Saxes a Plenty – help!

[nafmeadmin]

I have a rather unusual situation this year – I have very dominant saxophones in my beginning, middle, and high school groups. I am especially looking for music selections for high school contest (grade 2-3) and the mid-year middle school concert. At the high school level, I have 8 altos, 1-2 tenors, and 1 bari. (No one wants to switch to anything else – I’ve already asked). Our slow selection will be Ye Banks and Braes, which should work nicely. I also have very weak clarinets and flutes, so those parts limit me somewhat.

Thanks for any advice!

[nafmeadmin]

What is your french horn situation? Split saxes to cover horn parts…just make sure they blend with horns. What does the rest of your instrumentation look like?

[nafmeadmin]

1 flute, 1 clarinet, 8 altos, 2 tenors, 1 bari, 2 trombones, 1 trumpet, 1 euphonium, 3 perc, 1 electric bass.

[nafmeadmin]

Take 4 of your altos and have them cover the horn parts. Have 1 of your tenors cover a trombone or baritone part, if not there already. Then you are down to a normal sized sax section: 2 altos, 1 tenor, and a bari.

[nafmeadmin]

I would have some of your altos cover the clarinet parts for sure. I was in the same situation the last few years, and having those clarinet parts filled in really helped the sound. I would cover horn parts only if they weren’t doubled in the trumpet/trombone/euphonium parts. Alto and horn have similar ranges, but they have totally different sounds.

[nafmeadmin]

Put some altos on Eb clarinet parts if they’re available

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