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Forum - Saxy Talk - Alto help!

Author Message
SkaMasta097
User
Posted: 2008-06-13 19:30 CEST
The only horn player I have available is an alto sax player. How can I write cover tunes for him when most of the time a tenor sax is used instead?
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Savage
User
Posted: 2008-06-18 06:48 CEST
Are you asking how to transpose, or are you running into range problems?
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SkaMasta097
User
Posted: 2008-06-18 07:09 CEST
range problems. although surprisingly, the tenor plays high enough for the alto to match, the lower notes are hard or impossible to play on the alto.
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Savage
User
Posted: 2008-06-24 07:55 CEST
Alright, for the most part just put it an octave up. Obvously you could have thought of that yourself, butfor the most part I've found most songs end up being in a prety good range for both saxes. It will sound different, but it's good to set yourself apart from the originals, and this is a fairly simple and subtle way to do it. If for some reason you just can't put it up the octave, then you have to get creative. Try just omitting some notes if it's only a few that are out of range. Try using a harmony that would act like the original line, but keeps it in the low range of the alto, closer to the original pitches than the octave above. Also, if it fits, try going the octave up for the horn timbre, but have something like a guitar or keyboard play the line in the original octave (if you have keys or an extra guitar at your disposal). If you have any specific concerns I'll do what I can to help, but otherwise, those are a few options I can think of. Hope they help.
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OneSaxyMF
User
Posted: 2008-09-10 04:23 CEST
Have your sax player try out some different mouthpieces. I can get a great sound in the lowest and highest notes with a Meyer 6. Its all personalized, have him explore around a bit.
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