Originally there were 14 members of the saxophone family. In fact, Adolphe Sax conceived of an orchestra consisting solely of saxophones, and so he made saxophones in a range of sizes.
Yet today, there are only 6 types in widespread use. In pitch order from high to low, they are the sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass.

A simple comparison of the length of the soprano and alto saxophones shows that they are about the same, 70 centimeters long. However, the alto has a bend, so the alto saxophone is about 1.5 times longer overall than the soprano saxophone, and because of that it is heavier as well. When performing, most of the weight of the alto saxophone is supported by the strap, and from the point of view of maintenance as well, the alto saxophone is a good first choice.  The alto sax is sometimes too heavy for a younger 4th grader.  The Tenor and Bari are too heavy for almost all 4th-6th grade beginners.

The bass plays a very important role in providing solid lower register support for the stringed instruments occupying the front of the orchestra. However, there is one aspect in which the contrabass differs significantly from the violin, viola, cello, and other stringed instruments. The contrabass was originally a relative of the viola da gamba, a completely different kind of stringed instrument. Instruments in the viola da gamba family were often in use until the second half of the 18th century. They differ from instruments in the violin family in that fingerboards are fretted and their bows are held differently when playing. The "violone," the largest instrument in the viola da gamba family, was responsible for playing in the lower register. It is also the instrument that the contrabass ultimately developed from.

The contrabass was originally a member of the viola da gamba family, so the number of strings varied from three to six even after the turn of the 19th century, and there were many varieties of these instruments of roughly the same size as a cello. Modern instruments tend to have four or five strings tuned in fourths. When playing the contrabass, either a French bow or a German bow is used. French bows resemble violin bows and are gripped similarly, while German bows (used in Germany and Austria) developed from viola da gamba bows and are held with an underhanded grip.

Take a deep breath, and breathe out while slightly smiling, making a "too" sound.
* Make sure that the shape of your lips doesn't change as you breathe out.

Watch this video to learn about the breath method and speed.

The pitch you produce changes depending on the speed of your breath. Faster breath will produce a higher pitch, and slower breath will produce a lower pitch.

Using the head joint, move your tongue as if saying "too-too" while blowing. You'll notice the "too-too" motion makes the sound much clearer than the "foo-foo" motion.
* Pay close attention to motion of your tongue when blowing if you want to produce a good sound.

If the flute is not put together properly, it may break, or become incapable of producing a good sound. Pay particular attention to where you hold the flute when putting it together.

1. Hold the foot joint and the body joint as shown in the picture, and slide them together. Do not grip the keys while doing this.

   

2. Hold the head joint and the body joint as shown in the picture, and slide them together. As before, do not grip the keys while doing this.

   

Paying close attention to the position of your thumb, make sure that the inside of the first joint of your left index finger is stays in contact with the flute, and hold the flute with your fingers in their respective positions.

When holding the flute up to play, your shoulders and elbows should be relaxed.

Transverse flutes made out of animal bones were used in Europe in the Paleolithic era. These instruments can certainly be regarded as the ancestor of the flute. However, it was not until the sixteenth century during the Renaissance period that the prototype of the flute that plays such a prominent role in the modern orchestra first emerged and came into widespread use.
The term "flute" was originally applied both to pipe instruments held sideways and pipe instruments held vertically. Thus, the vertically held recorder was also called a "flute." Indeed, up until around the middle of the eighteenth century (the era of Baroque music), the word "flute" was commonly used to describe the recorder. To distinguish the transverse flute from the recorder, it was referred to in Italian as the flauto traverso, in German as the Querflöte, and in French as the flûte traversière-all of which mean "sideways held flute."

First key added in the latter half of the seventeenth century

Various refinements have been added to the flute since the Renaissance period.
Early flutes did not feature keys. Flutes in the Renaissance period were of extremely simple construction, consisting of a cylindrical body with an embouchure hole (mouthpiece) and seven finger holes. They could also only produce certain semitones.
In the latter half of the seventeenth century, flutes with a conical body and a single key attached began to appear. With this mechanism, for the first time virtually all semitones could be played on the flute. Today this instrument is known as the "baroque flute."

Design perfected by Theobald Boehm!

Theobald Boehm, the German wind instrument manufacturer, demonstrated a revolutionary new type of flute at the Paris Exhibition of 1847. This flute had a metal tube with numerous keys attached. With earlier flutes, it had been difficult to even get a note out of them, and the intervals between the notes had been variable. Boehm's instrument was a dramatic improvement, however, and overcame these shortcomings.  With his major refinements, Boehm essentially created the modern-day flute.

 

Can a flautist play any of these instruments?

It is not unusual for a performer who plays the flute to switch to the piccolo, alto flute, or bass flute.
The piccolo is pitched an octave higher than the flute and produces a shrill, high-pitched sound. With a length of 30 cm, the piccolo resounds loudly in the performer's right ear when the instrument is played. The alto flute has a slightly gentler sound, while the bass flute boasts a total tube length of around 130 cm and is pitched an octave below the flute.
Please listen as each of these four instruments is played in turn. The pieces played are Bach's Solo Partita No. 2 on the bass flute, Bach's Siciliano on the alto flute, Bizet's l'Arlésienne on the flute, and the second movement of Vivaldi's Piccolo Concerto in C Major on the piccolo.

Table showing the respective range of each type of flute

 

The flute-a beautiful nymph transformed?

The flute has its origins in the reed pipe. This worked on the same principle as the grass whistles that we, as children, would make by snapping off a stalk of grass and then play by blowing into them. According to Greek mythology, the reed flute was first played by the satyr Pan. When Pan chased the beautiful nymph Syrinx (which means reed) and tried to embrace her, Syrinx, who did not like Pan, prayed to the river gods and was transformed into lovely reeds. It is said that Pan missed the transformed nymph and found comfort for the rest of his life by playing his reed pipes.
Another Greek myth relates that the flute was invented by the goddess Athena. However, Athena said that when she played her flute with all her might, her face would contort and her beauty was marred, so in the end she threw away the flute which she had made. Which of these two myths makes you want to play the flute?
(Reference material: Hayashi Akai "The Story of the Pipes," Ongakunotomosha 1987)

The mouthpiece is a consumable item, and it naturally accumulates teeth marks, but a mouthpiece patch is one method of preventing this. However, when the teeth are making strong contact (i.e. there is a tendency to bite down), there may be a problem with the embouchure. With proper embouchure, the teeth are just touching the mouthpiece, and the muscles around the mouth are closing on the mouthpiece.

The mouthpiece is a critical component of the saxophone. The tip is especially thin and vulnerable to cracks and chips, so it's important to be very careful not to drop it. Any cracks, chips, splitting, or other damage to this delicate part of the instrument can have an impact on the quality of sound.

Lots of sharps in the score

 CLEANING - AS WITH any wind instrument, 

It is important to remove dirt and moisture!

DAILY - 

1. First take care of the mouthpiece and neck

Remove the reed and use a cleaning swab (S) to remove dirt from the mouthpiece. Be careful not to damage the tip of the mouthpiece when cleaning. Next, remove the moisture from the inside of the neck using a cleaning swab (S).

2. Completely remove the moisture from the pads

If the pads are damp, use a cleaning paper to remove the moisture completely from the pad and the tone hole opening.
The keys need to be removed in order to clean the tone holes. We do not recommend disassembling your instrument on your own. Instead, take it in to a music shop for maintenance.

Put a piece of cleaning paper between the pad and the tone hole and lightly press the key several times. Change the position of the paper and repeat this process two or three times.

*Do not pull the paper out while depressing the key.
*If the pad is sticky, use powder paper.

3. Clean the inside of the tube with a cleaning swab.

Insert a saxophone cleaning swab into the bell and pull it through the neck joint to clean.

4. Remove dirt from the surface with a polishing cloth.

Use a polishing cloth to remove finger prints and dirt from the surface of the instrument.

5. Carefully clean the octave key

The tone hole of the octave key is small and easily clogged, so clean it with a tone hole cleaner. Be careful not to damage the tone hole with the metal tip of the tone hole cleaner.

Tone hole cleaner

 

There is also weekly and periodic cleaning routines you can find here:  https://www.yamaha.com/en/musical_instrument_guide/saxophone/maintenance/maintenance003.html

Place the reed on the mouthpiece with the flat side touching the mouthpiece, then tighten the ligature to hold it in place.

The mouthpiece, reed, and ligature form the sound generating portion of the instrument, and so they have a large influence on the quality of the instrument's sound. They will also affect the feel of playing the instrument.

The closer a part of the instrument is to the mouth of a player, the stronger its impact on the sound. This is why the reed is one of the most critical parts. Expect a reed to last for around a week to two weeks. When you change from a reed you've been using for some time to a new reed, the sound of your instrument will change with it.