alto saxaphone concert b flat major scale

So if you are playing along with other musicians or a backing track, and they are in the key of B-flat, you will want to play in the key of C on your tenor or soprano saxophone. The examples reflect how saxophone players typically visualize and think about transposing. *tenor saxophones sound an octave lower than shown in the examples. 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 and soprano saxophones are in the key of B-flat. We refer to those instruments that don’t transpose as being in “ Concert” key or the key of C. This means that notes played on a saxophone will sound different from a note of the same name played on another instrument such as the piano or guitar. The saxophone is a transposing instrument. For flats (the keys you find moving counterclockwise), you can read the same mnemonic backwards: Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles Father.In case your are not 100% sure how transposition works, I’ve put together this concise saxophone transposition guide to clear things up.Ĭlick here to get a downloadable pdf of this guide.So if E major has 4 sharps, the notes that are sharp are the notes that correspond to the first 4 words in your mnemonic device. The first letter of each word corresponds to a note. For sharps (the keys you find moving clockwise), remember the phrase Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle. To work out which notes should be sharp or flat, you can use a mnemonic device.From the circle of fifths you can see that your new key signature is E major. You transposed the music to E flat by moving the notes down a minor third. For example, suppose your concert pitch music was in G. The circle of fifths will tell you which sharps and flats you need.Mark these on your staff paper next to the treble clef. Check your new key signature on your circle of fifths to figure out which notes should be sharp or flat. Mark your new key signature on your staff paper.

Alto saxaphone concert b flat major scale