Assignment Archive
2026 July - December

Playing right rhythms is also fundamental to performing the piece. Let's build on those right notes!

Criteria:

1. All rhythms are accurate

2. The piece is performed at the marked tempo

3. Eighth notes are swung

4. Wrists, hands, and fingers are relaxed but confident. Fingers stay close to the keys.

5. Breathes are taken in a way that doesn't compromise the rhythm too much

6. Correct notes

7. Everything else (pitch, tone, etc) can be inaccurate. Just right notes and right rhythms this time!

Additional Info:

Some rhythms are tough. Play them slow and gradually add speed to practice. If there are too many difficult rhythms I can split this level up, let me know.

Just as important as right notes is having the right pitch. A terribly out of tune note might as well be a wrong note. We build off of previous levels by focusing on the quality of each note rather than merely getting it to speak.

Criteria:

1. All notes are in tune

2. Tone quality is strong and consistent across all notes

3. Use of subtone is optional - when it is used it is controlled and in tune

4. Embouchure and voicing adjustments are used confidently and controlled. There is no contorting of face of posture to get notes out.

5. Keep right notes, right rhythms

Additional info:

Using a tuner and tuning drone is great for getting pitch consistency. I also recomend singing a note, getting that in tune, then hearing that note in your mind when playing. This helps pitch in the moment.

For tone quality, you'll want to warm up with long tones and voicing. The key ingredients of a great tone are 1) Excellent air support, breathing from the diaphragm. 2) Correct voicing position, using open / closed / in the middle larynx positions. 3) Correct lip support - never bite the reed or mouthpiece. Also, keeping your tongue relaxed + low helps.

To convey the style of the piece, it is crucial to articulate notes to the specified length.

Criteria:

1. All staccato notes are short, almost percussive

2. All slurred notes are connected

3. Fermatas are held for the appropriate amount of time

4. Notes without marked articulations are performed in a style characteristic with the piece

5. Pitch, tone, right notes, and right rhythms remain accurate

Additional Info:

Typically when articulating a note, you use a "Do" attack, letting the tongue hit the reed on the D in "Do" and it is off the reed on O in "Do" during the middle and end of the note.

For staccato notes, use a "Dot" attack, where you stop the reed at the end of the note with a T position (where your tongue would be saying the T in Dot). The note should be short, about half its written value.

To perform the piece at a high level, it requires a deep understanding of phrasing, harmony, and other theoretical concepts. Rather than changing the performance much at this level, we focus more on being able to explain the piece to an audience (or teacher) in addition to performing it.

Criteria:

1. Only one change to the performance: breathe in a way that compliments the phrases. Do not breathe in the middle of a phrase and interupt it!

2. Explain what a given chord is using reference materials. You do not need to memorize every chord.

3. Explain if a given melody note belongs to the harmony chord or not, using reference materials.

4. Explain where a given phrase begins and ends.

5. Explain where music ideas repeat and where they vary. Be able to identify motifs.

Additional Info:

The Chord Chart (see the top of this assignment) is a handy guide to all the common chords. Bring questions to lesson - it's a bit intimidating at first.

Motif and phrase are concepts we've covered before with MuseScore assignments. Recall that a motif is a small, individual unit representing a complete musical idea. They are typically 2-5 notes. Sometimes larger. A phrase is a musical sentence that strings motifs together to communicate an idea / vibe / etc.

In order to create interest and express the piece effectively, it is required to use contrasting dynamics.

Criteria:

1. Play any dynamic markings as written (I don't think there are any written ones, so you pass this automatically)

2. Add in dynamic markings (piano, forte, mezzo-forte, etc) to appropriate areas based on your theoretical understanding + the vibe

3. Crescendo and decrescndo are used effectively.

4. Technique from prior levels is kept

Additional info:

Playing loud and playing soft on saxophone effects the tone quality and pitch. You'll need to pay extra special attention to maintaining consistency in those areas.

The theoretical understanding is useful because we can tailor the dynamics to emphasize the phrases. We can also make chord tones louder to emphasize resolution, or we can make non-chord tones louder to emphasize tension.

In order to express the characteristics of the tune, you must add inflections to decorate the melody.

Criteria:

1. Accurate trills

2. Accurate glisses as written, add glisses where they are musical

3. Scoop, bend, and add other inflections to note beginnings suitable to the style

4. Add falls, bends, and other inflections to note endings suitable to the style

5. Add grace notes appropriately

6. Technique from prior levels is kept

Additional info:

This is where the theoretical understanding becomes really handy. In particular, understanding when the piece is repeating a motif or varying it lends an opportunity for inflection. Rarely do you want to play the same thing twice - mix it up to be interesting! If you do play something the same two times, the third time must have something different about it.

Also, having unique takes on each motif / phrase adds a very human sound to the music. We don't robotically sound the same on everything we do.

I took a stab at writing up a guide to transposing. It's one page and includes the reasoning behind transposing and a chart to easily transpose from your instrument to concert pitch.

Please check it out here. Do you think this is helpful and has the information you need for the jam sessions?

I have two recommendations for editing the audio of out Glass Vase Cello Case duet.

1) Add reverb

2) Balance the EQ

Adding reverb is easy in Ableton, just drag the reverb effect onto the track. Keep it light - there's no reverb when you play in an open field so we want a realistic-ish sound.

Balancing the EQ is much trickier, but also very rewarding with the increase in sound quality. EQ balancing makes it sound crisp. This website has a cheat sheet for EQ balancing the saxophone. Use an Ableton EQ Eight effect and try to implement the following:

• Lower the volume between the frequencies 0 - 100 hz (remove rumble)

• Slightly raise the volume between 120 - 240 hz (emphasize full sound)

• Lower the volume between 240 - 400 hz (remove muddiness)

• Maybe lower volume between 1 - 2 kHz (squak prevention)

• Maybe lower volume between 5 - 7 kHz (reed noise prevention)

• Slightly raise the volume between 11 - 14 kHz (emphasize breath)

If this proves too difficult, just export the audio to an mp3 file and email it to me at ajalbert56@gmail.com. I already have filters set up on my computer to quickly apply these effects.

Musescore File - Score
Tenor Sax 1 Sheet - MP3 audio

Try tuning the E and B at the beginning with the tuning drone. Hold the notes long and make adjustments until the 'waves' disappear. Link: https://www.tuningdrones.com/

Use these settings for the drone to hear E and B at the same time:

Instrument = Sine Wave
Interval = Perfect Fifth (set it to Simple Drone for just one note)
Temperament = Just Intonation
Transposition = B flat
Octave = Middle C
Calibration = A440 (Stuttgart)
Then click E on the piano. Feel free to change the instrument if you'd like.

Download the MuseScore file and open it with the application. Now you can hear the song and see the sheets. It is NOT finished yet (feel free to edit stuff though if you want).

In MuseScore you can export PDFs, mute parts, enable the metronome and more! Just do a Google search for any of those things - it's too much to put here (or just text me!).

Previous version:

Musescore File    -     Score