alto saxophone for young child

[nice sax]

I am teaching a young girl of 9 the saxophone and she has been playing for 1 year. As she is very small I started her on a curved soprano but now want to transfer her to alto.

Can anyone advise me which student models come with the least raised D.Dsharp and F keys on the left hand, my pupil has tried a couple of saxes but because these keys are raised so much she cannot finger the main keys and operate the octave key due to the small size of her hands.

Incidentally she has no problem playing my Yanagisawa bronze so I am looking for a student model with the same lay out.

Any help will be appreciated

NICE SAX

[jomifl]

The Bauhaus Walstein range are pretty much copies of yannies I believe, If you are near southampton you could have a look at them at 'Woodwind and Brass' at Cowplain.

[saxy_jag]

I've heard good things about the Bauhaus Walsteins. Yamahas are also a good, consistent instrument. Whatever she gets, a good technician should be able to lower the action to some degree.

If she still can't cope, then (and I hate to put the damper on a budding saxophonist) maybe she ought to be looking towards the clarinet for a couple of years until she's a bit bigger. The embouchure, technique and repertoire are very similar and will train her well. She's done very well to have managed a soprano successfully as a beginner, especially a curved one, but it's hardly an ideal beginner instrument, despite its small size.