A question for those who play tenor and soprano

[Marc]

Oh, my… never thought a simple question asking for opinion on a probable approach to a soprano would trigger so many comments…
Seems the “soprano subject” was never brought to the scene on this forum.
IMHO starting to practice a different key sax would never be a bad thing, would never “steal time” from practising your main instrument, since a large amount of the techniques you would apply on a soprano will basically be the same as those you’re currently performing on your alto or tenor.
Thanks for all the replies.

[William Cingolani]

Good Morning everyone
I watched and listened to King Curtis & The Kingpins’ video “Soul Serenade”. A few days ago I visited one of my music play along sites and ordered an R&B play along music book for tenor and alto. And surprise surprise the book has “Soul Serenade” and many others. I hope the backing tracks are well made.
http://www.vcisinc.com/saxophonepa.htm

[Anonymous]

Hi Marc – cool, i think everyone of us us is guilty of going off track from the starting point/question?

@Jeff – hoping to do my exsm in mid year if not end of year! Haven’t had a lesson since christmas, due to having some rooms in the house decorated, a bit like Michaels house move. Had to move futniture from room to room to clear out each room for the decorator to work in. So got s couple more weeks of disruption.

Seems like you have lots of books like me, to dip into?

[Dazza]

I have to say I don’t share the appreciation that some have for the sound of the soprano. Though it was a great rendition again that JF did of Mercy on Sop I was a little disappointed it wasn’t on tenor. 😢

[Pete]

I have to agree with Dazza prefer Mercy on tenor disappointed Johnny did it on soprano

[Michael]

I really loved to hear it on Soprano, thought it sounded real groovy 🙂 The cool thing is that the Tenor and Soprano are both Bb Saxophones, so just play the same sheet music and there you go. I think it’s cool to see how everyone is different, has different tastes, etc. Speaking of the general public, there’s loads of people who realy love to hear stuff like Johnny just did on the Soprano, others may not. To me, whether he played it on Soprano, Tenor or Alto, it’s all good. If you talk to a lot of pro players who do gigs, they’ll tell you that the audience who listens to them play may like to hear certain songs played on a Soprano, Tenor, Bari, etc.. The pro player himself may not be particularly fond of the Soprano, Alto, etc., but his listeners sure love it and it can mean the difference between having steady gigs booked v.s. not having anything on his schedule, only to watch those gigs being filled up by other players/bands.

[Marc]

I really like Johnny’s version of Mercy, mercy, mercy on soprano… Sounds melodious.

Good one, chief!

[Anonymous]

Yes – i agree the backing tracks played with a Soprano sound fantastic.
I tend to think they are more aimed at someone playing a Soprano, who wants to boost
their collection of tracks for Soprano.
I honestly don’t feel the need to buy them for my alto, as i don’t feel my alto could do them justice like a Soprano can.
I think they sound better on a Soprano, but i can live with that as JF has lots of other tracks,
Similarly there tracks that sound better on Tenor than Alto, and i don’t tend to go much there either.

Unless someone wants to do an Alto upload? then i might change my mind.

[Dazza]

I do prefer the tenor tone but didnt hesitate to rip the mp3 off this song and send it straight to my playlist in the car. At least now I can buy it and learn to play it on tenor and do a duet with the great JF. That’s gotta be an upload! What I found with Johnny’s version of this song (and others) is the slight twist on the melody lines he does that provide subtle changes that are pleasing to the ear. For instance in Mercy where after the “double note” build up at the end of what is probably the first verse, around bar 17 by my count, he drops down where other versions seem to go higher. This sounds really cool. Hope that description isn’t too vague and maybe not obvious to others but a nice little nuance that makes it stand out to me anyway.

[Dazza]

Just clicked on the Mercy link again and not surprisingly JF has uploaded a tenor version! Thanks mate!

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