What to do with very low notes?

[prophet of soul]

Hey guys,

I'm a tenor sax player, and have been playing for quite a few years now. Every once and a while I come across a score that has really low notes (lower than B sharp, the lowest key on the tenor). Question is, is there a way to produce these notes i'm not aware of? if not, what do you suggest to do with them?

thank you


BTW- Great forum

 

[Colin the Bear]

Transpose. Play it an octave up. Same thing happens at the top. Play an octave down. Or transpose it to a more relevant key for the instrument.

NB. Bb is lowest note on normal saxophones. Some baritones and altos have a low A.

B# is C

 

[prophet of soul]

Transpose. Play it an octave up. Same thing happens at the top. Play an octave down. Or transpose it to a more relevant key for the instrument.

NB. Bb is lowest note on normal saxophones. Some baritones and altos have a low A.

B# is C

That's what I thought...thank you. and of course I meant B flat... where I come from we use the Italian terms (Bemol, diese and becar)) so I got a little mixed up. Hope you'll find forgiveness in your heart.

 

[kevgermany]

That's what I thought...thank you. and of course I meant B flat... where I come from we use the Italian terms (Bemol, diese and becar)) so I got a little mixed up. Hope you'll find forgiveness in your heart.

He won't find any forgiveness in his heart.....



Cos there's nothing to forgive.

 

[Dave McLaughlin]

Stick your left knee in the bell to get an A.

 

[MandyH]

Go up an octave, or even a fifth if you want a slightly lower note.

 

[Colin the Bear]

Post it found on music stand


"Bb is a key signature not a band instruction"

 

[daveysaxboy]

Keep blowing,keep playing,learn how to play/blow all notes well.Theres no point in trying to avoid things.You need them all.

 

[Reed Warbler]

Give me a B, I'll flatten it myself!

 

[jbtsax]

Stick your left knee in the bell to get an A.

That works of you are limber enough, and provides a nice bit of choreography to the music as well. You can also make a temporary extension to your bell using construction paper or a file folder. The only note this will not allow is low Bb which will become an A if the length past the bell is right. None of the other notes will be affected.

If you use the "put your left knee in" technique, you must resist the urge to do the "Hokey Pokey and turn yourself about" part, as that can be quite embarrassing and interfere with your tenor playing to boot.

 

[Colin the Bear]

I tried this "putting your left knee in" on the baritone and I can't find my slipper now.

 

[MandyH]

I tried this "putting your left knee in" on the baritone and I can't find my slipper now.

when we played our concert 2 weeks ago my Bari "was broken" - I could get no notes below D out of it....then I realized that I'd left the quilted bag that takes my glasses, tuner, pencil etc down the bari bell. In my hurry to get ready to play, I'd tuned to F# but not checked that the full range of the instrument was playing. I had to subtly pull a green and yellow 10 inch long floral bag out of the bell )) )) :welldone

 

[thomsax]

Practise the low tones and try to play licks or patterns on the lowest notes. Not just hit a note.

If you want to extend your sax you ca try this. Maybe it works on the tenor as well? The guy who blows the bassax knows a lot about saxes and thier construction. The Bb bassax became a bassax to low A!
http://youtu.be/_R43kY-VkEk