Whereas the argument against a bass sax has a number of components (price, utility, size, availability), the same thing cannot be said about the soprano. Now that one Kenny G has made the horn socially acceptable again, the resurgence that it has experienced strikes the utility and availability elements completely. Size is obviously a non-starter with the soprano (and would be even less so if the curved instrument were to be easily obtained), and thus only price (with possibly a minor component of instructional limitations; few opportunities in the public school systems to use one) stands in the way there.
The sopranino (and upwards) are another thing. I know that there's a place for the taragato, and someone has to own one so that Dick Wagner's stuff can be properly performed. But, that someone is likely to be an opera house or a very dedicated enthusiast. For the "rest of us" (even including saxophone collectors), a sopranino is a poor investment indeed, particularly at the price point at which they can be found.
When I was a young man (and those days are getting farther and farther into the past which each passing day ("Sept-tem-ber....No-vem-ber...")), I once attended what was then called Drury College (now "Drury University", although for what reason I cannot fathom), located in bucolic Springfield MO (101,000 population, 105 churches). The school had an active music education program (under the supervision of Doctor Don Vern Joseph), as well as the instrument room from hell. It may not have contained a sackbut or a serpent, but if so it was only because there was not enough room.
While never enrolled in music programs while there (indeed, I've never been in a music course since high school, despite all of the school groups that I've joined over the years), I did spend a lot of time doing musical stuff in my ample spare time. Clarinet/bass clarinet in the Springfield Symphony, participation in both Drury and Southwest Missouri State bands and orchestras, doing the musicals at both schools, and the like, as well as hitting on the gal at the local music retailer - all figured in my life at the time.
Dreary Drury provided me with all of the 'odd' instruments that I used (I only had my soprano clarinet with me at the time), so when I would need a weird horn, it was just a matter of doing a "dig" in the instrument room until I found one. And, that invariably was a great adventure.
(Among other "finds" in that dark, dank end of a World War II vintage Quonset hut, left over from a flight officer training program, I managed to turn up a dilapidated Buffet Bb Albert system bass clarinet which I had fixed up and used for the balance of the year that I was there. I started playing on a Albert bass clarinet (also BUffet, but in the key of A), and really missed the responsiveness of those instruments over the years. Also, see below.)
Anyway, when doing the musical Threepenny Opera, I needed to find an alto sax. As usual, the horn room came through (an old Martin), but that visit also turned up two Selmer Mark VI horns (soprano and sopranino), both still in their plastic bags and in the original shipping cartons. These horns were sitting there (and had been for several years), never having been on the inventory, untouched until I had the curiosity (and the sense) to open up the cartons with the Selmer wreath on them.
Some measure of how popular the soprano was at that time is that this discovery was met with an overwhelming "Eh!" reaction from the others who could play sax at the school. Indeed, other than my putting them on the inventory, the things were ignored for the rest of the time that I was there.
When I left the place in the spring, I seriously thought about taking the restored bass clarinet with me (which was not on the inventory and intentionally so, per instructions of the boss man. After all, no one else there could play it (Albert system, remember), the school had three "modern" basses (all Kohlerts, but never mind), and I had put quite a bit of money into it to get it up and playing again. But, like with the saxes (at the time, I did not have a soprano), my honest nature got the best of me and I left it there. When I checked some twenty years later, I found that the horn was gone without a trace. Sigh...
The sopranino (and upwards) are another thing. I know that there's a place for the taragato, and someone has to own one so that Dick Wagner's stuff can be properly performed. But, that someone is likely to be an opera house or a very dedicated enthusiast. For the "rest of us" (even including saxophone collectors), a sopranino is a poor investment indeed, particularly at the price point at which they can be found.
When I was a young man (and those days are getting farther and farther into the past which each passing day ("Sept-tem-ber....No-vem-ber...")), I once attended what was then called Drury College (now "Drury University", although for what reason I cannot fathom), located in bucolic Springfield MO (101,000 population, 105 churches). The school had an active music education program (under the supervision of Doctor Don Vern Joseph), as well as the instrument room from hell. It may not have contained a sackbut or a serpent, but if so it was only because there was not enough room.
While never enrolled in music programs while there (indeed, I've never been in a music course since high school, despite all of the school groups that I've joined over the years), I did spend a lot of time doing musical stuff in my ample spare time. Clarinet/bass clarinet in the Springfield Symphony, participation in both Drury and Southwest Missouri State bands and orchestras, doing the musicals at both schools, and the like, as well as hitting on the gal at the local music retailer - all figured in my life at the time.
Dreary Drury provided me with all of the 'odd' instruments that I used (I only had my soprano clarinet with me at the time), so when I would need a weird horn, it was just a matter of doing a "dig" in the instrument room until I found one. And, that invariably was a great adventure.
(Among other "finds" in that dark, dank end of a World War II vintage Quonset hut, left over from a flight officer training program, I managed to turn up a dilapidated Buffet Bb Albert system bass clarinet which I had fixed up and used for the balance of the year that I was there. I started playing on a Albert bass clarinet (also BUffet, but in the key of A), and really missed the responsiveness of those instruments over the years. Also, see below.)
Anyway, when doing the musical Threepenny Opera, I needed to find an alto sax. As usual, the horn room came through (an old Martin), but that visit also turned up two Selmer Mark VI horns (soprano and sopranino), both still in their plastic bags and in the original shipping cartons. These horns were sitting there (and had been for several years), never having been on the inventory, untouched until I had the curiosity (and the sense) to open up the cartons with the Selmer wreath on them.
Some measure of how popular the soprano was at that time is that this discovery was met with an overwhelming "Eh!" reaction from the others who could play sax at the school. Indeed, other than my putting them on the inventory, the things were ignored for the rest of the time that I was there.
When I left the place in the spring, I seriously thought about taking the restored bass clarinet with me (which was not on the inventory and intentionally so, per instructions of the boss man. After all, no one else there could play it (Albert system, remember), the school had three "modern" basses (all Kohlerts, but never mind), and I had put quite a bit of money into it to get it up and playing again. But, like with the saxes (at the time, I did not have a soprano), my honest nature got the best of me and I left it there. When I checked some twenty years later, I found that the horn was gone without a trace. Sigh...
