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I have been in my school band for 2 years. I went from elementary to middle school. We started in 6th grade and are now in 7th and I am a tenor sax. I currently gave problems with coming from over the break to some of the lower notes like F, F#, E, D, et cetera. If anyone has suggestions, please post some.

I am fourteen and a viola player. I write a lot of songs in a band that features viola. This new song is a rock song I composed, I hope it is okay if I added it. I thought this group might like something different that involves our amazing instrument. .https://musescore.com/user/967076/scores/1081121

This is a new string quartet I'm going to be working on! (Plz give me feedback!)
https://musescore.com/user/3845986/scores/1163661

Hi I'm a sixteen year old viola player who is a junior in high school. I wanted to challenge myself as the current selection of concertos and what not for viola (ex: Hoffmeister, Stamitz, Walton, Bruch, etc.) are definitely not simple, but they are, in a sense, wearing down on me. I don't feel the same sense of passion anymore with these pieces. I was wondering, do you guys know where I can find transcriptions of cello pieces like Shostakovich Cello Concerto, Dvorak Cello Concerto, etc. (I found Elgar on musescore) that are free of charge. Additionally I was wondering if there will ever be a viola rendition of tchaikovsky violin concerto for viola as my principal played certain sections by ear and I was really intrigued as it is considered a pure violin piece with almost zero intentions of transcriptions. That would most definitely be the crown jewel that I would be looking for to dedicate my time practicing to.

Hello there, I'm a thirteen year old violist who is currently in my school's symphonic and full orchestras. I've been told by some of my peers that "I put too much rosin on my bow and that doing so could make what I play sound muddy". I don't know if this is true or not but I usually put a lot of rosin on my bow and it ends up sounding just fine. another question I have is, how tight is a bow supposed to be before you play? I've been told by some that it's supposed to be super tight and some have told me that it should be super loose. I usually make it loose, cause then I'm able to play fortissimo without what's coming out of my instrument sound scratchy, while when I try to play loud when my bow is tight, it sounds squeaky and scratchy. 

Hi there fellow string instrument players,

Outside of transcription and arranging for orchestra and occasionally smaller ensembles I am also a professional violin maker and restorer.
And for that reason, I am willing to try and answer every question on the subject of violins, violas, cellos and contrabasses in regard of construction, acoustics and history.

Questions can go from: 'How best to clean my violin' to 'What's so special about old instruments and especially those by Stradivarius'.

Please take note that my mother tongue isn't english, I'll always try to utilize the correct terms and words but mistakes are bound to be made!

Can you recommend me some pieces for viola to play alone? Maybe J.S.Bach (please don't say Prelude suite nº1) something short, about two pages, not much difficult... I hope you found something for me! Thank you! <3

One of the main problems every saxophone player faces at some point is: “what and how to practise”. I just wanted to share some experience and knowledge on the topic - I’ve been a practising saxophone player for about 18 years already. This is not a complete guide or an instruction, but a note containing some suggestions. Though I am more into practising improvisation now, I’ve tried to mention some more general practise activities here .
So let’s just go through an example of daily practice schedule:

1. Breathing.
   Whenever I have time I get back to some breathing exercises (see my article on breathing) - 3-5 minutes or so - as breathing is one of the most important things for producing great sound, and cool sound is what we are constantly aiming for.


2. Long tones
   - indispensable both for embouchure and for breathing skills. Moreover, different dynamics, cresc, dim, steady tone, etc. - at least 15 minutes. Be aware of your intonation and timbre during this exercise! You may want to use some tuner. Also read the article about embouchure posted in this group, I find it important. One of saxophone myths is that “only beginners should practise long tones”. I like to compare that with sports: every sportsman warms up before actually starting doing sports; long tones - is a warm-up for professional wind player, we need that to be in good shape, that’s of vital importance!


3. Overtones*
   - practising overtones and matching them to standard fingerings. Try to match the “full” timbre and pitch of overtone when playing tones using “normal” fingerings. There are several books on the topic, a good place to start is the corresponding section of David Liebman’s “Developing a personal saxophone sound”


4. Techniques you need:
   tonguing exercises for “junior” saxophonists , different articulations - for all sax players (it’s extremely helpful to start with simulating articulation of your favourite saxophonists, especially for jazz-oriented musician) for more advanced players the list might look like this: flutter tonguing, split tones (multiphonics), altissimo, growl, circular breathing, etc.


5. Scales and arpeggios.
   All kinds of scales and arpeggios you need; a plenty of things for jazz players: all modes of major/minor scale, diminished and augmented scale, melodic minor scale (actually there are tons of scales, see the fundamental work of “Yusef Lateef “Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns”) , triads and 7th/9th chords (including augmented ones) arpeggios, studying chord/scale theory (check Mark Levine’s “Jazz Theory Book”). David Baker’s “Creative.Approach To Practicing Jazz” is a good source of ideas. “ I am not too familiar with classical stuff, so feel free to post your thoughts and share your experience in comments.


6. Exercises.
   Both classical (for developing your overall playing technique, like “Daily exercises for saxophone” by H.Klose) and jazz (elements you need for improvisation - enclosure, 3 to b9, licks and patterns:II-V7, all kinds of cadences, cycle of fifths, etc.. Just remember to practice things in all 12 keys whenever it is possible. Here are the authors of literature on the topic: Jerry Coker (co-writer of “Patterns for jazz” and the author of a bunch of other books), David Baker (“How To Play Bebop” in 3 parts, etc.), and, of course, the educational books with playalongs by Jamey Aebersold.


7. Practising improvisation.
   That is: studying transcribed solos (and the process of solo transcription itself, of course) - remember analysing not only the notes played in different harmonic situations, but also the master’s articulation and time feeling (is he behind, before or on the beat?; learning tunes with chord progressions, applying patterns, licks and everything you’ve learnt in steps 5 and 6 and, finally, several minutes of “just improvising” to track your progress and just for pleasure. There is a really cool book called “Elements Of The Jazz Language For The Developing Improvisor” by Jerry Coker, I highly recommend it. The same author has an article entitled “How to practice improvisation” in his “Complete Method for Improvisation” book (part of this article was included in Jamey Aebersold’s “Jazz Handbook”)

Can anybody give me some more ideas on how to end some of my pieces. Because the endings I have are ok but I think they could be better.
This is one of the ones in particular that I think could be improved.
https://musescore.com/user/2014316/scores/1233166

I'm in eigth grade and I have learned control of the lower register and I am trying to learn altissimo notes. I made the all state band and the highest band at my high school.

Hi

Only just joined this - looking really for some direction. Have been learning for 1 month so know my notes, practice every day . . . . what should I be ding? What should I be expecting?????

I'm a bassoon player and composer who would appreciate advice on writing for strings. Please comment some general rules and techniques for string composition. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Hello, I just wrote my first piece entitled "A Rainy Day" for a sax quartet and I would LOVE any feedback. Please listen to it and help me. It would be greatly appreciated. (Just listen to it on my profile)

https://musescore.com/user/111336/scores/5082393
https://musescore.com/user/111336/scores/5082388

I really would love some feed back on these two original compositions. Please let me know if I can do anything to make these better. The pieces arn't really that hard, but if there is something as is odd, please point it out. 

Thanks in advance! 


Ryan Dorer

 Welcome to the Saxophone group! Here is some Information for you and links to sax scores and other sax-related groups on MuseScore.  

First of all, this particular group (Saxophone) is kind of “basic” saxophone group, containing discussions and articles about saxophone. To read an article - just scroll down after clicking the "discussions" section. You will recognize an article in "discussions" by the [article] prefix in its title.

You are very welcome to make more posts!  

Then, here are some links to other saxophone-related groups including sets of valuable saxophone scores:  

1) Saxophone ensembles group (quartets,quintets,etc.) - 
https://musescore.com/groups/saxophone-ensembles
2) Jazz Standards Lead Sheets - 
https://musescore.com/groups/jazz-standards-leadsheets
3) Sax arrangements group - saxophone arrangements of rock/pop music or movies’/games’ soundtracks      
https://musescore.com/groups/sax-arrangements
4) Sax solo transcriptions - 
https://musescore.com/groups/sax-solo-transcriptions
5) Collection of scores: sax solo or with accompanying instrument - https://musescore.com/groups/saxophone/discuss/5015764

Feel free to create discussions and articles, to add your scores and to comment! 

I'm trying to arrange a string quartet cover of Bird Set Free by Sia and I have most of it done. I just need help with some of the parts where, in the song, Sia is just riffing and singing kind of free in the background. Her doing that makes it really dramatic and highlights the climax which is why I want to try and imitate it. But I can't figure out the notes or how to write it (the rhythms, ornamentations, etc.). So if anyone would be interested in helping me out I'd really appreciate it! Just let me know and I'll send you the piece.

Would anyone here be willing to arrange Crazy la Paint by Minimusicman for a saxophone quartet of two altos, a tenor, and a bari? I think it could really sound great and be lots of fun since it kind of has the feel of an energetic reel, but I'm definitely not up to the task yet.

Hello everyone! I am a professional improvising sax player (mainly tenor sax). Created this group to post sax solo transcriptions synchronized with youtube videos/audios.

Have posted first 2 solos - check out them in "sheet music" section of the group, here they are:
https://musescore.com/user/27845251/scores/4993696
https://musescore.com/user/27845251/scores/5008464

Please feel free to post solos transcribed by you and sync them with original recordings on YouTube.

See the post below on synchronizing scores with youtube videos/audios

Hey, everyone!

This is Joshua, and I'm a composer and a performer and a new admin for the group Saxophone Ensembles. I just wanna generate some discussion and get some activity for these forums. Alex has done a really great job so far with his helpful information. Now, it's my turn: to do this, I think the best way to start would be a feedback form: post your scores to the group or just post a link in this chat and I'll do my best to give feedback. Arrangements or original compositions, I'd love to look at all of them and give feedback. This is just to raise some awareness for this community and also get activity going. Expect more discussions and whatnot in the near future.

So, if you want any feedback, I'd be happy to give some to your saxophone score. Post to this discussion or just send to me and I'll take a look at it.

What soundfont do you use? I tried many but still not happy. Thanks.