussion, strings, brass, and woodwind. Pretty much all instruments fall into one of those categories.

Percussion insturments make sound through striking an object, usually some kind of thin canvas material such a as a drum to create sound. Brass insturments use a buzzing of your lips amplified through a series of brass tubes and valves to create sound. Strings use the vibration of strings to create sound and woodwinds use the vibration of a wooden reed to create sound.

The name woodwind is a compound word of wood and wind. Wood refers to the fact that reeds are made of wood and wind refers to the fact that you blow on the reed to create vibration and sound. Woodwind insturments can actually be made of many different materials. Clarinets are often made of plastic, resin, or woods, but some older models were actually made of metal. Flutes at one time were actually made of wood, but now are usually metal of some kind. Saxophones are usually made of brass, but some instruments are made of more exotic metals.

Now you know how a saxophone can be called a woodwind even though it is made of brass. Mystery solved.

Here’s another fascinating fact about saxophones: alto saxophones are the most popular kind of sax, but there are at least five different types of saxophone.

Of course, you don’t have to spend years and it doesn’t take a lot of money to learn to play the saxophone. There are some truly fantastic videos and books out there than can really make the process go a lot smoother. Below are a few excellent resources to get you started.

Hal Leonard Play Alto Sax Today! (DVD)

This DVD is designed be used as a supplement to the Play Alto Sax Today! Level 1 book, or all by itself as an introduction to the saxophone. You can follow along with the songs in the booklet at the same time as you watch the teacher on the DVD.

This DVD will teach you the basics including assembly, maintenance, producing sound, music reading, and playing songs with a backup band.

For $14.95, it’s a great way to get started with the saxophone.

Alfred The Art of Saxophone Playing

Written by Larry Teal, this book is considered the definitive “Saxophonist’s Bible” . It covers every single aspect of saxophone playing and explains it in a way that nearly any player at any level can easily understand.

Berklee Press Accellerate Your Saxophone Playing (DVD)

If you want to take your saxophone playing to another level, this might just be the DVD for you. This DVD offers easy-to-understand exercises and demonstrations that can be applied to all levels and styles.

It includes exercises on: breathing/blowing, tone/pitch, technique, melody/phrasing, fingering, ear training. It also includes a fantastic 48 page companion booklet to make learning even easier.