Klarinet Archive - Posting 000745.txt from 1998/05

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: [kl] Anti-alto clarinet forces
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 22:31:04 -0400

On Wed, 13 May 1998, Kevin Fay (LCA) wrote:

> In the saxophone family, there is little or no overlap between the
> soprano and the tenor. In order to fill the tonal gap, the Eb Alto is a
> necessity.

Naturally, you are correct that there is less overlap between the soprano
and tenor saxophone than there is between, for example, the soprano
clarinet and the bass clarinet. However, the highest note on the tenor
sax is a high F or F#, sounding Eb or E at the top of the treble clef; the
lowest note on the soprano is a written Bb, sounding Ab on the top line of
the bass clef. As the overlap is at least an octave and a perfect fifth,
I'm not sure that is a sufficient explanation for the existence of the
alto sax. I think the tradition of having a complete family of
instruments tuned in perfect fourths and fifths goes all the way back to
the Renaissance period, when such sets of instruments were called
"consorts." I would speculate that it was that tradition that caused
Adolphe Sax to design and construct his full set of instruments.

Actually, he originally had two sets, one tuned in the keys of Bb, Eb, Bb,
Eb, etc., designed for use in bands, and another set in C, F, C, F, etc.,
for use in orchestras. The only one of the latter set which was
constructed in any significant numbers was the tenor in C, known as the
"C-Melody" sax. It gained quite a bit of popularity in the early part of
this century, because players could read from piano sheet music without
transposing.

Ed Lacy
el2@-----.edu

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