---
url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-in/faq/instruments-artforms/what-is-a-saxophone'
title: 'What is a saxophone?'
author:
  name: rajeevk
  url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-in/user/0f961cccc99524ed'
date: '2026-10-19T15:13:46+00:00'
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summary: 'The saxophone is a family of wind instruments that Adolphe Sax patented in Paris in 1846; it found its lasting home in bands and jazz.'
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  FAQ · Instruments & artforms

# What is a saxophone?

 Updated 19 October 2026

 The **[saxophone](/instrument/saxophone)** is a wind instrument that Adolphe Sax, a Belgian-born maker working in Paris, patented in 1846. His patent covered a family of originally eight instruments with a consistent design and fingering. Sax intended it for orchestras and military bands; it never became a regular orchestral member but kept a lasting role in military and civil bands, jazz and light music, and some operas and chamber works.



 

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