How to Read Sheet Music for an Alto Sax
- 1). 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 two sharps). If there is one flat, the music is in the key of F--you add one flat for every fourth you go up (for example, B-flat has two flats).
- 2). Go down three half-steps (a minor third) from the key of the music. This is the same thing as going up nine half-steps (up a major sixth). This is the key in which you'll be playing on your alto.
- 3). Look at the first note of your music. Figure out what note is a major sixth above this note. Play this note on your alto. For example, if you saw mid-staff C, you'd play thumb, first finger, second finger and register key with your left hand (A above the staff). Going down a major third from what you see on the music will give you the same letter note, but it will be down an octave from what you really need to play.
- 4). Repeat Step 3 for every note of the music.
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