ABOUT
Why an online saxophone museum?
I never thought, when I found my first ‘old’ saxophone, that it would once become a collection like the one you are looking at now.
And that might be the most important thing that I want to convey through this website: in this lifetime, you build something step by step. Sometimes little ones, sometimes bigger steps.
If you are truly enthusiastic about it, just go ahead and follow your own nose!
I really very much hope that seeing this website will inspire others to follow their dreams.
In the 90s, when I was attending music school lessons in light of my tuition to become a teacher myself, I was fortunate enough to sit in with lessons by a very gifted saxophone teacher.
He had, in his music room, a very old baritone hanging in front of the window, which truly intrigued me.
Also, he had some great saxophones stored in his room, among which a Conn straigh-neck C melody.
From one day to the other, he stopped teaching, and he let me know that I could acquire these two instruments, that I had expressed my interest in pretty much every week, for a symbolic amount.
In the same era, I found an early 1900s alto from Belgium, that had two octaves keys! I had never seen such a thing!
For 100 Guilders (the equivalent of € 45) I became the new owner.
A tenor that was high pitched, just as the alto and baritone from my, then very modest, collection, was added some time later.
Photo: Felix Broede
"I tried playing them, tried understanding their historical context, asked myself all kinds of questions about them."
Modest beginnings indeed, but it did not mean I was modestly excited about these instruments!
I tried playing them, tried understanding their historical context, asked myself all kinds of questions about them.
And this is still the very nucleus of my activities as a collector.
On a practical note:
I hope this online museum will not only be a place where you can all view the instruments, but also a platform where saxophone enthusiasts (players, repairmen, collectors) can find, and more importantly, exchange data.
And please do let us know how you enjoyed our online museum!
Long live Adolphe Sax!
– Andreas van Zoelen,
Tilburg 2023