Alto saxophone
Encyclopedia
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone
family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax
in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor
but larger than the soprano
, and is the type most used in classical compositions. The alto and tenor are the most common types of saxophone.
and reads the treble clef. A written C-natural sounds as the concert E a major sixth lower.
) to concert A5 (or A5 on altos with a high F key). As with most types of saxophones, the standard written range is B3 to F6 (or F6). Above that, the altissimo
register begins at F and extends upwards. The saxophone's altissimo register is more difficult to control than that of other woodwinds and is usually only expected from advanced players.
, Kenny Garrett
, Jimmy Dorsey
, Johnny Hodges
, Art Pepper, Cannonball Adderley, Eric Dolphy
, Sonny Stitt
, David Sanborn
, Ornette Coleman
, Anthony Braxton
, Jackie McLean
, Phil Woods
, and Paul Desmond
. Classical musicians include Marcel Mule
, Sigurd Raschèr
, Jean-Yves Fourmeau
, Lawrence Gwozdz
, Donald Sinta
, Larry Teal
, Jean-Marie Londeix
, Kenneth Tse
, Harry White
, Otis Murphy
, Claude Delangle
, and Eugene Rousseau
. The alto saxophone is included in classical music more often than the tenor
, and many concertos for alto exist. The alto is used commonly in symphonic
, jazz
, and marching band
music.
, KHS
/Jupiter
, Selmer
, Yamaha, Leblanc
/Vito, Keilwerth, and Yanagisawa
. New alto saxophones range in price between US$200 for lower quality student models to over US$8000 for professional models.
features it in the Minuet from the second suite of music from L'Arlésienne.
It was asked for by Richard Strauss
in his Sinfonia Domestica, where included in the music are parts for four saxophones including an alto saxophone in F.
Maurice Ravel
uses the saxophone prominently in his orchestration of Modest Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition
, most notably as the soloist in "Il Vecchio Castello".
Alban Berg
uses the saxophone in his late orchestral works, most notably Der Wein, Lulu
, and the Violin Concerto
.
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax
Adolphe Sax
Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax was a Belgian musical instrument designer and musician who played the flute and clarinet, and is best known for having invented the saxophone.-Biography:...
in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
but larger than the soprano
Soprano saxophone
The soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument, invented in 1840. The soprano is the third smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass and tubax.A transposing instrument pitched in...
, and is the type most used in classical compositions. The alto and tenor are the most common types of saxophone.
Transposition
The alto saxophone is an E transposing instrumentTransposing instrument
A transposing instrument is a musical instrument for which written notes are read at a pitch different from the corresponding concert pitch, which a non-transposing instrument, such as a piano, would play. Playing a written C on a transposing instrument will produce a note other than concert C...
and reads the treble clef. A written C-natural sounds as the concert E a major sixth lower.
Range
The range of the alto saxophone is from concert D3 (the D below middle C—see Scientific pitch notationScientific pitch notation
Scientific pitch notation is one of several methods that name the notes of the standard Western chromatic scale by combining a letter-name, accidentals, and a number identifying the pitch's octave...
) to concert A5 (or A5 on altos with a high F key). As with most types of saxophones, the standard written range is B3 to F6 (or F6). Above that, the altissimo
Altissimo
Altissimo refers to the uppermost register on woodwind instruments. For clarinets, which overblow on odd harmonics, the altissimo notes are those based on the fifth, seventh, and higher harmonics. For other woodwinds, the altissimo notes are those based on the third, fourth, and higher harmonics...
register begins at F and extends upwards. The saxophone's altissimo register is more difficult to control than that of other woodwinds and is usually only expected from advanced players.
Known practitioners
Notable alto saxophonists include jazz musicians Charlie ParkerCharlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
, Kenny Garrett
Kenny Garrett
Kenny Garrett is a Grammy Award-winning American post bop jazz saxophonist and flautist who gained fame in his youth as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and of Miles Davis's band. He has since pursued a critically acclaimed solo career...
, Jimmy Dorsey
Jimmy Dorsey
James "Jimmy" Dorsey was a prominent American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, trumpeter, composer, and big band leader. He was known as "JD"...
, Johnny Hodges
Johnny Hodges
John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophonist, best known for his solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years, except the period between 1932–1946 when Otto Hardwick generally played first chair...
, Art Pepper, Cannonball Adderley, Eric Dolphy
Eric Dolphy
Eric Allan Dolphy was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist. On a few occasions he also played the clarinet and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s...
, Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt
Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...
, David Sanborn
David Sanborn
David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...
, Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
, Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
, Jackie McLean
Jackie McLean
John Lenwood McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City.-Biography:McLean's father, John Sr., played guitar in Tiny Bradshaw's orchestra...
, Phil Woods
Phil Woods
Philip Wells Woods is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer.-Biography:...
, and Paul Desmond
Paul Desmond
Paul Desmond , born Paul Emil Breitenfeld, was a jazz alto saxophonist and composer born in San Francisco, best known for the work he did in the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for penning that group's greatest hit, "Take Five"...
. Classical musicians include Marcel Mule
Marcel Mule
Marcel Mule was a French classical saxophonist.Marcel Mule was known worldwide as one of the great classical saxophonists, and many pieces were written for him, premiered by him, and arranged by him. Many of these pieces have become staples in the classical saxophone repertoire...
, Sigurd Raschèr
Sigurd Raschèr
Sigurd Manfred Raschèr was an American saxophonist of German birth. He became one of the most important figures in the development of the 20th century repertoire for the classical saxophone.-Career in Europe:...
, Jean-Yves Fourmeau
Jean-Yves Fourmeau
Jean-Yves Fourmeau is a French classical saxophonist and is the classical music professor at the CRR de Cergy-Pontoise. At age 17, he won first prize at the Paris Conservatoire in the 3rd cycle of chamber music, which was unprecedented at the time. He maintains an active solo career and has...
, Lawrence Gwozdz
Lawrence Gwozdz
Lawrence S. Gwozdz is an internationally renowned American saxophonist in the classical tradition. His artistic sensibilities have made him a champion of a broad array of compositions, from Baroque transcriptions to contemporary music.-Biography:...
, Donald Sinta
Donald Sinta
Donald Sinta is an American classical saxophonist, educator, and administrator.In 1969 he was the first elected chair of the World Saxophone Congress.-Teaching career:He serves as Earl V...
, Larry Teal
Larry Teal
Larry Teal is considered by many to be the father of American Saxophone.Teal earned a Bachelors degree in Pre-Dentistry from the University of Michigan. While studying there he began playing in jazz bands as a saxophonist...
, Jean-Marie Londeix
Jean-Marie Londeix
Jean-Marie Londeix is a French saxophonist born in Libourne who studied saxophone, piano, harmony and chamber music.Jean-Marie Londeix studied saxophone with the legendary Marcel Mule at the Paris Conservatory. He also studied with Fernand Oubradous and Norbert Dufourcq, among others...
, Kenneth Tse
Kenneth Tse
Kenneth Tse 謝德驥 is a Chinese American classical saxophonist. Tse was mainly self-taught as a youth until he met world-renowned saxophone artist and pedagogue Eugene Rousseau in 1989. He then studied at the Indiana University School of Music with Rousseau from 1993–1998, where he received his BM,...
, Harry White
Harry White
Harry White may refer to:*Harry Dexter White , economist and U.S. Treasury official*Harry White , Australian Jockey*Harry White , US Congressman from Pennsylvania*Harry White...
, Otis Murphy
Otis Murphy
Otis Murphy is a classical saxophonist and saxophone professor at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. He joined in 2001 and became one of the youngest members of its faculty in the school's history. Murphy has primarily studied with esteemed saxophonists: Kenneth Fischer, Eugene...
, Claude Delangle
Claude Delangle
Claude Delangle is a French classical saxophonist. He teaches saxophone at the National Superior Conservatory of Music of Paris since 1988. He played in the famous "Quatuor Adolphe Sax Paris" with Jacques Baguet, Bruno Totaro an Jean-Paul Fouchécourt. Very implicated during the 80's in developing...
, and Eugene Rousseau
Eugene Rousseau (saxophonist)
Eugene Rousseau is an American classical saxophonist. He plays mainly the alto and soprano saxophones....
. The alto saxophone is included in classical music more often than the tenor
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
, and many concertos for alto exist. The alto is used commonly in symphonic
Concert band
A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family, and percussion instrument family.A...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, and marching band
Marching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
music.
Manufacturers
Some companies that currently produce saxophones are Buffet CramponBuffet Crampon
Buffet Crampon et Compagnie is a French manufacturer of woodwind musical instruments, including oboes, flutes, saxophones, and bassoons; however, the company is perhaps most famous for their clarinets, as Buffet is the brand of choice for many professionals....
, KHS
KHS Musical Instruments
KHS Musical Instruments Co., Ltd was founded in Taiwan in 1930 as an educational products company, and gained success in the 1950s as a producer of musical instruments...
/Jupiter
Jupiter Band Instruments
Jupiter Band Instruments, Inc. is a manufacturer and distributor of woodwind, brass and percussion instruments. Jupiter was established by its Taiwanese parent company KHS in 1980.-History:...
, Selmer
The Selmer Company
Henri Selmer Paris company is a French family-owned enterprise, manufacturer of musical instruments based in Paris, France in 1885. It is known for its high-quality woodwind and brass instruments, especially saxophones, clarinets and trumpets...
, Yamaha, Leblanc
Conn-Selmer
Conn-Selmer, Inc. is a manufacturer and distributor of concert band, marching band, and orchestral instruments. It is a subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments and was formed after Steinway bought musical instrument manufacturers The Selmer Company and C.G. Conn.-Founding:In the late 1800s,...
/Vito, Keilwerth, and Yanagisawa
Yanagisawa Wind Instruments
Yanagisawa Wind Instruments is a Japanese woodwind company known for its range of professional grade saxophones. Along with Yamaha they are one of the leading manufacturers of saxophones in Japan....
. New alto saxophones range in price between US$200 for lower quality student models to over US$8000 for professional models.
In classical music
It is sometimes used by French Composers—for example Georges BizetGeorges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
features it in the Minuet from the second suite of music from L'Arlésienne.
It was asked for by Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
in his Sinfonia Domestica, where included in the music are parts for four saxophones including an alto saxophone in F.
Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
uses the saxophone prominently in his orchestration of Modest Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition
Pictures at an Exhibition
Pictures at an Exhibition is a suite in ten movements composed for piano by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874.The suite is Mussorgsky's most famous piano composition, and has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists...
, most notably as the soloist in "Il Vecchio Castello".
Alban Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
uses the saxophone in his late orchestral works, most notably Der Wein, Lulu
Lulu (opera)
Lulu is an opera by the composer Alban Berg. The libretto was adapted by Berg himself from Frank Wedekind's plays Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora .-Composition history:...
, and the Violin Concerto
Violin Concerto (Berg)
Alban Berg's Violin Concerto was written in 1935 . It is probably Berg's best-known and most frequently performed instrumental piece.-Conception and composition:...
.