How Do You Read Sheet Music For An Alto Sax?
The alto saxophone transposes–it plays in a different key than the piano. The alto transposes down a minor third (same as up a major sixth). For example, if a piano player played C, you’d play an A on the alto to match the C of the piano. Although most music publishers do this transposing for you, there may be cases where you want to play music on your alto that hasn’t been transposed. In these cases, you’ll need to know how to read or transpose for the alto at sight. Figure out what key your sheet music is in. The key is determined by how many sharps and flats are written on the lines and spaces of the staff in the key signature. The key signature appears on the left side of every staff, just to the right of the clef. A flat looks like a lower-case “b,” while sharps resemble the number sign. If there’s nothing in the key signature, the music is in the key of C. If there is one sharp, the music is in the key of G–you add one sharp for every major fourth you go up (for example, D has
