A few tips - for elderly saxophone enthusiasts

Since many of Mansdone saxophone's customers are elderly people, here we would like to give some suggestions for our elderly dear clients.

1. Don't play saxophone for too long every day

For elderly friends, I suggest practicing saxophone for no more than 3 hours a day, and taking a break at least every 20 minutes during these 3 hours. In terms of practice effectiveness, blowing for 3 hours a day for a month is definitely much better than blowing for 6 hours a day for half a month. Learning saxophone must be accumulated over time, never just a simple accumulation of time.

2. Regarding the issue of dizziness and bloating
The correct posture is definitely to bear the weight of the saxophone mainly from the neck. Therefore, it will bring significant pressure to the neck. Long term compression of the neck strap (especially the thinner and narrower ones) can cause insufficient oxygen supply to the brain, leading to neck soreness and dizziness. There are two ways to solve this problem, one is not to spend too much time (no more than 10 minutes each time), and pay attention to rest. The second option is to switch to a wider neck strap or directly use a product that can put pressure on the shoulders.

3. Regarding the issue of finger joint pain
This is also due to two reasons, one is incorrect posture, and the other is too long practice time. Some friends even went to the hospital in pain for a check-up and got tenosynovitis, arthritis, etc. Incorrect posture should be the culprit. The correct posture requires only outward force from the right thumb, rather than upward force from the right thumb. The right thumb needs to be lifted upwards, indicating that your harness is too long and the saxophone is too low. This not only requires the fingers to be lifted upwards to allow the saxophone to reach the mouth, but also requires you to lower your head and use your mouth to "reach" the flute head. This posture is incorrect and unsightly. The correct posture is to stand upright naturally, with the head looking straight, adjusting the length of the harness to the appropriate height, and pushing the right thumb slightly outward to smoothly insert the flute head into the mouth. This correct posture can also ensure that breath can smoothly enter the saxophone through the flute head. The sound blown out is also pleasant to listen to.

Based on Mansdone's years of sales experience, the above are some suggestions for elderly people to play saxophones, hope it has some help.