Comments for can i play alto sax music on a soprano sax? Average Rating Click here to add your own comments

Mar 09, 2011 Rating On your own you can! by: Malcolm Adolphe Saxe designed the saxophone family so that they all have the same fingering. If the music has C in the middle of the treble clef, whatever sax you play, the fingering is the same. That is great: when you learn to play the alto, you can (in principle) play all the others. So if you have a piece of saxophone music, you can play it on any of the saxophones, so long as you are on your own. But the saxophone is a transcribing instrument. When a pianist plays C, the listener hears C. That is not the case with transcribing instruments. If you play a C on the Alto or Bari, the listener hears Eb. If you play a C on the Sop or Tenor, the listener hears a Bb. What this means is that if you play in an ensemble you have to get the right music for the right saxophone. Good luck. Malcolm

Mar 12, 2011 Rating No by: Anonymous It's in the wrong key. You can however play Bb clarinet music easily.

Mar 21, 2011 Rating Can I play alto sax music on a soprano sax? by: Anonymous Sure you can, but there are some considerations you need to think about: 1. Are you adroit at transposing up a perfect fourth. Keep in mind the rhythmic and tempo challenges you are going to have transposing, of course you could write the music out. 2. The musical integrety of the alto saxophone part. Is it ok to generically play the part on soprano, or did the composer intend for that part to be played exclusively by the alto saxophone. Just a couple of things to think about.

Click here to add your own comments Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Saxophone Questions 2