[Saxophone] Recommended practice songs for saxophone beginners: Famous tunes you’ll want to try playing

A-TrainBilly Strayhorn

Take the 'A' Train — Nobuo Hara and His Sharps & Flats

It’s a piece that makes you feel as if you’re performing while pulling a train behind you.

The music captures a steam locomotive departing from New York.

Performance note: if the offbeats become weak, the atmosphere of the piece will change.

Keep the offbeats in mind and play in a way that keeps the train from stopping.

A Whole New World, from the movie AladdinAlan Menken

“A Whole New World”- Sheet Music and Cover | Sax Duet Alto/Soprano

This song is from the movie Aladdin, and in performance it’s characterized by the slightly difficult high B-flat.

I think playing it with a tenor sax could be interesting, but matching pitch will make it a challenging performance, so why not practice it solo first? Try to play while envisioning a cool performance like jazz player Kenny G.

Stand By MeBen E. King

Ben E. King – Stand By Me (Official Audio)

It falls under American modern horror films.

Four boys set off on a journey along the railroad tracks.

It’s a piece where you can bring out the atmosphere by playing with a slightly stronger attack to capture that youthful spirit in sound.

You can change the mood by varying the volume of the same phrase.

CsárdásMonti

Tried performing Monti's Csárdás (Monti / Csardas) with A. Sax + Piano at Shimamura Music SOCOLA Minami-Gyotoku Store

This piece was also composed to showcase Monti’s violin technique, as he is the composer and a violinist.

Today it is performed on many instruments, most notably saxophone, marimba, and trombone.

It features many sixteenth notes and tricky fingerwork that challenges performers.

In the slow opening section, the saxophone conveys a wealth of wistful emotion.

Although there are many difficult passages for beginners, the desire to perform a piece you’ve heard before is very important.

When practicing, work so that you can play each note cleanly and securely.

For the fast sections, it’s best to start slowly and gradually increase the tempo.

There are quite a few scalar passages as well, so practicing scales in parallel will help improve your technique!

Dear DukeStevie Wonder

[Wind Ensemble] Beloved Duke Sir Duke

This is a song by American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder.

The piece was sent as a tribute to the legendary jazzman Duke Ellington, and it has a great groove—it’s really fun to play.

It’s also frequently performed by wind ensembles, so some of you in band might have played an arrangement of it.

Whether you’re on the melody or the backing parts, it’s undeniably cool.

Of course you’ll want to practice the melody, but it’s also worth mastering the unison lines between the brass section and the saxophone section in the interlude.

It’s a groovy tune, but there are a lot of notes, so be careful to keep the rhythm accurate.

If you don’t lock into the groove, it will feel off, so make sure to sit firmly in the rhythm and play it with confidence!

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Galaxy Express 999Godiego

“Galaxy Express 999” on saxophone by Chieko Tsutsumi

Galaxy Express 999 — this piece is truly wonderful! Besides saxophone, it’s a showy song that’s often used for various brass and wind instruments, as well as solo Electone performances.

At first, heavily arranged sheet music can be tough to read, so try mastering the familiar main theme section thoroughly.

My Favorite ThingsJohn Coltrane

My Favorite Things — John Coltrane

This might be a little difficult.

Even so, it’s a famous jazz standard, and since the melody is very straightforward and easy to listen to, I think it’s easy to play.

It seems to be often performed at year-end parties and other gatherings, and this piece has a lot of atmosphere, so it would be a good one to add to your repertoire.