Time Signatures on Saxophone Sheet Music

[john]

6/8 is common but the others are rare in any music, not just sax. 3/4 is also quite common, and 2/4.

[Anonymous]

Hi Michael – like your question! Mainly because i’m currently studying a 1 year music theory course which is aimed mainly at keyboard players, but translates to the Sax as well.
I’ve noticed that too, but a lot of the work i am doing now in preparation for my grade 3 sax later this year does have a better spread of time signatures, a lot of the classical pieces i’m learning more so. Perhaps it’s the style of music, like blues is mainly 4/4 in 12 bars? Swing & Jazz more varied?

At the end of the day once you learn them there not that difficult! To me its not any harder to count up to 5 in 5/4 timing than it is to count up to 4 in 4/4 timing. In both cases each beat still represents the same amount of – a 1/4 note etc.

A lot of music i’ve come accross don’t change the time signature but just indicate at the top that music is played in swing time! makes it easier to read/play than if they wrote it in a different time signature! That catches me out and i forget to give 2 1/4 notes a 2/3 & 1/3 time !

[Anonymous]

correction make that 2 1/8 notes. You guys have easier than us, we have to call em crotchets, quavers, semi quavers, demi semi quavers…
I find the US theory more easier than our Uk theory!

[Michael]

Nice to hear Sxpoet about getting ready for your grade 3 sax–very cool. I’ve had people tell me–especially when I was out west helping my bro-in-law, that Musical Theory wasn’t necessary unless you wanted to write/compose your own music and I remember posting a question to Johnny about it on the Forum at that time. Both his answer and our local band director’s answer here where I live was exactly the same: nothing could be further from the truth. And the more you learn about it, the more you come to realize how important it is (don’t think it’s necessary to become the next Mozart though).
That’s really good Sxpoet that you’re using the keyboard towards understanding the music because the Sax and the keyboard go hand-in-hand.

I’ve been learning about the keyboard/Piano too for about 8 months or so and it has really helped me out a lot; it has cut the learning curve probably in 1/2. I’ve actually seriously considered getting more proficient at playing the Piano. My wife has an older Organ here in the house made by a company called “Hammond” that her GRANDPARENTS bought when they we’re younger, so it’s been in the family a long time.

[john]

Hammond? is it a B3? those are the ones used mainly in rock and R&B and Blues etc.
It’s like most sax players were buying Selmer Mark 6’s keyboard players were buying a Hammond B3 for that big classic sound.

[Michael]

Yes, it is a B3—I didn’t know it was that special though! It’s old, “funky” but it sounds great–It was handed down to my wife from her Grandparents; they bought it brand new and it has been in the family for years, at least 50 years I guess? (more or less, just an estimate on my part) My wife is very, VERY possessive of it and will NOT let the kids touch it, absolutely no food or drink next to it…and that includes me. She let’s me use it all the time though, as mentioned it has greatly helped me understand scales, intervals, etc.. It’s like that question I asked the other day when my brain didn’t process the fact that the 3rd and 7th in Am are already minor intervals…no need to flatten them. All’s I did after posting that question was go to my wife’s organ and found my answer right away (feel like an idiot sometimes LOL). I can play a few very basic songs on it. I refer to it HEAVILY these days when working on your Killer Blues exercises, working on licks of my own—as a reminder I have 2 versions of the Green Onions in 2 different keys that I will use to “break in” my new Tenor and it will be my first REAL upload where I’m applying what I’ve learned from you in Killer Blues; this is the direction I want to go with my playing (for the most part–still want to learn songs though; great benefit I think in learning and memorizing solos of other great players too).I put the links to those 2 backing tracks that I will use for those uploads–the one in Gm was a little “shaky” in a few places, not sure what happened when the computer program processed our editing—but we just put that together kind of quickly just as a sample to see what you think. I’ve been focused on this stuff since last October–every since Jake and I did our duet and a few of those notes “escaped” our attention; so I couldn’t stand it anymore and decided it was time to turn my attention to Improvising because it’s what I’ve ALWAYS aimed to be able to do. I feel like I’m starting to get a good hold on it, starting to anyway. Thanks for working on Another Improvisation course Johnny–nothing but “slim pickings” on youtube.

The organ my wife has sounds VERY MUCH so like the organ you hear in the backing tracks below; the more I use it the more I love it and I would be lying if I were to say that I haven’t thought of becoming more proficient at playing it….but I had no idea that it was as good as the comparison you’re making to Sax players and Selmers….WOW that’s really encouraging to me! I guess I should slap myself in the face? LOL I’m going to do some more research on it then.
http://youtu.be/rYA9Y8q1_uY

[Anonymous]

Michael – that’s a good start for improvising to have those in two different keys,
some of the improvising songs i have, come with the same backing tracks for all the Major keys.

I learnt to play the piano 30 years ago and picked up what music theory i could from the piano books,
i practised for 3 years & went back to playing guitar. Over the course of years i’ve collected a few
music theory books, but they all mainly seem life reference books. One of the books i looked at covered
intervals in a couple of pages, and yet on this music theory course i’ve spent several weeks on intervals,
the main difference is this course is showing me tricks of the trade, how to remember the intervals on the
keyboard & on the sheet music, faster recall time, means less plodding, stomping & fumbling about.

The acronym’s f-a-c-e and Every Good Boy Deserves Fun which is in all the piano books has never helped me
to remember what notes to play especially in the bass cleff. Whereas in 1 week on a music theory course
i was taught an easier way to recall the notes, so i can now find my way round without thinking what’s that acronym again?
and wasting time counting up the lines & spaces.

But at the end of the day you only get out of it what you put into it, and like you’ve said often enough “Don’t Cheat Yourself”

Enough of that – When do you get your new Sax’s?

[Anonymous]

I’ve got “Autumn Leaves” in 12 different Major Keys, although its the same tune over and over,
2 of the keys for me stand out more than the other 10 keys!
Some Keys seem dull and some Keys seem lively even though there all at the same tempo, dynamics etc..!
Singers find some keys more easier for their vocal range, and some guitarist’s avoid certain keys like the plague,
like playing in Bb on the guitar is a real physical hand ache for me – its not the scale that’s the problem.

I’ve put improvisation on hold as my instructor keeps telling me, before you can practice improvising on a specific song,
you need to be able to play that song properly first like you own it, otherwise improvising on top of crappy playing
of that song doesn’t go down well with him! He makes a good point, you have to draw a line in the sand somewhere
when it comes to the standard of a piece you want to perform.

I’m not being funny, but i reckon anyone with no knowledge at all, could sit down at a piano and learn a piece from memory,
just spend a whole lifetime just playing that one piece and nothing else, and they could just play that one piece like a
concert pianist – they own it! Watch them play – and you think they are a genius!

[Michael]

To Improvise correctly, we have to know the scales inside-and-out; no doubt about it. The way Johnny shows it in Killer Blues is great because rather than practicing them as “technical” exercises he shows how we can work on them in little licks and phrases–it’s very fun to do and really helps to grasp all that “fun” theory behind it LOL
My Tenor is being shipped in from the U.K. because the folks I am buying it from didn’t have it in stock; so I had to pay extra freight charges for it. For the Alto, they offered to pay for the shipping itself–very nice of them to do so! 🙂 I’m just waiting for the IRS to deposit our tax return into our account to pay off the remaining balance due for them and that’s all that is left to do.

[Author]

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