Comparing Alto and Tenor Saxophones: A Musical Exploration

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Compare and Contrast Essay: “Alto Saxophones and Tenor Saxophones"
Alto saxophones and tenor saxophones are two of the most common and versatile members of the saxophone family. From the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, on the stage of a Men at Work concert in New York’s Madison Square Gardens, or even on a street corner in the Big Easy, you will find one or both of these saxophones. While the two saxophones are commonplace in the worlds of rock n’ roll, classical, and jazz music, alto saxophones and tenor saxophones are quite different in their size and shapes, the tone and key, and the musical parts they play. To begin with, alto and tenor saxophones are played in quite different tones and keys. Alto saxophones are pitched in E flat. This means that the alto is six pitches down from a normal concert pitch. Tenor saxophones are pitched in B flat which sounds an octave and a major second lower than a concert pitch. To sum that up, the alto saxophone is a higher pitch than the tenor saxophone. Because the tones of the saxophones are different that also means that the scales you play on the two saxophones are different. If one played a D scale on an alto saxophone, one could play …show more content…

For example, the alto saxophone is a great deal smaller in overall size than the tenor saxophone. The necks of the two instruments differ in that the alto saxophone has a straight neck; whereas, the neck of the tenor saxophone has a distinguishable bend. The mouthpieces of the saxophones are also different sizes; the alto saxophone has a smaller mouthpiece than the tenor saxophone. Since the mouthpiece of the tenor is so much larger, that means that the reed of the instrument is also larger in length and width than the reed of an alto saxophone. Because the tenor saxophone is so much larger than the alto saxophone, the selling price is also much

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