Submitted by waitingforthesun92 t3_z6l729 in Music
Darlene Love, Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson, Brenda Lee, and many more Christmas artists have used the Saxophone in their Christmas music. Sometimes even a Sax solo. Even though I love it, I’m curious as to why?
It’s a prevalent instrument in pop music in general. It’s not just a Christmas thing.
I would expand the question. What happened to the sax? Seemed like 80s music was all about it…then it died. I remember in school everyone wanted to be the sax in the school band because it was the cool instrument, now it seems to have disappeared. Maybe there’s a connection between 80s and Christmas sax songs?
radio pop was progressively homogenized from the 70s on. And it got consistently louder. Instrumental diversity was just one casualty.
"Christmas" as a genre of American music harkens to aesthetics and conventions that peaked in the 50s, a time when saxophone was was the primary melody instrument.
Schools have been cutting music programs since the 1980s in the guise of 'austerity' for the perpetual budget crisis that was created by giving corporations & billionaires massive tax breaks that they didn't need.
Less contemporary pop music features the instrument (in the 80's and 90's the top 10 pop chart had multiple songs that featured sax pretty much constantly). Also, ugh, Kenny G was really popular for some reason back then. Guitar is having the same problem as sax re player numbers today for pretty much the same reason, but at least guitar has Taylor Swift.
It's hard to practice a sax if you live in an apartment/small house. No real way to mute/muffle a sax. Gonna be a rough couple years as the kid learns how to not be actively terrible. Many parents can't take it.
Buying or even renting a band instrument is a financial hardship for lots of families. Even a starter/entry level alto sax (the cheapest) can easily break $1k. An actually decent intermediate (aka the cheapest one worth actually owning) sax will run you like $2,500 easily. Add like $500 or more if you want a tenor or another sax less common than altos.
$1,250-2,500 is a lot of money to spend on a hobby you have no way of knowing if the kid will ever stick with.
Meanwhile you can download a free app for your phone and instantly start making beats and producing your own electronic/hip hop music, which is the type of music kids today are hearing and being inspired by.
Other than morning sax and make up sax, Christmas sax is the best!
It's a time + association thing. Horns were used more in music than stringed instruments (read: guitars) for decades. You still hear a lot of horns in early rock and roll/adult contemporary songs from the 50s. A lot of the earlier, popular "pop" Christmas songs boomers and gen-x grew up hearing either had the sounds of the 40s or the 50s so they want to emulate that when making their own songs. After that, it just kind of gets associated with the Christmas sound.
I almost threw up in my mouth when I read your list of " Christmas Music Artists "
ABena2t t1_iy2120t wrote
Idk about xmas music - but I played saxophone in high school band and I was always disappointed that saxophones always seemed to have crappy parts. Found the exact opposite of what you're saying now. I was always hating on the trumpets and even clarinets bc they'd always get the best parts. So maybe saxophones just fit the type of music? idk.