Your Saxophone Neck Strap - 6 Things To Look For

!±8± Your Saxophone Neck Strap - 6 Things To Look For

There are so many different types of neck straps available today for the saxophonist because we all look for different things in a neck strap: durability, comfort, looks. I've used everything from the soft comfy ones to a shoe string and a re-shaped coat hanger when my regular one broke and there wasn't anything else around. Let me tell you, no matter how good the band is you're playing with, if you're using a coat hanger for a neck strap you really want the gig to be over quick! Note to self: carry a back-up strap.

The saxophone neck strap probably isn't the part of the saxophone we usually give much thought to although it plays a huge role in your playing comfortability and in the safety of your sax as well. Some of the most important things to consider when looking for a neck strap that's going to be just right for you:

material

comfort

durability

security

ease of adjustment

easy to insert and remove

Material & comfort

The material it's made of will affect how it feels around your neck, especially if you like to wear it inside the collar directly on the skin. I would recommend a wide, padded leather strap. These are more expensive but are the most comfortable for this kind of use. Also ok for comfortability are the neoprene ones which are a synthetic rubber. These give a slight stretch and make your horn actually feel lighter.

Security

For sax security issues it all depends on which type of player you are: sitting down in a chair or jumping around on a stage. If it's the later, then you want a saxophone neck strap that has a closed hook on it and not made with cheap plastic because your sax will eventually fall right from your hands right on to the floor. Go with the closed hook model to make it impossible for the sax to slip off the hook ring. But still, stay away from cheap plastic because after a while it will break and... bang! Once, during a live performance the plastic hook on my strap broke while I was in the middle of a wailing solo and my sax went flying to the front of the stage and just about hit a couple girls across the face... I avoid these types of hooks these days. If you spend all your saxophone playing hours calmly sitting on a chair with no aggressive movement, then a cheap, open hook neck strap will be just fine.

Ease of adjustment

How easy it is to adjust it's length is very important because you are always going to be adjusting the length of your sax neck strap. Because of the adjustment mechanisms and material of the strap it can be very hard to actually move the length up and down, especially when very slight, minor adjustments are needed and this can get very frustrating in getting the length just right. A neck strap that adjusts too easily can be even worst because the perfect length you set for yourself will change too quickly leaving you to constantly make adjustments. Avoid the really cheap neck straps for this reason.

Easy to insert and remove

If you are constantly having to remove your sax very quickly then you may need an open hook. There are hooks that are fully closed and make it impossible for your horn to fall off. Personally, I do need to remove my horn constantly during a performance but I use a closed hook. This does make it a bit more difficult but you do get used to it and you know the horn isn't going to fall off

I think the perfect strap has yet to be made. It's either too soft, too hard, to wide, too thin... and if it isn't, then there's something wrong with the hook. Go for what you need the most and remember, it doesn't hurt to have two!

Your Saxophone Neck Strap - 6 Things To Look For

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Here's my video, showing how to build your own guitar hanger.

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Quick and Easy Sonic Vibrations Homeschool Projects

!±8± Quick and Easy Sonic Vibrations Homeschool Projects

Sound is everywhere. It can travel through solids, liquids, and gases, but it does so at different speeds. It can rustle through trees at 770 MPH (miles per hour), echo through the ocean at 3,270 MPH, and resonate through solid rock at 8,600 MPH.

Sound is made by things vibrating back and forth, whether it's a guitar string, drum head, or clarinet. The back and forth motion of an object (like the drum head) creates a sound wave in the air that looks a lot like a ripple in a pond after you throw a rock in. It radiates outward, vibrating it's neighboring air molecules until they are moving around, too. This chain reaction keeps happening until it reaches your ears, where your "sound detectors" pick up the vibration and works with your brain to turn it into sound.

As long as there are molecules around, sound will be traveling though them. That's why if you put an alarm clock inside a glass jar and remove the air, there's no sound from the clock. There's nothing to transfer the vibrational energy to. It's like trying to get a ripple on a frozen pond. The rock just stops on the surface.

Sound can change its travel speed. Another word for sound speed is pitch. When the speed slows down, like with drumming, the sound speed is low. With clarinet reeds, it's high. Guitar strings can do both, as they are adjustable. If you look carefully, you can actually see the low pitch strings vibrate back and forth, but the high pitch strings move so quickly it's hard to see. But you can detect the effects of both with your ears. The range of your ears is about 20 - 20,000 Hz (cycles per second). Bats and dogs can hear a lot higher than we can!

Let's try out some experiments with sonic vibrations:

Bobby Pin Strummer: Straighten three bobby pins. (A bobby pin, when straightened, has two different sides - a smooth side and a rippled side.) Wrap a rubber band tightly around the base of an empty tin can. Slip in a clothespin under the rubber band, jaw-end first. Add three clothespins, about 120 degrees apart. Clamp the rippled end of a bobby pin into each clothespin, so that your contraction low looks like a can with three legs. Strum each pin, one at a time. What happens if you clamp the pins at different heights?

String Test: Push the end of a length of heavy string and a length of light thread through a hole punched in the bottom of a can. Tie the ends inside the can to a paperclip so they stay put. The can should have two different strings coming out of the bottom. Place the can near your ear as you strum each strand. Can you make the pitch high and low? What other types of string, yarn, thread, fishing line, etc. can you use?

Mystery Pitch: Blow across the mouth of an empty soda or water bottle to make a whistling sound. Add a little water and try again. Add more water and try again. Add more water.. What happens if you use a glass bottle? Place an empty glass under the sink faucet and tap the side of it with a fork and listen to the sound. Slowly fill the glass with water while you continue to tap. What happens if you use a spoon? Knife? Whisk? Wooden spoon? Of these two experiments above, which one increases the pitch and which decreases the pitch?

Phonograph: Pierce the bottom of an empty plastic container (such as a butter tub or yogurt container) with a tack. Choose an old record that you don't mind scratching and place it on a turntable. (In a pinch, you can place it on a pencil tip and spin, but this takes practice.) Use your new "stylus" and hear the music! Doe the size of the container matter? What if you use a pin instead of a tack?

Easy Guitars: Wrap a rubber band lengthwise around a ruler. Push a pencil crosswise (perpendicular) under the rubber band. Pluck the rubber band. What happens if you move the pencil? What if you use a different kind of rubber band? What if you use a different sized ruler?

Sneaky Clocks: Place an alarm clock (the kind that ticks) or a timer that is ringing on a table and listen. Now place your ear on the table. Fill a zipper bag of water and press it between you and the clock to hear the difference. Next, place the clock in a closed metal can (like a cookie tin or coffee can). What about a paper bag? A glass jar? A newspaper-filled shoebox?

Stryo-Phone: Make yourself a telephone by punching a small hole in the bottom of two cups (foam, paper, tin... is there a difference?) and threading string into each one. Tie the end of the string inside the cup to a paper clip so the string stays put. Cut the phones apart and tie each end to a slinky and try it out. What happens when you bang the slinky into different things, like walls, metal chairs, wood tables, or the floor? Untie the slinky and try a wire coat hanger, fork, spoon, or other kitchen utensil.

Quick and Easy Sonic Vibrations Homeschool Projects

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