Is this how you write for saxophone?

[@MrEhoek]

Nice piece! As a tenor and soprano sax player in a saxophone quartet who also arranges a lot of music for saxquartet, only a few things come to mind. Notes below the bar (C, C#, B, Bb) are difficult to play soft, so some rearranging in bar 30 could be applied (a soft low Bb in the tenor is very difficult for example!). Also i should dial the use of the staccato dots back a bit. Normal notes without a slur over it are normally already articulated individually (and especially on the soprano "normal" notes are already pretty staccato like compared with other wind instruments) so a lot off staccato dots can quickly become overkill.

[@Marunius]

Sounds great!!

[@mohammadnazmiebinhanafi5125]

Love it

[@whong09]

Wonderland in Kingdom Hearts be like

[@justusmollberg3403]

Sounds good!

[@JordanMHollowayComposer]

This is so nice

[@SaxandRelax]

Voice leading is a bit blocky unless that’s what you’re going for! Also a low Bb may sound a Bit honky/ forced on alto sax especially when coming from that middle A. If your insist on writing the low note maybe have it approach from a beater note

[@tioliak]

Hello. Does the playback audio coming from musescore? It sounds great

[@danb2622]

Flows very naturally, which is key. Breathes well and has fresh identity. I say why not!

[@tbyrd27-27]

I say 10/10 I’d play it 😎

[@ASaxN8r]

Great piece, man! I’d consider changing the rhythm ever so slightly in the the bari part to facilitate breathing a little bit more. Since your tenor player is often playing eighths at the end of the measure (such as m.5) you could most likely give a quarter or eighth rest there. When writing bass lines remember that your players need to breathe too!

[@LZGunn]

thank you man I will keep this in mind for my next piece :))

[@chargle]

As a bari player, I didn't think the bari line was too hard to breathe in really

[@ASaxN8r]

@@chargle I also play bari, and sure, there are many places where you can cut notes short for a breath before continuing. Thinking from a standpoint of being the composer, if you incorporate rests into your lines, the player won’t ever have to question where they breathe

[@chargle]

@@ASaxN8r that's fair

[@dot_trey]

yes

[@jzer21]

Typically you’d want to pass the melody between the four instruments and not have the soprano carry most of the weight. Aside from that, it’s an interesting melody, not too difficult, but in about in the range of a good high school quartet group.

[@ericparra9385]

This is really good! A couple things to consider, there isn’t a whole lot of obvious room to breathe, especially for that long soprano solo line at the end. There’s also a lot of voice crossing with the tenor playing lower than bari and a bar or two of alto playing lower than tenor. I’d try to keep bari playing lower than tenor, tenor lower than alto and so on. Other than that, great stuff

[@slamdatclickbait8521]

If you cannot single tongue at this tempo, you should not be playing saxophone 😂😂😂

[@Tyler-jx4yt]

Sounds like a zelda masterpiece

[@jacobneville3483]

No room to breathe

[@maxgraysax]

musescore’s saxophone sounds are horrific

[@haroldbingus]

in measures 29-33, you don’t really want to write the alto sax in that register in the context of a full chord because it will likely stick out and isn’t in the best part of the range. anything below a G outside of solos or features should really be reserved for the tenor and bari sax

[@LZGunn]

thank you very much, I feel like the alto is one of the more flexible of the saxophones in what it's role can be and I struggle with picking the right one all the time so I'm really glad yoy left this it's very helpful :)))

[@colinwu4910]

I rather think it's fine. For that volume and gesture that tone might be really nice. It's pretty easily controlled by a decent player.

[@mariabuist7312]

@@LZGunn I play alto and Harold has a point but I also think it's fine. As I've improved as a player one of the main things I've gotten better at is playing low notes quietly and controlled. Still sometimes a challenge though 😅

[@gdbyzantryx810]

​@@LZGunn While a good alto player should be able to control that dynamically, the big thing here is that it doesn't need to since the tenor is playing higher (in concert pitch than the alto). You can keep the chord exactly the same and just swap the voices (alto plays its Eb and tenor plays its Eb). The balancing will be a bit better that way. Basically, asking saxes to play in the extreme registers is fine IF they need to. If it can be avoided by swapping voices, then you should (unless it disrupts a melody).

[@LZGunn]

@@gdbyzantryx810 the tenor and alto give different colors playing in said register and I wanted to make them stick out showing their individuality from their norms and so they can reflect their differences and beauty against their harmony

[@jonasdanielseneskeland3001]

This looks great! Colourful and effective use of the Sax quartet. The mix from this midi audio has a lot more alto than what you typically hear from a live, modern Sax quartet, so just beware of that. It sounds like you put some main elements in alto, with an upper harmonizing voice in soprano, which is very nice, but it might be difficult to bring that balance out live. Tempo and articulation is really no problem, if anything it’s good to challenge your players :)

[@LZGunn]

Thanks for the tips!

[@blobcookie]

this is great!! minus some awkward range parts and yk breathing, this is a great piece and i’d love to perform it tbh it makes me want to write a sax quartet

[@nateking142]

beautiful piece and somehow reminds me of Someone in the Crowd from La La Land which I love so!

[@cuno6118]

This is excellent, thank you

[@pablosoler2051]

Have you tried to make contemporary music?

[@LZGunn]

what is that

[@chrisobrien6249]

Well this technically is contemporary music I would say

[@alleyway3215]

Lovely!

[@Elstree]

Sounds Pixar-y. Great work!

[@mikechad27]

1:31 what chord is this? it sounds heavenly

[@LZGunn]

I don't know

[@austinoblambino]

Search for a pdf version of “The Complete Arranger” by Sammy Nestivo. This book gives you all the fundamentals of composition and arrangement for every common instrument you’d see in a concert band, chamber orchestra, and jazz. Even for a relatively experienced composer, it is a really good book

[@JohnWilliams-uj1di]

I’m 13 yrs old and I’ve composed a sax quartet and it’s so hard

[@LZGunn]

oh send a link!!!

[@valtteripennanen4043]

think of them as teenaged to early twenties trumpets some having a bit high voice and some having a bassy voice

[@verrgr]

@@valtteripennanen4043 yes

[@KennyRegan]

I like this! Reminds me of Debussy / Ibert / neo-impressionist music, which is very much in the spirit of "how you write for saxophone" haha!

[@jerrodshackelford6773]

Is this Musescore 4 playback?

[@LZGunn]

yes

[@emar3936]

this is fire

[@LZGunn]

#1 fan

[@anthonyizzo26]

As a saxophonist, I don't have a problem with the 16th staccato. They can be done at this tempo. I don't like the voicing at m. 32 and 33. Those low Bbs will be very loud and will easily overpower the soprano. Don't mark them quiet, as that will be harder to play and will still bury the soprano. Because of your style of soprano melody against lower 3, check out the quartets by Alfred Desenclos, Jun Nagao and David Maslanka

[@drakkonscythe]

It's giving Journey vibes

[@wesleycolemanmusic]

I'd say the soprano is an interesting part. As a classical soprano, I can appreciate that. What I will say, and this is just indicative of saxophone quartet pieces in general, is that the other parts could add a bit more interest and counterpoint. Also, your melody is good and I would like a bigger contrast between the highs and lows of the piece.

[@germanfernandez9995]

They are saxos in B flat?

[@obinnanwakwue5735]

Only soprano and tenor are. Alto and bari are in E flat

[@joshman7269]

bet u cant do a double bass solo

[@dulce_dragonesa2966]

Alto and soprano player here: looks fun! Maybe if i can convince my bozo tenor and bari friends to not quit band we can play it together :)

[@LZGunn]

I'd love that :))

[@egfroztiefn8993]

Where do u make stuff like this? Does it cost money

[@AlexYou-n7x]

yea this is fine 👍would play

[@lbeeeee25a]

did you sneak in a little giant steps at 43

[@LZGunn]

🤗🤗maybe

[@dylanfusco2558]

As an advanced player, apart from the breathing thing (but it can easily be resolved with some birdseye), the piece is very good, I'll work more with the extension of the instrument, tenor and baritone works fine, but the baritone should use the octave from low A ( real C1) in rhythmical part (more easy and stable)

[@suberbrizeyessir1537]

What did you use to write this

[@LZGunn]

Musescore

[@VidmanXX]

I'll subscribe to you, IMMEDIATELY, if you make a longer version of this. Scout's honor. .....yes, this is that good.

[@willmorris8198]

Sounds very nice I love the rhythmic sections and the use of stacatto :) I would advise you to have better voice leading particularly in the chorale sections such as 0:44. You have a lot of leaps which it is better to avoid in favor of stepwise motion. As far as technical considerations of writing for saxophone, you do have some long passages where soprano alone is playing a complex melody and the alto is only playing blocked chords with tenor + bari. Maybe give some of those sixteenth notes to the alto to make like a little easier for your soprano player :) Also don't be afraid to write melodic parts for your bari and tenor (and other bass instruments in general). As a bassoonist we love getting to play melodic parts and rarely do especially in concert band music :)

[@LZGunn]

thank you for real

[@Cunhacomposer]

Indeed a sensational piece I would say, but in my view your work is comic not that it is bad on the contrary the writing is very good, it makes me very sad that people including composers and orchestrators use the saxophone for comic or jazz parts, ironic that never I wrote it for saxophone but I find the instrument very interesting. My congratulations for having written this work, boy!

[@BryanWeltonIII]

Wonderful job! Seriously The only comment I have is for measure 19, I think you should add just one more note at the end of the sixteenth note runs to allow for the slightest overlap between parts, solely because it will be much easier for the performers to keep in time. It would probably work best if it was the same note as the one that's at the beginning of the next sixteenth note movement

[@Garrotey]

When are you going to put this stuff on Spotify?

[@LZGunn]

oin know man, when I learn how💀💀💀

[@Majornimrod]

Weird key signature for sax, usually majors

[@LZGunn]

thank you for that I'll consider that next time I write for them!!

[@simonlutgens]

What? It is major

[@gdbyzantryx810]

Assuming you mean "sharps," flats are not unusual for saxes. In band music, it's rarer to an extent since 2 flats in an Eb part means 5 flats in C, but that doesn't mean you don't see it. Part of being an instrumentalist is learning to play in ALL keys (and even when there is no key signature, as is quite typical of much sax rep).

[@henrylongworth]

bro what are you talking about that is not true at all

[@urmotherhot]

i so badly want to play this now i want the soprano part

[@wilsoncosta5822]

BOM. PDF

[@sethrm]

i know nothing about saxophones but this sounds cool af

[@-composer]

Just wanna say, I love this style

[@LZGunn]

what would u call the style?

[@MrSwayzZ]

low voices sound amazing. I love the low notes on Bari and tenor.

[@acetone4051]

As an alto sax, the low Bb would probably trip me up but other than that the alto part looks very fun to play. I especially like measure 8 it just sounds so happy and joyful

[@LZGunn]

my bad I have done that a lot, writing too low in bad places especially for woodwinds because I'm a brass player

[@acetone4051]

​@@LZGunn That's reasonable tbh.. Honestly other than that though i really enjoy it, its a hard song without being uncomfortable/impossible to play

[@marleysax]

@@LZGunn There's nothing wrong with writing a low Bb for any horn :-). Unless you are specifically writing for newer players, low Bb to high F/F# should be fair game for all horns. Two things consistently stand out among composers who are new to writing for saxes, and you've done a good job at avoiding both. It's probably best to avoid writing technical runs that hang too much around the low Bb - C# and high D - F# range (particularly the former), and you should also avoid the low Bb-D range if the note is the major third of the chord as the tuning is particularly hard to bring up (doesn't apply to soprano, maybe tenor is ok). Cool piece!

[@doublespoonco]

The default articulation (no slurs) involves tounging every note which is really hard playing semiquavers this speed (same applies for staccato, marcato, etc). Also some of the syncopated sections lose the downbeat somewhat - maybe have one of the instruments play on the beat to ground the rhythms.

[@ryan_1314]

The low Bb to high Db jump in the tenor part could be a little awkward for the player, but overall good piece!

[@balderdash14]

If you just assume every saxophone player is a professional and can do anything you'll successfully write for saxophone

[@GaudiumEssendi]

Nice counterpoint!

[@LZGunn]

ty!

[@ducks_are_fun]

I'd say make the last measure 2 half notes and a whole note

[@magik_wand]

It’s written well and seems like it would be a fun piece to play. I was waiting for the section that makes the soprano player quiver a bit… and found it toward the end. 😂 well done!

[@habeechee6623]

Very nice! One thing I'd suggest, if your intention is for realistic playability, is that the final 16th note ornamental harmonization in part one ought to be split between two parts so that there is a chance to breathe.

[@LZGunn]

thank you yeah I forgot about lungs

[@blobcookie]

@@LZGunnfelt that

[@shmaneyok]

the ending is SOOOO GOOD😵😵

[@altopikachu9300]

I have to ask, what sound-font are you using to make these sound so good?

[@LZGunn]

musesounds