Adolphe Sax

Adolphe Sax (1814–1894) was a Belgian musical-instrument maker and inventor. He created the saxophone and developed the saxotromba and other brass instruments.

Saxophone: A single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical metal body, invented by Adolphe Sax. Sax’s best-known invention became the family of instruments most closely associated with his name.
Single-reed instrument: A wind instrument in which a flexible reed vibrates against a mouthpiece to produce sound. Sax built the saxophone around the single-reed mouthpiece familiar from the clarinet.
Dinant: A city in Wallonia, Belgium, on the Meuse River. Sax was born in Dinant, where his father was also an instrument maker.
Saxotromba: A family of valved brass instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the nineteenth century. It was another of Sax’s instrument designs, though it proved less enduring than the saxophone.
Clarinet: A single-reed woodwind instrument with a cylindrical bore and a wide range of pitches. Its single-reed mouthpiece helped shape the saxophone’s design.
Conical bore: An instrument bore that gradually widens from its mouthpiece toward its bell. The saxophone’s widening bore helps give it its pitch behavior and broad, projecting tone.
Antoine-Joseph Sax: A Belgian instrument maker and Adolphe Sax’s father. His workshop and craft gave Adolphe an early apprenticeship in instrument making.
Saxhorn: A family of valved brass instruments developed by Adolphe Sax for bands. The saxhorn family extended Sax’s influence across brass-band instrumentation.
Ophicleide: A keyed brass instrument used in nineteenth-century orchestras and military bands. Sax sought a more effective low-brass sound than instruments such as the ophicleide could provide.
Saxophone mouthpiece: The saxophone component that holds the reed and directs the player’s airflow into the instrument. Its reed-and-mouthpiece system converts breath into the saxophone’s vibrating air column.

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