There's NOTHING Like a Selmer
Jul 19 '06 (Updated Aug 12 '06)
The Bottom Line A lot of jazz musicians, including me, regard the Selmer Mark VI alto and tenor sax models as the best in jazz history. I LOVE mine.
This is my entry into IFIF1938’s writeoff on all things French. Many thanks to her for allowing the late entry.
I am writing about my saxophones, and, to a lesser extent, clarinets. Since Epinions does not have a band instrument category, this goes in the “music education” topic in Musical Equipment. I will tie in music education ideas throughout.
The guitarists, bassists and pianists get to tell the world about how enjoyable their instruments are. Here, now, it's my turn.
Music education has been an important part of my life, both as student and as teacher. My alto and tenor saxes, as well as clarinets are Selmer-Paris (made in) horns. I’ll comment in detail on my 35 years as owner of a Selmer Mark VI alto sax, with less on the others
The French Connection
The Henri Selmer Co. manufactures saxophones which, as I said, are the best in the world. Selmer also manufactures very solid clarinets, although the leadership in manufacturing those instruments is now in the hands of two other French manufacturers, Buffet and Leblanc.
The saxophone was invented in 1854 by a Belgian, Adolphe Sax, who had been living in France since 1840. He was trying to marry the reediness of the clarinet with the power of a brass instrument. In my opinion, he succeeded wonderfully well, inventing an instrument family that fulfills me as player and listener.
My story
I’ve had my Selmer Mark VI alto saxophone for nearly 35 years, having played it regularly for many of them, although was a hiatus between starting graduate school in 1980 and taking up the horn again, circa 1990.
I spent $660 on it in 1971. According to an online calculator, the same amount of money in 2005 dollars would be $3,140. I had it appraised for $5,000 a couple of years ago. It’s probably worth more now, interesting because the lacquer is worn and oxidized over a lot of the body. I bent the neck while in high school, which has had obvious repairs.
So why is my alto worth so much?
Well, it plays like a dream. On alto, I have a vibrant sound, rich with overtones that I really enjoy. I still do most of my playing on the jazz mouthpiece I had in high school, a Brilhart (rubber) Level-Aire 7, although I also have a Dukoff D5 that I use for rock and fusion work.
The sound took a little getting used to. In fact, I thought there was something wrong with it when I first got it, because I heard an undertone. I was incorrect. What I REALLY heard was the OVERTONES. What happens is that notes you hear include a spectrum of higher notes that provide richness and color to the sound, much like the light spectrum. I had never heard of overtones before, and the ones on the alto were richer than those on the prior instrument.
My alto (and tenor) are Mark VI models, which were Selmer’s top professional brand from the mid 50’s to the mid 70’s. They were regarded as the top professional model at the time because of their vibrant sound, powerful projection and comfortable mechanisms. For some unexplained reason, Selmer changed over to a different model, the Mark VII, which was just not as good. None of the other major professional manufacturers (Keilwerth in Germany, Yamaha and Yanagisawa in Japan) nor even Selmer were able to come up with models that were better for jazz, although they all claimed that their horns were “just as good as a Selmer”.
Selmer’s current professional models are billed as manufactured “in the spirit” of the Mark VI and the earlier model, the Balanced Action. Mark Colby, a world class player who I studied with for several years, is using the new “Mark VI” model and thinks it better. Sure, he's endorsing it, but he did sell his gold-plated mark VI tenor in favor of the new one.
Still, many players who have vintage Mark VIs are still using them. Good Mark VIs, depending on age, lacquer and sound, are selling for more than the new professional models. Also, the looks do not matter all that much because relacquering a horn makes it play worse, because metal has to be buffed away so that the lacquer will affix smoothly. So, while good original lacquer is better than bad original lacquer, bad original lacquer on a horn in much more valuable than a relacquered one.
Around 1990, I had been an accountant for several years and came across my alto, which I had not played in years, in the basement. I decided to see what it was worth, bad lacquer and all. I took it to a local shop and, at that time, it was appraised at about $3,000, because it was a Mark VI model with original lacquer. I then made one of the best decisions of my life. I figured a horn that valuable had to be either sold or played. I chose playing and that was that.
How I went from community college player, found the right teacher, switched to tenor primarily and turned part-time pro is well documented in some of my other epinions as linked below. But there’s a music education component through all that, thanks to my parents.
In eighth grade, I switched from a school with a band to a school with no band. My parents kept providing me clarinet lessons. My mother said “You’re not quitting the clarinet” so many times that I actually believed her. It was her mantra for months. I’m glad she did, too.
Plus, I was never regarded as a player with blinding talent or skill. My dexterity has been tested as low average and there always were better players around, in every school setting. Music education helped me discover the musician in me, a very important part of who I am.
My friend and bass player of choice, Steven Hashimoto wrote it best
”Sometimes you have to believe in what you are doing so much so that the fact that other people do it wonderfully well doesn’t stop you”
Now, for my other French instruments:
I have a 1962 Mark VI tenor, which I bought in 1992 from PM Woodwind Repair (www.pmwoodwind.com, a great source of vintage instruments. I paid $3,000 then; it’s since been appraised at $7,500. The sample you hear on my user page is me playing the Selmer Tenor. It’s a great playing instrument that, like my alto, is a joy to play.
I have a 1970 Selmer Series 10 clarinet my parents got me earlier in high school. It’s had some fairly substantial repairs. I didn’t know that you shouldn’t march with a wood clarinet because of potential cracks when temperature changes. It’s a great playing horn, though. While I occasionally try new instruments just for fun, it’s outplayed everything I’ve tried except for the top Buffet model, also French-made.
I stopped practicing clarinet much about halfway through high school, because saxophone was my thing. I am playing more clarinet now and teaching it. I recommend clarinet as an instrument because of its status as an orchestral instrument. If you want to play with strings, it’s a lot likelier on clarinet than on saxophone.
In fact, the highlight of my classical music career was a junior year stint in my high school orchestra, a very musical group. I earned it not by audition, although maybe I could have come close, but by having the period free when one of the players got mononucleosis and had to drop out for a semester. I played clarinet in the orchestra for the semester. I was also playing bass clarinet for a week and played it so poorly that they had someone else play it.
I also have an earlier model Selmer Series 9 clarinet pitched in A. The typical clarinet is pitched in Bb. Many orchestra parts have the clarinet parts written for A clarinets. I got it hoping to get my chops up and auditioning for a community orchestra, but that hasn’t happened yet.
Factoid: Why is the saxophone not included in the typical orchestra makeup?
Well, timing is everything. Orchestras provided the popular music for their time and the standard orchestra was formed well before the saxophone was invented in 1854. Had that instrument been available to great composers, I like to think they would have used it.
I also have a beautiful matched set, circa WWII, of a French-made alto and bass clarinet. These are branded Noblet, now an intermediate Leblanc brand. I don't have a precise age, because Leblanc's serial number records were destroyed in a fire. I haven’t played the alto clarinet in a while. The bass clarinet plays quite nicely, although they are very fragile instruments and hard to keep in repair, at least the older ones. This year, I managed to play it quite a bit with one of my students who was playing bass clarinet in her middle school band.
Lastly, I have a Noblet METAL clarinet. it's a lot thinner, but about the same length and sounds pretty good. I also estimate this as circa WWII. You can't tell it's different from the sound. I got it because it was different, and my students and I think it looks cool. but I enjoy playing it with them once in a while.
So, my French instruments figure prominently in musical performance and teaching and in musical pleasure.
Thanks for reading. God bless!
Please check out some of my musings on music education and performance:
Improve Your Intonation
Ear Training I - Beginning and Intermediate Players
Ear Training II - Prelude to Improvisation
Ear Training III: Time to Learn Tunes and PLAY
My worst gig
Putting a Jazz Band Together
Being a one man band for fun and profit
How to get your child started on an instrument
I compose the way I play
What music has helped me learn about myself
Fast fingers are important
How to eliminate recurring mistakes
How I help my students learn new music
I learned about a lot more than music from my music teachers
The value of creativity
Develop a business as a private music teacher
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