It’s a playable B flat soprano saxophone that appears right inside your browser. Tap on the note grid to play and click too if you prefer. Alternatively, play more quickly and smoothly using your computer keyboard instead. As you do, the interface displays the notes you’ve triggered, although they sound a major second lower, like a real saxophone would. Playing this way will help you learn about transposition naturaly as you go along.
Let’s take a look at the note grid first. This is located in the top right-hand corner of the screen. It shows a range of two octaves from written C4 (middle ‘C’) up to C6 (an octave higher). If you click on one of these button, it plays the note. The natural notes is shown with light buttons; the sharp notes is shown with dark buttons. As you do this, the left-hand diagram of the saxophone automatically adjusts itself to show exactly how to finger the played note. You will notice the right-hand fingers and the left-hand fingers. You will also see which keys gets pressed down and whether the octave key is activated. This is useful if you’re learning how to connect button presses to physical technique.
How to Play the Saxophone on Your Computer
On a keyboard, they’ve mapped it out so that the bottom octave is assigned to the Z, M row of keys. C4 is played on Z, then C5 is played on the M key. For sharps, the S, D, G, H and J keys covers this section of keys. From C5 up to C6, the top octave is covered on the Q, I row of keys with the number keys taking care of the sharps. This means that if you want to play some melody or practice a scale you don’t need to move your hands very far away from their starting position. Alternatively, you can swap back and forth between keyboard and mouse as you feel comfortable doing.
Below are several controls that let you shape your sound. The Scale Run button will play a C major scale, up and down. That’s a nice way to practice smooth note transitions and see how the fingerings changes as it flows. The Amazing Grace button plays the melody of this popular song on the instrument. That shows how the horn can play a simple tune with the right timing. To stop either one just click the button again.
The vibrato button is a toggle switch for adding a wavering effect to the sound. On real saxes, the player creates this vibrato using their throat or by rocking their jaw. This adds some natural warmth to the sound which can be turned off when practising certain techniques that require a straight, steady tone.
Long Tone: Pressing this button will play the previous note chosen with a slow swell and gentle fade-out. It emulates a routine part of any day’s practice: holding one note to improve breath control and stability. When playing a tune, use this feature to concentrate on sound qualities rather then just getting from one note to the next.
On the right of the transport controls you will find a volume slider. This controls the main volume of the widget. If you’re using it in the background, this might be low. When you want to really listen to the details of the articulations, you can turn it up.
There’s also a Fullscreen button that enlarges the widget to fill your entire screen. This is useful if you’re working on a small monitor. It allows you more space to view the note grid and the fingering diagram clearly. Finally, there’s the Help button which brings up a help panel containing full keyboard mappings and instructions. This remains hidden so that the interface is kept clean until required.
When playing it pays to take note of the fingering diagram. It’s quite a dramatic jump in keys from crossing the break between C5 and D5. Here, you must put several fingers together at the same time in the center of the range. It’s a typical sticking point for actual sax players, and what the widget does is help you see this difficult movement. The pinky keys, or the low C, and so on will show up in text underneath the diagram when necessary, providing a full picture of the standard fingering chart.
Explore various control settings. Play a sustained note with vibrato disabled to experience the pure sound, and enable vibrato to bring some color. Run through scales rapidly using the keyboard, and try clicking the mouse instead to practice precise finger placement. In the end, the widget is meant to be explored in addition to practiced. How you engage with it is not wrong.
Now you’ve got a complete range of notes on a soprano sax in your hands. All the difficulties of fingering and transposing has been dealt with by the interface. It’s all about just playing. Click a note, press a key, and hear it come alive filling out your space. It could of gone better but ready to go when you’re ready to go.