Please consider extending the range of all saxophones (SATB) to at least D7.

• Jan 14, 2023 - 20:07

Dear Musescore Developers and Community Members,

Thank you so much for Musecore 4: it is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. It is the best score creation software that I've ever used. I do have some constructive feedback for how it can be made even better for saxophone composers.

Summary:
Alto saxophone altissimo notes C#7 and D7 used to be "fakeable" in Musescore 3.6.2 by adding a hidden soprano sax to the score and having it play the equivalent notes (the soprano sax's F#6 and G6). This is no loner possible in Musescore 4.01.
No matter what I do in Musecore 4.01, it appears to no longer possible to get saxophones (at least soprano and alto) to play beyond a certain altissimo range. This broke some of the etudes that I wrote in MS 3.6.2. For example, the high D7 in measure 2 and the high C# in measure 10 of this etude (which are actually played on the hidden soprano sax) will no longer play in Musescore 4.01: https://musescore.com/user/18100066/scores/8596574 My recommendation: extending the range of all 4 saxophones (soprano through baritone) from Bb3 to D7.

D7 =
soprano saxophone: 2093.02 Hz
alto saxophone: 1396.91 Hz
tenor saxophone: 1046.51 Hz
baritone saxophone: 684.96 Hz

I'm writing a book of saxophone etudes using Musescore. I started writing the etudes in Musescore 3.6.2, and I will continue writing them in Musescore 4.01 and beyond. Here is an example of one of my etudes: https://musescore.com/user/18100066/scores/9485827

Many of my etudes have altissimo notes. I play alto sax, and I can play up to a D7 (D one octave above the alto saxophone's palm D). The note sounds like this: https://soundcloud.com/rex-djere/41-d-4-1396-91-hz

In Musescore 3.6.2, there were no sound files for the alto saxophone's C#7 and D7, so I used a neat trick: I added a hidden soprano saxophone to the score since it could play the notes equivalent to the alto sax's C#7 and D7. That is how I was able to produce the D7 in measure 2 and the C#7 in measure 10 here:
https://musescore.com/user/18100066/scores/8596574

This technique no longer works in Musesore 4.01 because the altissimo ranges on the soprano and alto saxophones aren't high enough. So notes that used to play in my score in MS 3.6.2 no longer play in MS 4.01. My recommendation: extend the ranges of all four saxophones to at least D7:

D7 =
soprano saxophone: 2093.02 Hz
alto saxophone: 1396.91 Hz
tenor saxophone: 1046.51 Hz
baritone saxophone: 684.96 Hz

Many professional saxophonists plays well beyond D7. Examples are David Sanborn, Saturday Night Live's Lenny Pickett, and many professional classical saxophonists such as Professor Christopher Barrick and Timothy McAllister. Professor Barrick wrote an altissimo fingering for alto saxophone that goes up to a G7, a full fourth above the D7: https://arts.unl.edu/music/saxophone/Documents/Barrick%20Altissimo%20Ch…

Thank you so much for Musescore, and please feel free to enlist me to assist in any way necessary!!!


Comments

The inadequate range of many instruments is a known Muse Sound problem. See https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/issues/13894.

If you are keen to assist, that linked issue may be a good place to start exploring the opportunities available for contribution. However, as I understand it, Muse Sounds is not an open source project, it is just freely available and usable with the open source Musescore notation program.

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