That's a really good point, Johnson. I think that the attitude that I have seen regarding classical music and particularly saxophone has turned me off to classical music more than anything else. I do enjoy the music of Bach, Beetovan, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and others and I find it very uplifting. When I listen to classical music of long ago, I sense that connection to the era in which it was recorded. But, today, most of the classical music I hear is rather uninspiring, boring, and lacking emotion and character. When I first began playing saxophone, my main influences were Stan Guetz, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Paul Desmond, and Boots Randolph. My former band director is a very good saxophone player. He plays in an oldies rock band once in a while on the weekends. I have seen him a few times and I have sat in with his band and he has sat in with mine a few times. We used to clash all the time about everything! He was primarily a classical musician in college. Now, we share tips and stories from time to time. He tries to sound more like me and sometimes I try to sound more like him! I really admire him as a musician, and even though we tend to stay on opposite sides of the fence as far as our music goes, we do occasionally peek over to see what the other is doing.

No one can claim that the saxophone doesn't fit in classical music after hearing world class saxophone quartet. I have heard sax quartets that sound and blend better then most of the world class string quartets that I have heard. Classical saxophone can be completely destructive in the quartet format. We can also debate the value of a 150 year old instrument playing music that was composed 250 years ago for a different instrument (unless if it is bach, bach in universal, and bach on the sax is heavenly & also the best damn way to learn your horn and music). BUT the sax is right at home with classical music composed in the past 50 years. Modern instruments for modern music. Sax in band. Well it comes with balance and intonation issues, but if the players do it right it is just another character and a diverse one at that. Sax in orchestra, not much of it but some of it is good. Some of it doesn't fit. I am not a fan of a tenor sax in an orchestra. I want it to work but it usally bugs my ear. Alto, saprano and bari seem to fit in better. Classical Sax vrs. Jazz Sax In classical there is sort of two sounds out there: German and French and the French is what is most common. As a classical player you pick one to pursue, arrive at the ideal tone, and attempt to get that tone on every note. So there is a universal, clean, colourfull tone that you get on your low Bb and your high F#. This is not to say that you do not play expressivly. In Jazz your tone has much more freedom. Your low notes might be breathy, your middle strong, and your hight notes flute like. Or you might do some thing totally different, but what ever you do it had best be an expression of you. Then there are all of the phrasing, style, and improv differences that you get from listening to a different set of players, studying different etudes, approaching your scale and arpg. studies differently, and playing different music. What I suggest to a young player is to get two different teachers: one classical saxophone, and the other jazz. For a long time studying both side by side will feed each other. Latter on in life you may find the need to pick one and dive deeply into it. But for now learn all you can about the saxophone and music.

Saying that there are only 2 sounds is a bit of an over simplification. There is kind of an American sound and at there there is kind of a Mid-west sound. But now we are getting picky.