Growing Pains: Making Saxophone Accessible to Children of All Sizes

By Connor Ellis

As a teacher helping young saxophone students, I have noticed that physical differences in elementary and middle school students can offer serious challenges to themselves and us as teachers. Students are at varied stages of physical development when they join the band. Some kids have yet to hit their growth spurt, and the challenges these children face are too often overlooked by teachers. Luckily, many of these challenges can now be easily remedied, and teachers need only to be able to recognize when they exist.

Strap In for Success!

You never fly a plane or race a car without strapping in for safety and performance. The same is true of saxophones. One of the most common pain points that sax students face is neck strap discomfort on their smaller bodies. I’m sure every band director reading this can call to mind the image of a student hunching over or craning their neck to blow into their saxophone despite having their neck strap pulled all the way up to their throat. Instrument rental companies try to standardize their equipment, but they simply cannot account for the sheer range of student height at the elementary band level. The relatively easy fix is for teachers to keep neck straps of various lengths in inventory. The well-reputed Protec brand makes neck straps in a 22-inch “regular” size and a 20-inch “junior” size, both of which are readily available or orderable at your local music store. For extreme cases, keep some soprano saxophone and clarinet neck straps on hand for small children who still struggle with the 20-inch neck strap.

Free the Phalanges!

When a child first learns saxophone, any accidental nudge to a palm key will cause a rockin’ squawk that frustrates the student. This is common for kids with small hands. For a long time, there was no fix for this problem other than turning the child away while their hands grew or forcing them to learn an instrument they are not passionate about.

We can all think of students who learned bad habits as compensation for not being able to reach their keys or, even more concerning, gave up on the instrument entirely. However, during my trip to the 2023 US Navy Band Saxophone Symposium, I attended a presentation by teacher and inventor Rulon Brown in which he unveiled his affordable and convenient solution: the RULON Alto Sax Palm Key Removal Kit. While the name may suggest some drastic modification to a student’s horn, the reality is far less severe. The kit includes all the tools a parent or teacher needs to safely remove the palm keys of an alto saxophone, securely store the removed keys until the student is ready to reincorporate them into their instrument, and non-abrasively seal the tone holes of the removed keys. To use the words of Rulon Brown himself:

When a small child starts [playing] saxophone, their hands can struggle to reach around bulky palm keys. But those palm keys aren’t played in the first year of study. Use the RULON Palm Key Removal Kit to safely remove saxo phone palm keys so small hands can make big sounds. This makes any alto sax easier to hold and play while your student grows.

Rulon Brown makes some excellent points regarding the palm keys on the saxophone. Most students will not learn the high palm key notes until late middle school or sometimes even high school. Removing those palm keys in the early stage of learn- ing allows the student to comfortably and confidently learn the basic technique of the instrument without having to contort their small hands around an unnecessary obstacle. In addition to the Palm Key Removal Kit, Rulon Brown includes a series of helpful instructional videos for beginning students free of charge with the kit. These videos are pedagogically excellent and can help a beginning student in their own private practice and development. For more information regarding the RULON Alto Sax Palm Key Removal Kit, visit www. KeyLeaves.com/SmallHands

Off The Hook!

We have discussed in depth palm keys being a barrier to left hands. But let’s not forget about the right hand! Students of all ages can feel trapped under the traditional saxophone thumb hook. The thumb hook is also a culprit for poor posture from beginner to professional. Many students form the bad habit of holding the horn’s weight on their right thumb instead of set- ting their neck strap at a proper height to hold the sax. Rulon Brown created a simple and elegant solution to this problem: remove the hook and replace it with an adjustable platform for all hand sizes! The RULON ergonomic saxophone rest (included in the Alto Sax Palm Key Removal Kit discussed previously) replaces the traditional right thumb hook. The flat surface rest not only forces the student to have their neck strap position at a healthy height, but the adjustability of the RULON rest (shown in the photo above) allows students of every hand size to find a comfortable and relaxed holding position on the saxophone. This makes clearing the side key fingerings and reaching down to the pinky keys far more accessible and faster for students. This is a benefit to kids and adults with larger hands. Since January, I have used the RULON sax rest on both my alto and tenor saxophones and noticed significantly less tension and stress during my playing sessions.

Sitting Pretty!

Students should be allowed to sit comfortably in class. Don’t yell at me just yet, fellow directors.

Band Students should most certainly be using healthy posture in their chairs, but we must let go of the rigid marching band-centered thinking about how students sit. Most young players, including myself in the fourth grade, feel more comfortable resting the alto to the side of their body instead of between the legs. Their small torsos aren’t tall enough yet to sit center in a healthy way. Doing so at this young age cramps their right arm and wrist into unhealthy positions and can develop horrible embouchure overcorrections.

As long as a child is sitting tall in their chair, placing both feet flat on the floor, correctly using their neck strap to bear the weight of the saxophone, and setting the mouthpiece and neck to meet their face, this should be perfectly fine. Some students will grow physically and progress toward tenor and baritone saxophone later in school, and holding their horns to the side will be necessary! As long as your sax students use healthy side posture, they are on their way to a long, healthy saxophone body position.

Get ‘Em While They’re Hot!

Finding and keeping music students is a worthy concern for any teacher. When a child says they want to play sax—that is the golden moment! They are open, curious, willing to try, and asking for help. Let’s get those kids started while interest is bright hot. And let’s keep them playing healthy on their music journey.

Imagine more children joining our bands, having already played their sax, eager to make music with friends.

Imagine more of your sax students reaching their notes with ease and learning fast, comfortably, and satisfied as they grow.

The saxophone is for everyone, regardless of where a student is in their physical development. The aids to saxophone posture and accessibility are fairly simple, but they require music educators to know how their students are struggling. We must be willing to work with students and their parents to use the tools available. I hope some of these tips will be helpful, and we can all work toward greater access, comfort, and joy for our saxophone students.