How Do You Know the Key Is B Flat for Alto Sax
I would say nosotros're pretty lucky to play an instrument with one of the most basic and straightforward fingering systems of whatever wind instrument. Merci, Adolphe Sax!
Choices, Choices…
For most of the notes on our horn, in that location's pretty much ane fingering, and when there is an alternate fingering information technology tends to be a pretty esoteric one that'southward saved for a rare trill or difficult passage.
However, when it comes to our Bb, we have four unlike fingerings for it, three of which are quite commonly used by players. In this article, I'll go over each fingering and when it should and shouldn't be used.
To begin with, for those of you who might not know these unlike fingerings, please see the fingering chart at the height of this article.
The Classic Bb
Let'due south first with the side fingering for Bb. This is commonly the outset fingering that'south taught to first saxophonists, and which, for many, is the primary fingering that they employ. You'll notice that fingering the note A in the left hand, the bottom side primal on the right hand releases a pad when pressed, which raises the note a one-half-step upwards to Bb.
This is the all-time fingering for playing anything chromatic, since releasing the bis-cardinal to become from B to Bb can exist impuissant. It can as well be used in playing most things that are in keys with flats, simply y'all'll find that when you get comfortable using the bis key that information technology can actually save you some fingerwork. Nevertheless, of the four fingerings, the side fingering has the fewest limitations and is the best one to first get comfortable with.
Gettin' Downwardly to Bis
The side by side fingering is the bis fingering. You'll see that the bis fundamental is the little key that's between the A and B keys on the left manus stack. You use the same finger you utilise to finger the B (your index finger, or what would actually exist referred to as LH1 in nearly fingering charts, since it's the meridian finger of the left hand).
You'll observe that the mechanism is designed so that the bis key comes down when yous finger everything from A below. This ways that if you lot're playing something in a flat key that stays relatively diatonic (meaning, in the key signature that it's written in), y'all tin have that top finger over the bis key and the B key someday that it's downwardly. This saves you from e'er having to use the side fingering for Bb.
However, y'all have to build the sensation of having that bis primal down through practice – if a B natural comes upward, you need to know to release it. The biggest limitation of the bis key fingering is that it's not appropriate for chromatic passages, or in other words, passages where y'all go directly from B to Bb. As stated higher up, using the bis key hither is clumsy – although information technology can exist washed, it is needlessly bad-mannered and should exist avoided if possible.
Index Finger Twins
The next fingering is the 1+1 fingering. You'll encounter that if you finger B with your left hand and bring the F central in the right manus downwardly (hence the name for the fingering), the F key brings the bis key down with it, making the notation a Bb.
This fingering, like the 1+ii fingering that we'll go over next, is is much less usually used than the starting time two fingerings, but is invaluable anytime yous are going back and forth from F to Bb, or vice-versa. It makes this much easier to do. Nevertheless, information technology's not a useful fingering for anything chromatic and you wouldn't desire to use it in many other instances, since information technology creates what I phone call finger-switches, which is when one finger has to come and another comes downwards at the same time. These are bad-mannered and difficult to fourth dimension properly, and thus nosotros like to avert them when we can.
The Wildcard
The 1+2 fingering involves using the second finger of the right mitt, the finger that comes down to play the note E. This fingering is used when going back and forth from F# and A# (the other name for Bb), or Gb to Bb. Otherwise, like the 1+1 fingering, it creates similarly bad-mannered finger switches and should be avoided.
The Moral of the Story
Then the next time you exercise your scales and arpeggios, think about trying some of these unlike fingerings and seeing which one works best. Do your best to get equally comfortable with the first two fingerings, since they are most mutual and often interchangeable. The Universal Method for Saxophone has some smashing pages of exercises that employ each fingering.
I've put five musical examples below. See if you can go through them and figure out which fingering(s) might work for each. My suggestions are at the lesser.
Download the sheet music for the examples here.
- I would definitely either employ the side Bb fingering or the bis cardinal hither. If you're new to either one, do this passage with both fingerings. If y'all do utilize the bis fingering, the bis key can be pressed someday the B key is pressed through the unabridged passage. Definitely practise not use 1+1 or one+ii due to the finger switches that they create.
- Side Bb is best hither, since this is chromatic. The sliding that you'll have to exercise to apply Bis here is awkward and might tiresome you down, and then I would avoid information technology.
- This is a perfect example of employ for the 1+ane fingering, since you are going back and forth betwixt F and Bb. Notwithstanding, bis is also possible here. I wouldn't utilise the side fingering here since it adds a lot of unnecessary work for your hands.
- one+2 fingering is great here, or Bis key. Once once more, wherever possible, practice with both.
- Once once more, since this is chromatic, employ the side Bb fingering hither.
Source: https://www.bestsaxophonewebsiteever.com/a-guide-to-finally-figuring-out-which-bb-fingering-to-use/
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