What role does the saxophone have in a band?

Answer 1

In a school band?

Depends on the type and how big the band is. In good-sized bands, saxophones have their own 'section' playing both melody and harmony.

In general, the higher the sax, the more melody it plays (in low songs, this is the opposite). Altos and sopranos do a lot of melody (sometimes tenors, do too). Generally the tenors and barries have less melody and more harmony the smaller the band. If there aren't many saxophones in the band or you're missing common instruments (like Trumpet) the saxs make up for them. Alto and tenor do a lot of trumpet or Clarinet stuff. Sopranos do flute and oboe. Tenors and barries do low brass (Trombone+baritone)

Answer 2

The blues scale is used to create music in blues in the same way as it is used on any instrument. However the trumpet can only play one not at a time and therefore is primarily used to play the melody.

Playing the blues is as easy as making up Chinese (Pentatonic) style music by using all the black notes on a keyboard.

The blues scales is ...

C Eb F Gb G Bb

... in C Major. Just play these notes in any order using a bluesy kind of rhythm and you will jam with the kings of jazz. Of course theres more to it than that but that will get you started.

Answer 3

I believe the Alto