Hey everyone.. thanks for reading this message... I still haven`t got my horn yet.. and i am unable to learn how to blow before buying because i can`t get a horn from anywhere near my place ... so i need to buy to learn... but i`m worried that the alto is in E flat.. i`ve made up my mind to learn alto... but the transposition makes me scared... because when i played my trumpet i played by ear... but now i really want to read the notes of saxophone... any way to improve my transposing?? (i know how transposing works, but everytime i count the semitones and tones i go crazy and it isn`t helping my sight-reading too...)

You sound like you have what we call "perfect pitch," which could be a curse. I also hope you know that all saxophones are transposing instruments. I think there used to be a C-melody (non-transposing), but it`s really outdated. No one makes it anymore. The only advice I can offer you is to practice. Maybe this will help: memorize the notes before you play. Memorize where they are when written and what they look like, what their letter name (e.g. Eb) is, and how to finger it. This should be done before you play one note. I dont know if it will help, but it`s worth a try.

Thanks... well... i`m not really sure that it`s a "curse" ... haha.. but.... it has been giving me trouble with transposing instruments... however, it helps me a lot on the piano.... but thanks anyway for your advice... i`ll try it... =)

You should have bought a tenor - in Bb like your trumpet. Then you would add 2 sharps and take it up 1 step when transposing piano music.

But for alto in Eb, you play your piano music & transpose you would take it up a 4th & add 3 sharps.

But if you play the bass line just add 3 sharps and pretend it`s a treble clef.

It takes alot of practice sight reading transposing C to Eb.

oops mistake

For alto transposing from C for the treble slef.

Either take it up a 5th (not a 4th as above)

or easier yet

take it down 2 steps.

(don`t forget to add 3 sharps to the key)

well.. yeah, you`re right... i think i should have got a tenor... but just for fun, i also play chinese flute and pennywhistle in D... so learning how to transpose to E flat wouldn`t really be as bad as it sounds.. however, the "perfect pitch" ability of being able to hear whether a sound is far out from A=440 makes it really hard for me to play.. transposing is not a problem.. it`s hearing my own sound, if you understand what i mean...

for example... if i play c on alto sax, i get a concert E flat... because of perfect pitch, i`ve got it stuck in my brain that the sound i`m hearing is E flat... not C... no matter whether i tell myself that it`s a transposing instrument or not... ... sigh....

stevesklar,
What you said is not how you transpose. To transpose from concert pitches to Eb, you simply go down a minor third, (eg concert c, go down a minor third is A). Or you could go up a major sixth, it would give you the exact same note. To transpose from Eb saxophone to concert pitches, you go up a minor third (G on the Eb alto is a concert Bb). You were right about adding the three sharps (in the key signature) though. But I just want to add something, if there are just flats, you simply take away three flats. Or do a combination of both (if there are two flats, then take away two flats and add a sharp).

It`s me again.

By the way if you dont know, a minor third is 3 half steps, and a major sixth is 9 half steps. Or you could just count as in a major scale, a major sixth above a G would be the sixth note of the G major scale which is E. A minor third above a G would be a half step lower than a major third (B), so it would be a Bb.

yeah i did mess that up. I was prob having a bad day. Most the music I play i have to sight read transpose so it`s like 2nd nature. Trying to explain it i guess requires some thinking. I should have given note examples.

matter of fact .... double check this for typos W

Key transposition

Concert - Bb - Eb
C - D - A
C#/Bb - D#/Eb - A#/Bb
D - E - B
D#/Eb - F - C
E - F#/Gb - C#/Db
F - G - D
F#/Gb - G#/Ab - D#/Eb
G - A - E
G#/Ab - A#/Bb - F#/Gb
A - B - F#/Gb
A#/Bb - C - G
B - C#/Db - G#/Ab

So if you are tranposing Piano music treble clef (or flute, etc.) and they have a C,
on alto you would play an A
on tenor or sop you would play a D

I think that should make it alot easier.