Patent Publication Number: US-6037533-A

Title: Saxophone thumb rest and octave key attachments

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates generally to key attachments for musical instruments and more particularly to attachments for thumb rest and adjacent octave key of a saxophone. 
     2. General Background 
     Several wind musical instruments have thumb rests which help the musician hold the instrument and further help position the hands in the correct position for playing the instrument. The left hand thumb rest of a saxophone is located slightly above the mid point of the instrument and is simply a post having a round, flat head portion for placing the left thumb. The musician&#39;s left thumb performs an additional function by depressing an adjacent octave key lever from time to time. This function requires the thumb to be rotated over the edge of the thumb rest in order to depress the octave key lever since the lever and the thumb rest are generally the same height to allow a smooth transition. Repeated depression of the octave key may cause soreness after long periods of play. 
     Since the saxophone thumb rest is round and the instrument is sometimes played without a strap, especially the soprano saxophone, the musician&#39;s hand tends to become horizontal relative to the instrument and therefore departing from the proper position whereby the thumb is perpendicular to the octave lever. Although this improper positioning of the thumb does not necessarily affect the operation of the octave lever, it does affect the positioning of the fingers of the left hand relative to the instrument keys. Therefore, with improper finger positions, the fingering of keys becomes sloppy and awkward to manage. It is essential that the left hand, when holding the instrument, remain in a natural wrist position which places the thumb at approximately a 30 degree angle off the vertical, thereby properly positioning the fingers and placing the thumb perpendicular to the octave key. This problem, although subtle, is overcome by accomplished players but is a significant problem for beginners who tend to form bad habits without knowing why. 
     There is a need to correct the above problem to insure proper thump placement on the thumb rest and further to improve transition from the rest to octave key in such a way as to allow the thumb to remain in the proper position and not be required to arch over the edge of the rest. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The instant invention provides attachments for securing to the thumb rest of a saxophone and its adjacent octave key which help the beginning student and professional players alike to maintain a more natural and proper left hand placement relative to the instrument. The attachments include a polymeric, saddle shaped pad adapted to fit over the thumb rest of the saxophone and a curved polymeric, pad attachable to the adjacent octave key. The attachments are secured to the thumb rest and octave key with a super adhesive. The saddle maintains alignment of the left thumb perpendicularly to the octave key and the curved octave key pad is of sufficient height and shape to allow a smooth transition while allowing the left thumb to depress the octave key without leaving the left thumb rest or changing relative position. The octave key pad riser further allows octave lever depression by the left thumb above the horizontal instead of below the horizontal. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     For a further understanding of the nature and objects of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which, like parts are given like reference numerals, and wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a partial illustration of the rear view of a saxophone illustrating the instrument&#39;s left thumb rest and adjacent octave lever; 
     FIG. 2 is a partial, close up, isometric view of the left thumb rest and octave lever illustrated in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a cross section view taken along sight line 3--3 seen in FIG. 2 illustrating the prior art; 
     FIG. 4 is an isometric view of the left thumb rest pad; 
     FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the pad illustrated in FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 6 is a cross section view of the pad taken along sight line 6--6 seen in FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 7 is an isometric view of the octave lever pad; 
     FIG. 8 is a cross section view of the octave lever pad taken along sight line 8--8 seen in FIG. 7; 
     FIG. 9 is an isometric, partial, cross sectional exploded view illustrating location of the attachments shown in FIGS. 4 and 7 relative to octave lever and left thumb rest illustrated in FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 10 is an isometric, partial cross section assembly view of the attachments illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 7; and 
     FIG. 11 is a cross section view of the assembled attachments illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 7 with octave lever depressed. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The saxophone, or instrument, 10 left thumb rest 12 and adjacent octave lever 14 are illustrated in FIG. 1 and in close up in FIG. 2. Operation of the octave key 14 is normally accomplished by depressing the octave lever 14 with the left hand thumb 16 which is normally positioned on the thumb rest 12 as seen in FIG. 3. To accomplish this, the thumb 16 must be rotated over the edge of the thumb rest 12, thereby causing irritation and misalignment of the thumb 16 relative to the instrument 10. Proper alignment of the left hand dictates that the thumb 16 should be perpendicular to the octave key lever 14 and at an angle .O slashed. of between 30 and 45 degrees off the vertical. This positions the left hand in a natural position relative to the finger keys as well. The more horizontal the thumb 16 becomes relative to the thumb rest 12, the more out of place the fingers of the left hand become. As seen in FIG. 3, the thumb 16 must rotate over the edge of the rest 12 to depress the octave lever, thereby causing the thumb to rotate below the horizontal and causing the hand to be contorted, thus causing fatigue. 
     In order to reduce fatigue while supporting the instrument 10 and depressing the octave key lever 14, a polymeric pad 18, as seen in FIG. 4, has been developed which fits over the thumb rest 12. The pad 18 includes a concave body portion having grooves 22 therein and a raised ring portion 24, seen in FIG. 5, the ring portion 24 having a diameter coinciding with the thumb rest 12. The ring portion 24 of the pad 18 is offset towards one end, as seen in cross section in FIG. 6, to prevent any interference with the octave lever. 
     An elongated, curved, polymeric pad is also provided, as seen in FIG. 7 and in cross section in FIG. 8, for attachment to the octave key lever 14. The octave key lever pad 26 in effect raises the height of the lever 14 to the height of the thumb rest pad 18 This lever pad 26 is smooth and rounded on the upper surfaces 28 to allow for a smooth transition by the thumb 16 from the rest pad 18 to the lever pad 26. By raising the height of the lever to the height of the upper edges 30 of the rest pad, seen in FIGS. 4 and 6, the lever pad 26 is above the lowest point of curved surface of the thumb rest, as seen in FIG. 11. 
     As seen in FIG. 9, the rest pad 18 and lever pad 26 are positioned in a manner whereby the rest pad&#39;s 18 ring portion 24 is placed over the instrument&#39;s thumb rest 12 at an angle perpendicular to the octave key lever 14 and at an angle of between 30 and 45 degrees off the vertical. The lever pad 26 is adhered to the octave key lever with its curved side parallel to the lever&#39;s leading edge 32. The attachments may be adhered to the instrument 10 in a number of ways, preferably with a strong adhesive. The assembly, as seen in FIG. 10, places the attachments 18, 26 in adjacent alignment, thus providing easy transition by the thumb 16 from the rest pad 18 to the lever pad 26 without rotating over the edge of the thumb rest. As seen in FIG. 11, the thumb now simply slides along the concave surface of the thumb rest 18 to engage and thus depress the lever pad 26. 
     Because many varying and different embodiments may be made within the scope of the inventive concept herein taught, and because many modifications may be made in the embodiments herein detailed in accordance with the descriptive requirement of the law, it is to be understood that the details herein are to be interpreted as illustrative and not in any limiting sense.