Choosing A Reed
For beginners I recommend purchasing both a reed with a strength of 1.5 and 2.0 and experimenting to see which reed is easier to play. As your embouchure muscles strengthen overtime, you will need to switch to stronger reeds (e.g 2.0, 2.5, etc)
Note: Every time you play on a new reed, it will be harder to produce sound because it hasn't been "broken in" yet. It just needs to be played on more to allow it to be easily played. I suggest playing loudly to "break it in" faster.
Blowing and Air
When we blow into our saxophones we want to make sure that our air is coming from the stomach and not the chest. Whenever you take in a deep breath your shoulders should not rise. Instead your stomach should inflate (just like a balloon!). When you exhale, your "balloon" should be deflating and your shoulders should not want to fall.
Additionally, since your embouchure muscles haven't strengthened, it will be very tempting to puff out your cheeks. You do not want to do that. I like to think of it as a balloon (woah, again?!). When you inflate a balloon, it is harder to do so with puffed out cheeks in comparison to using your facial muscles.
Saxophone fingerings
(Musica Music Lessons)