SAXOPHONE

A student and friend of mine, Wes Brown, has developed a device for saxophone
that would convert any saxophone into a quarter-tone instrument. We have not
found an instrument company as yet who is interested enough to begin manufac-
turing the device. Suffice it to say it works similarly to the way the quarter-
tone trumpet works by altering the normal combinations of fingerings.

Another friend, a brilliant virtuoso, concert and jazz saxophonist, Trent

Kynaston, has worked out a system of fingerings for the standard saxophone
with approximate quarter tones. Trent comments:
"There are quarter tone fingerings in between all notes, but those
in brackets are very impractical. Between G and Ab the fingering
is by means of a half-whole because of the articulated G# key. The
same problem occurs in the low range of the instrument.

The fingerings all give approximate pitches; some embouchure

adjustment is necessary. Each saxophonist attempting the finger-
ings should experiment with slight alterations of finger combina-
tions as pitch will vary from alto to tenor and baritone as well as
individual instruments in terms of how they are adjusted. The
diagram explains the fingering chart."
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