piano to sax

[foresterdjb]

I have been using Finale Notepad 2003 to transpose various concert key tunes to Eb for my Alto sax. So far I have been doing only simple tunes. I would like to transpose part of a Philip Aaberg song (Every Deep Dream) written for piano. Like most piano tunes, it has multiple notes/cords being struck at the same time. The software will do the transposition, but of course I can not play multiple notes at the same time. I have tried to manualy go through a few measures, entering an average note, but that does not sound right.

I am not even a year into learning the sax, with no previous musical training. Is there some place I can search for instruction/pointers for this type of transposing? Or is this something that is never going to be accomplished for just one sax to play?

[kavala]

Where the piano has several notes played together,
try using the top note only for the sax.

This should work in most cases.

[Tarzan]

most popular piano music, and almost anything printed after about 1990 will have three lines - two for the piano (Right & Left hands) and a vocal line above that. The Sax part would be the vocal line transposed down a minor third, or 3 half steps. The other option (if you're playing without accompaniment) is to just play the notes from the piano part with the proper sax fingering - it'll sound a minor third up, but there really aren't that many people in audiences who will be able to tell...

[gary]

Originally Posted by Tarzan

The Sax part would be the vocal line transposed down a minor third, or 3 half steps.

...but it will sound an octave lower than the melody you are transposing. To put it in the same register as the piano notes, transpose a Major 6th up or, if you write it a minor third down, play it an octave higher.

Of course, like Tarzan says, if there's no one around to hear it any octave will do, I suppose.