Played by many people around the world, the saxophone is one of the most popular instruments since its making. Even our school, M.S. 158, has many saxophones available in our band. Its place of origin is nothing special, but the start of the saxophone’s history has a really unique aspect: Its creator, Adolphe Sax. You may ask, “What makes this person so special?” Well, other than creating an instrument, he also cheated death not once, not twice, but a total of SEVEN times throughout his life.
Childhood
On November 6th, 1814, little Antoine-Joseph Sax, or Adolphe Sax, was born in Dinant, Belgium. However, despite both parents being very successful, they had little hope for their son. At just the age of 2, he fell down three flights of stairs. Just a year later, he drank a bowl of watered-down sulfuric acid, mistaking it for milk, as well as swallowing a pin. A few years later, he received some serious burns from a gunpowder explosion and when a hot iron pan fell onto him. When playing with friends in a river, he got swept downstream. While he did get injured a lot as a child, it also continued into adulthood (We’ll get to that later.) Every single time Adolphe got injured, people thought he died. He even got the nickname “little Adolphe Sax, the ghost”. However, this does not mean that he was depressed, or even sad. He enjoyed helping his father in his instrument workshop. Adolphe learned the clarinet, singing, and the flute, having a particular enjoyment for woodwind instruments.
The Saxophone
In adulthood, Adolphe Sax decided that he wanted to create instruments. His first ever influential invention was an improvement of the bass clarinet, at age 24. Sax later moved on to Paris to design. However, as we said before, he wasn’t much luckier in adulthood than as a child. Sax got hit by a roof tile, sending him into a coma for 3 months. Yet, he still persisted. On June 28, 1846, Adolphe Sax created the saxophone. The instrument’s curious and new sound made it very popular, spreading across the world, mainly used in jazz. Ironically, Adolphe Sax died peacefully in 1894.
Many instruments around the world have interesting and strange origins. However, the saxophone is probably the most bizarre one due to its creator. Next time you see this musical device, remember who it comes from.