Many instructors will recommend the Selmer S80 mouthpiece to students that have been playing for a little while on the usually cheap mouthpiece that came with their sax when they bought or rented it. These are usually very cheap plastic ones and a beginner will outgrow them quickly.
Probably the most recommended is the Selmer C star, (Selmer C*) because of it's medium size (opening, see below for explanation). It's been many years since I've played on a Selmer C Star but a beginner moving up to one of these from a cheap one will instantly notice a difference in their sound and the way it feels... a noticeable step up.
Many refer to this as a "step up" mouthpiece. If you've been around a saxophone for any amount of time you'll know that Selmer is one of the top names in the world for their quality saxophones, and yes, mouthpiece's too.
I've always said that your mouthpiece and reed setup is even more important than your saxophone. Obviously we all look for a beautiful feeling, top quality horn we can afford but as you're coming up to your pro model you can still have big success developing your tone with a good mouthpiece... even if you don't have a great saxophone. The opposite is not true... you can't play a top quality pro sax with a cheap plastic mouthpiece and get a great sound.
Every mouthpiece manufacturer has a slightly different way of categorizing and labeling their mouthpiece sizes and the Selmer mouthpiece measuring system uses letters instead of numbers to rate the size of the mouthpiece: Letters A through H... A being the more closed, the smallest distance from the reed to the mouthpiece. H is the most opened.
The C is a medium to medium closed making it a good choice for beginners to get a good, full and warm sound. A closed mouthpiece will give a darker tone and a really opened one will produce a brighter tone.
Of course the player can still get different types of tones from any mouthpiece with the embouchure, reed size, air etc but the mouthpiece can be the difference in this being easy or hard. The mouthpiece itself is a big part of the overall picture but don't forget that embouchure, breathing technique, reed type and reed strength and your saxophone all play into it.
And yes, you can get the Selmer S80 for soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxes.
Johnny Ferreira is a professional saxophonist and editor of http://howtoplaysaxophone.org/ which features saxophone lessons on video. Learn more about the Selmer S80 and other saxophone related tips, lessons and articles.
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