Contoured ProTec cases are awesome for the price. Walt Johnson cases are more military grade but cost a lot more and have little storage room. Hal Leonard jazz play along books are great. I've got I think 13 now. Also, for legit, get the Rubank blue books - Intermediate, Advanced I & II, and the Selected Studies for Saxophone book. Try to keep both your legit and jazz chops up to date. If you go pro, you should really focus on one or the other as a primary, but keeping up with one will help you with the other. To get a better feel for music theory, I recommend studying piano and learning chord structure. And finally, with the right mouthpiece, I'm convinced that just about any horn that is set up well (clean action, no pad leaks, proper pad heights) can play well. A cheap junker horn may require more routine maintenance, but the $3000+ horns need regular attention as well - maybe just not as often. Most importantly, explore all kinds of music and don;t get too hung up on any one musician. Find and develop your own voice. Good Luck!

A good case that fits the 901 is the Selmer Vanguard issue case. About what chamiac said; the new yamahas(custom series) are a versatile horn, and good for your situation, then again so it the 901. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the reason you're second in jazz band is your tone, because an S-80 C* is a terrible mouthpiece for jazz. It's difficult to growl on(like you mentioned), and it makes it hard to use any expression. Also, the Rovner ligs, are bad for jazz, they deaden your sound. Try to get a different set up for concert band and jazz band. Good luck on the Armstron award, I got that in highschool too.

as for awards... don't worry about getting it or not getting it, once you get to college (at least for me, with non music) people could care less after a while about what you did, they only care about what you're doing now. so pratice hard and keep working, all that WILL pay off after a while. (on another note also read the book 'how to win friends and influence people' which will help with your people skills A LOT) i need to get the rubank books again, I lost them years back when I was in high school. they are really good and keep at them. Also play scales, and try to at least get the arpeggios (spelling)down for each scale. they will help you a lot in concert and jazz... remeber everything is in patterns, once you learn your scales you learned most of the patterns you will see on sheet music. I was never a big fan play along books... For me at least I would need a loud good sterio (if you need speakers look at M-Audio studiophile monitors, they are really good and not as expensive as bigger home speakers) Well a good stereo for play alongs, and also a mic so you can loop your sax though some headphones that also play the playalong stuff. I agree that any sax can sound good with the right mpc. Well any good sax will sound good... and yes you have a good sax. if seniors are giving you crap give them back the finger... well, don't be mean back, but you don't have to be nice either. I would just ignore them and do your own thing. As long as we are talking about high school... here is how you get girls (or meet anyone) say hi to them, and make some small talk for a few min, then get there name. then whever you see them again say hi (their name) do that and you WILL make new friends, meet girls, and literally make people like you... i forgot about smiling a lot. that is half the battle of anything, start learning now how to talk to people and meet new people, that is the key to getting places. hmmm as from learning from someone your age... i don't know if that's a good idea. it could be good in person, but there are some people on here that really know their stuff, so it would be a good idea to at least consider things they put forward. (not trying to be a parent, but i learned the hard way it's a good idea to keep a open mind and options open... you're more flexable that way and can change and adapt to situations faster) oh yeah, I'm not a big fan about black saxes... they look too cool, like the person isn't good enough and needs a really cool looking sax to show off, or they are good enough but want to brag themselves up even more... but then i want a green patina sax, anyone have a bare brass sax they would let me mess around with? ok, I'm sounding like a parent giving a "talk" here so I'll put a stop to all this... maybe i should start a weekly soap box thread or something. Anyway it's time to get a beer and go to bed.=) (-Edited for readability by Saxquest administration on 8/29/2004 4:59:10 PM)

well im atleast the same age im a junior in high school ive been playing sax for 11 years now and i find that alot of etudes are good scales and all long tones and tune should always be worked warming up and down wiht that in all 12 keys on weekends i run 1-3 etude books ful for warmup and warmdown then when im warmed up i put on band in a box or jamey abersold (the good stuff) and do a blues in all twelve keys then rhythm changes then i work on anyother songs and i work on rhythm work with a bona book then i just learn new heads and then play more and more licks and listen to myself then check the intonation on it if its off i spend a few hours in the snake pit...*just kidding* and then i just play and play it with different articulation and at speeds over different changes up and down and then work them with other licks then warmdown as for cases try bereley cases there awesome