THE FLOWING WINDS
These instruments really flow, which is why they are so suited – unlike the cello – to jazz melodies and improvisations. Because the clarinet and sax are usually tuned to flat keys, we will almost certainly need to do two things when raiding their repertoire:
- transpose the pieces from their original keys into easier keys (sharp keys where we can use the higher open strings)
- put them in the mid to high registers where we can more easily use the thumb to give us more notes in each hand position.