Because the straightforward, honest-to-goodness truth about an alto sax is that it’s tuned to the key of E♭ – E-Flat. That means when you adopt the fingering for a natural C on an alto sax and blow the note, you don’t produce a natural C, but an E-Flat.
What is a concert C on alto sax?
Concert C is their D, Concert Ab is their Bb. Alto and baritone saxes, alto clarinet and most alto horns are Eb instruments: when they play a C it sounds like a Eb on the piano. So, if they want to play a concert Bb scale, they start on a G (they have to think up a six steps in the scale – or down a minor third).
Can a saxophone play in any key?
On sax you can use completely different fingers in another key. So think about where you’re at musically and don’t just learn music in all twelve keys because you hear you should.
Why is the alto sax in E flat?
The use of the saxophone in marching bands was much more popular than in orchestras so the Bb and Eb lived on and the C and F saxophones became extinct. The use of Bb and Eb simply meant that people writing charts for marching bands only had 2 keys to deal with.
What key is saxophone in?
*Tenor and soprano saxophones are in the key of B-flat. This means that when you play the note C on a tenor or soprano saxophone, the note that is heard is actually a B-flat. *tenor saxophones sound an octave lower than shown in the examples.
Why are saxophones in different keys?
Even though the horn is an F instrument, you will find parts that are written in D or C or E-flat or other keys, and they are forced to transpose. This happens because the horn traditionally did not have valves so the composers wrote the parts in different keys to accommodate the music.
What key is concert pitch?
Concert pitch may vary from ensemble to ensemble, and has varied widely over music history. The most common modern tuning standard uses 440 Hz for A above middle C as a reference note, with other notes being set relative to it. In the literature this is also called international standard pitch.
How many sax notes are there?
The Western tonal system officially registers twelve notes on an octave when we include the sharp and flat notes (commonly called a “chromatic scale”).
How many notes are on alto saxophone?
The distance between each note at the bottom is around 13 Cents and at the top around 7 Cents.” He adds, “almost every [one] of the 128 notes per octave has its own fingering.” Pretty impressive stuff, if you ask us. Philipp plays a Selmer Super Balanced Action alto saxophone from 1951.
