Sigma Alpha Iota

sai-national.org • Winter 2024 15 By Jayne I. Hanlin As a child, I learned to identify instruments by their sounds, but the saxophone certainly was never a favorite. Aer hearing a recent performance by the Sinta Quartet, my opinion about-faced. Dressed in black Mandarin-collared shirts and suits, they presented a varied musical program with wide appeal. e two transcribed Bach fugues sounded particularly rich. I loved the lyrical sound of this classical saxophone quartet and instantly became a fan of the instrument. e members of the Sinta Quartet, which began performing together in 2010, named their group in honor of Donald Sinta, their revered teacher and inspiring coach at the University of Michigan. e mission of this group of virtuosos is "to bring the versatility, homogeneity, and excitement of the saxophone to audiences everywhere." ey have performed in prominent venues in the United States and in several other countries, have won competitions, and made recordings. eir quartet also holds its own composition competition, and I heard one of the winning entries on the program. All of the Sintas are teachers of saxophone players at different levels. During an interview, I asked each why each quartet member chose to play the saxophone. e soprano saxophone player's answer was quite intriguing: Following his asthma doctor's advice to learn to play a woodwind instrument to help his breathing, he chose the saxophone because he liked its looks. His breathing improved, and ultimately this acquired playing skill launched his musical career. Inventor Adolphe Sax (1814-1894) designed the saxophone, the most modern of all woodwind instruments, as a hybrid between a woodwind and brass instrument. With the exception of many soprano saxophones that are usually made straight, saxophones have at least two curves, including an upper one ending in a mouthpiece and a lower one ending in a bell. Although the instrument is made of brass (oen engraved), it is a member of the woodwind family because of the way its sound is produced—wind over cane: a player blows into the mouthpiece causing the reed to vibrate. e saxophone's key work is also very closely related to other woodwind instruments. Today synthetic reeds, which are not subject to humidity and temperature and last between one and two years, sometimes replace cane reeds, which last about two months. At this point, three Sintas use synthetic reeds while one player uses a cane reed. All of the players use Selmer-Paris saxophones, as they prefer the sound and feel of them, and are also members of the artist roster for this company. Originally designed as a classical instrument for French military bands and today seen in marching bands, the saxophone gained worldwide popularity in jazz and commercial music in the 1920s and 1930s. I am familiar with a few saxophone parts in classical music, including the haunting melody of "e Old Castle" from Ravel's orchestral arrangement of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, his own Bolero, and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris. Nowadays the classical saxophone repertoire is growing because of commissioned works. John Corigliano's concerto, Triathlon, in which one soloist performs on three different instruments — soprano, alto, and baritone — with orchestra premiered in San Francisco in April 2022. Like vocal quartets, a classical saxophone quartet has soprano, alto, tenor, and bass parts; each Sinta member specializes in his own instrument and never switches parts. e members of the quartet are not neighbors, living and working in different states. Jayne I. Hanlin is an initiate of Alpha Omicron and current member of the St. Louis Alumnae chapter. Mrs. Hanlin, the sister of famed pianist Malcolm Frager, is the co-author of Learning Latin Through Mythology (Cambridge University Press, 1991). A Wld of Music For more details about their locations and backgrounds: https://www.sintaquartet.com. Sinta Quartet Four Fabulous Saxophonists

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