Top C# and D - Fingering and Exercises
James Rae shows the fingerings for top C sharp and top D on saxophone, using the octave key and palm keys, with exercises to make the shift between them smooth.
Copyright © 2023 Universal Edition (London) Ltd., All compositions by James Rae except where otherwise indicated.
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27 lessons (1h 3m) · 1 free
Lesson transcript
Music Lesson: Playing Higher Notes on Saxophone
Now we come to two higher notes: Top C sharp and Top D.
Top C Sharp
- Top C sharp is fingered like the C sharp we know, but with the octave key.
- There's the normal C sharp (the top one).
- All I'm doing is adding my thumb.
Top D
- D, on the other hand, is quite different.
- There's the normal D and there's low D.
- Top D involves the first key we use here with the left hand.
These are called palm keys because you play them with the inside of your hand. The top D key is the one that sticks out furthest.
- Important: Keep your thumb hard on the octave key. Do not release it.
- Just bring that key down.
Shifting from C sharp to D is an easy, easy shift.
Exercises
Exercise One
- Takes us up to that D via the C sharp in a smooth way.
- Aim for that singing sound, like a violin at the top of the saxophone.
Exercise Two
- Is harder because it involves those leaps again.
- This one is a little bit more difficult.
Exercise Three
- More difficult still.
- It's a bit of a brain teaser.
- Just watch your step and ensure you don't catch notes in between the notes you're playing.
Exercise Four
- Prepares us for the two-octave D major scale which we're about to play.
- We start from the middle D and go down to the bottom and back up, maintaining a smooth airflow throughout.
Exercise Five
- The D major scale itself: two octaves of it.
- Always aim to play it nice and evenly.
Arpeggio of D Major
- Practice this too.
First Study in D Major
- This is a little pattern exercise that goes up the scale, but not just straight up and down.
- It's grouped in four-note cells.
- When you put it together, it brings us back down to low D.
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Meet your guru
Meet your guru
James Rae was born on Tyneside in 1957. He studied clarinet, bass clarinet, piano and composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1975 to 1979, under professors Yona Ettlinger, Stephen Trier, Meriel Jefferson and Patric Standford respectively. Since leaving the Guildhall, he has pursued a highly successful and varied career across three areas: performing, writing and teaching.
James Rae has worked in many West End and Royal National Theatre productions, including Sir Peter Hall's award-winning Oresteia with music by Sir Harrison Birtwistle, and has received many freelance engagements with some of the country's leading orchestras and ensembles. He is the leader of the Phoenix Saxophone Quartet, who over the years have given many recitals and BBC broadcasts, and have recorded the complete works of Carey Blyton on two albums, 'The Return of Bulgy Gogo' and 'Sherlock Holmes meets Dr Who'.
As a composer, James Rae is one of Europe's most published writers of educational wind music, with over 250 publications to his credit, mainly published by Universal Edition. His music includes instrumental study books, sonatas, tutors, baroque, classical and jazz transcriptions, plus many volumes of duets, many of which feature on all the major wind examination syllabuses worldwide. He has also written four musicals for schools with Mike Cornick, and his larger commissions include The Turn of a Wheel, a major work for concert band that premiered in November 1999 for the North Tyneside Concert Band, of which he was a founder member as a boy, and the overture Moving On in 2012.
James Rae has worked extensively as a syllabus consultant and composer for both the Associated Board and Trinity College London, and has been highly involved in developing the woodwind sight-reading requirements for both exam boards. As a teacher, he has held many posts in both the state and independent sectors, and currently works at King's College School Wimbledon, where he directs the Wind Orchestra and Concert Band, and Shrewsbury House School in Surbiton, where he coaches three large bands and a chamber group. That teaching experience runs right through his saxophone series for MusicGurus, which takes you step by step from your very first notes to a confident, stylish player: First Notes, New Keys & Low Notes, Expanding Your Range, Scales & High Notes, Extended Range & Rhythm, and Polish & Style.
