My Aurus 7 arrived in the post for two weeks ago.
Not being familiar with it, it took me a couple of minutes to work out
how to place it on the mouthpiece in the correct place. Which is a minor
detail (otherwise you can’t blow a note properly).
It came with an exercise sheet where you start on Low Bb, and play it 4 times like in the instructions shown on the jpg above. Then you move chromatcally up the sax etc… You do need a tuner, to tell that you are blowing the correct pitch, in tune, and
not blowing an overtone instead.
Ok, it took me about 5 minutes to blow a Low Bb properly. I managed to work my way up to middle F above middle C. Once you’ve worked out how to blow a note correctly it’s a lot easier.
The hard bit is controlling the note with wind from the diaphragm, and believe me it does make a difference, you can actually feel that you are using the diaphragm properly, and you can’t blow a note without using the diaphragm.
Amazing device, can’t fault it, forget all this crap about opening the throat and blowing hot air. When you blow a note using the Aurus 7, you are using the diaphragm to hold the pitch in tune, and i was amazed to see the tuner needle exactly spot on with no wavering when blowing out.
But and a big but, when take the aurus 7 off, the difference in playing is staggering, you get a far bigger sound, the tone is miles better, and the
embouchure is so much more relaxed, that it makes the reed so much more
responsive. What i did notice, was that i had to relax my fingers a hell of a lot more as they weren’t used to playing with such a relaxed embouchure.So at times, fingers were slightly out of sync with blowing which was a strange feeling – just like when you drive a different car, you take sometime to adjust to the foot pedals. It’s definitely a warm up exercise, you wouldn’t want to play longer than 10 minutes, otherwise you may get light headed. You will notice a HUGE difference in the sax tone , loudeness,
faster response of the reed, and so much easier to flatten or sharpen a pitch, and a way more relaxed top lip, and a hell of a lot steadier pitch. I couldn’t believe the difference, i can see why sax and clarinet
teachers are using them with students of all levels of playing. Thumbs up from me, will definitely carry on using it.
My Sax teacher is a working Pro with a lifetimes experience of playing in various
bands, orchestras etc also been a band leader in lots of bands as well as some orchestra conducting etc.
He bought the Aurus 7 a few weeks ago, and being a busy person, hasn’t had a chance to try his out yet. My response was “at your level of playing, you don’t need to improve”, His response was something along the lines “always looking for room for improvement”.
When he has had a chance to try it out, i’m waiting to hear what he thinks about the aurus 7.
My Sax teacher showed me the aurus 7 last week, and i was very sceptical
about it, especialy the price tag, his response was, wouldn’t you give anything a try to see if it might improve your sound?
I initially thought, it’s going to be one of those things that you have to practice doing for several weeks before you notice a difference.
I noticed the difference straight away. couldn’t believe it.
