Nate Morris is an accomplished standardized test tutor and the creator of MasterLSAT, an exam-preparation method for the Law School Admission Test. Nate Morris is also a Berklee College of Music-educated saxophonist who has played in many bands and ensembles before large audiences around the world.
Saxophone inventor Adolphe Sax designed this extremely popular instrument in the 1840s while studying the flute and the clarinet at the Brussels Conservatory of Music. In playing the flute (brass) and clarinet (woodwind) instruments, he decided that there was a missing tonal range that a combination brass-woodwind instrument could fill. This decision led to the highly unique design of the saxophone.
The saxophone is officially classified as a woodwind in orchestra and ensemble settings. This is because the sax has a single-reed mouthpiece like those in all other woodwind instruments. The saxophone also shares many characteristics with brass instruments, however. After all, it is, and always has been, made of brass.
Traditionally comprised of wood alone, clarinets and other woodwind instruments are now occasionally made from various combinations of metal, plastic, and wood. However, the saxophone continues to stand alone in its extraordinarily wide tonal range and its unique blend of brass and woodwind features.
