Pre-College Study - further solidification of tone, embouchure and technique
Etudes & Methods: Klose: 25 Daily Exercises; Lacour: 50 Easy and Progressive Studies; Teal: Melodies for the Young Saxophonist, Saxophonist's Workbook, Art of Saxophone Playing; Voxman: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced Methods for Saxophone
Bach(Mule): Bouree
Handel(Mule): Largo
Porret: Solo de Concours
Purcell: Two Bourrees
Still: Romance
Teal: Program Solos for Alto Saxophone
Voxman: Concert and Contest Collection for Saxophone
Freshman - introductory classical repertoire
Scales: freshman year is spent working towards Sophomore level scale requirements.
Etudes & Methods: Bois: 25 Airs en Guise d’Etudes; Ferling: 48 Famous Studies; Hite: Melodious and Progressive Studies; Labanchi: Concert Etudes, Vol. I and II; Rossari: 53 Melodious Etudes; Small: 27 Melodious and Rhythmical Exercises; Voxman: Selected Studies
Jazz Study: improvisation on modal tunes; Haerle: The Jazz Language; Lipsius: Reading Key Jazz Rhythms; Mintzer: 15 Easy Etudes (tenor/soprano); Niehaus: Basic Jazz Conception for Saxophone
Anderson: Sonata
J.S. Bach(Mule): Sonata #4
Bencriscutto: Serenade (alto w/ band)
Bitsch: Villageoise
Bozza: Aria
Couf: Introduction, dance and furioso (unaccompanied)
Debussy: Syrinx (flute)
Debussy: Saxophone Album
Eccles: Sonata
Fasch: Sonata (bassoon)
Francaix: Cinq Danses Exotiques
Gershwin: Three Preludes
Grainger: Arrival Platform Humlet (unaccompanied)
Handel: Sonatas 1, 3, 5, 6, 12
Ibert: Aria
Ibert: Histoires
Lantier: Sicilienne
Milhaud: Danse
Platti: Sonata No. 5
Rachmaninoff: Vocalise
Ravel: Piece en Forme de Habanera (soprano)
Rueff: Chanson et Passepied
Tcherepnine: Sonatine Sportive
Teal: Solos for the Saxophone Player
Telemann: Oboe Sonata in A minor
Tomasi: Chant Corse
Vivaldi(Rascher): Sonata in G minor
Whitney: Rumba
Wilder: Sonata
Sophomore - repertoire of moderate difficulty; beginning altissimo study
Scales for Performance majors to attain sophomore level: Chromatic scale, all major scales with tonic arpeggios, and all natural, harmonic, and melodic minor scales with tonic arpeggios.
Scales for non-Performance majors to attain sophomore level: Chromatic scale, all major scales with tonic arpeggios, and natural, harmonic, and melodic minor scales and tonic arpeggios through 3 sharps and flats.
Etudes & Methods: Lacour: 24 Easy Atonal Studies, 12 Etudes; Mule: Dix Huit Exercises, 52 Etudes (3 vols.), Traits Difficiles; Rousseau: Saxophone High Tones (2nd ed.); Sinta/Dabney: Voicing
Jazz Study: solo transcriptions; improvisation on ii-V-I tunes and the blues; Aebersold: Omnibook; Baker: The Jazz Style of Cannonball Adderley and The Jazz Style of John Coltrane; Coker: Complete Method for Improvisation; Mintzer: Jazz and Funk Etudes; Niehaus: Intermediate and Advanced Jazz Conception for Saxophone
Bach: Cello Suites I-V (unaccompanied)
Bach(Mule): Sonata #6
Beeckman: Deuxième morceau de concert
Benson: Aeolian Song
Bonneau: Suite
Bozza: Improvisation et Caprice (unaccompanied)
Bozza: Fantaisie Italienne
Bozza: Pièce brève (unaccompanied)
Demersseman: Fantaisie, sur un thème original
Devienne: Six Sonatas (solo flute)
Handel: Sonata 13
Heiden: Sonata
Heiden: Solo
Hindemith: Sonata
Koechlin: Etudes for Saxophone and Piano
Lunde: Sonata
Maslanka: Song Book (with marimba)
Maurice: Tableaux de Provence
Milhaud: Scaramouche
Sasamori: Variations on Taki's "Kojo no tsuki"
Schumann (Hemke): Three Romances
Singelee: Adagio et Rondo (tenor)
Telemann: Fantasies I-XII (unaccompanied)
Tomasi: Ballade
Tomasi: Introduction et danse
Turnage: Two Memorials (unaccompanied)
Whitney: Introduction & Samba
Wilder: Suite for Stan Getz (tenor)
Junior - intermediate to advanced repertoire
Scales for Performance Majors to attain Junior level: All major and natural, harmonic and melodic minor scales in 3rds (and maintain requirements from previous years).
Scales for Non-Performance Majors: All major scales with tonic arpeggios, and natural, harmonic and melodic minor scales with tonic arpeggios (and maintain requirements from previous years).
Etudes & Methods: Karg-Elert: 25 Capricen; Lacour: 28 Etudes-Modes de Messiaen; Mule: Etudes Variees; Piazzolla: Tango-etudes
Jazz Study: memorized solo transcriptions; improvisation on ballads, rhythm changes; Coker: Patterns for Jazz Improvisation; Reeves: Creative Jazz Improvisation
C.P.E. Bach: Flute Sonata in a minor (unaccompanied)
Bennett: Sonata (soprano)
Bonneau: Pièce concertante dans l'esprit "jazz"
Boutry: Divertimento
Creston: Sonata
Creston: Rapsodie
Cunningham: Trigon (tenor)
Daneels: Suite (unaccompanied)
Debussy: Rapsodie (Etoile Music edition)
Dubois: Sonate
Duckworth: Ballad in Time and Space (tenor)
Eychenne: Sonate
Glazounov: Concerto
Gotkovsky: Brillance
Grundman: Concertante
Hartley: Petite Suite (unaccompanied)
Hartley: Poem (tenor)
Heiden: Diversion
Marcello: Oboe Concerto (soprano)
Morosco: Blue Caprice (unaccompanied)
Muczynski: Sonata
Nin: Le Chant du Veilleur (alto, voice, and piano)
Noda: Improvisations I, II, III (unaccompanied)
Noda: Mai (unaccompanied)
Noda: Phoenix (unaccompanied)
Pascal: Sonatine
Platti: Sonata in G Major (soprano or tenor)
Rorem: Picnic on the Marne
Saint-Saens: Clarinet Sonata
Schmidt: Sonata (tenor)
Villa-Lobos: Fantasia (soprano or tenor)
Yasinitsky: Sixth Sense
Young, C.R.: Sonata (soprano)
Young, C.R.: Excursions (w/ marimba)
Yuyama: Divertimento (w/ marimba)
Senior - advanced repertoire
Scales for Performance majors to attain Senior level: whole tone and diminished (octatonic) scales with arpeggios (and maintain requirements from previous years).
Scales for non-Performance majors to attain Senior level: all major and minor scales in 3rds (and maintain requirements from previous years).
Etudes & Methods: Karg-Elert (arr. Ford): 23 Caprices; Lacour: Huit Etudes Brillantes; Londeix: Nouvelles Etudes Variees; Rossi: Altissimo Repertoire Etudes; Samyn: 9 Etudes Transcendantes
Jazz Study: continued solo transcriptions; work in 12 keys; transposition work; up-tempo improvisation
Austin: Tarogato!
Benson: Concertino
Bonneau: Caprice en Forme de Valse (unaccompanied)
Bonneau: Concerto
Bozza: Concertino
Chambers: Deep Flowers (unaccompanied)
Creston: Concerto
DiPasquale: Sonata (tenor)
DuBois: Concertstuck
DuBois: Divertissement
DuBois: Respirations
DuBois: Sonate d'Etude (unaccompanied)
Duckworth: Pitt County Excursions (tenor)
Gotkovsky: Concerto
Harbison: San Antonio
Hartley: Duo
Hartley: Concertino (tenor)
Heiden: Fantasia Concertante
Husa: Elegie et Rondeau
Ibert: Concertino da Camera
Karlins: Music for Tenor Saxophone (tenor)
Larsson: Konsert
Martin: Ballade
Phillips: ménage à trois (alto, tenor and piano)
Phillips: Sonic Landscapes (soprano)
Piazzolla: Histoire du Tango (soprano)
Robert: Cadenza
Roush: Nine Muses
Schmitt: Legende
Schulhoff: Hot Sonate
Smith: Fantasia
Wanamaker: Duo Sonata (alto and clarinet)
Young, C. R.: Concerto
Williams: Escapades
Woods: Sonata
Graduate - advanced repertoire
Scales: Add major scales in 4ths, diatonic sevenths in major, blues scales, pentatonic scales, major modes, jazz melodic minor and modes, and additional patterns as assigned (and maintain previous requirements from undergraduate study).
Etudes & Methods: Bozza: 12 Etudes-Caprices; Caravan: Paradigms I and II
Jazz Study: solo transcriptions; improvisation on harmonically complex tunes
Albright: Sonata
Austin: BluesAx
Bassett: Music for Alto Saxophone and Piano
Bassett: Duo Concertante
Berio: Sequenza IXb (unaccompanied)
Bevelander: Synthecisms No. 3 (w/ tape)
Bolcom: Lilith
Dahl: Concerto
Denisov: Sonata
Desenclos: Prelude, Cadence et Finale
Dubois: Concerto
Feld: Concerto
Feld: Elegie (soprano)
Feld: Sonata (soprano)
Gotkovsky: Variations Pathetiques
Husa: Concerto
von Koch: Concerto
Lennon: Distances Within Me
Maslanka: Sonata
Maslanka: Concerto
Phillips: Night Vision
Schuller: Concerto
Stockhausen: In Freundschaft
Swerts: Klonos
Tomasi: Concerto
Tower: Wings (unaccompanied)
Yoshimatsu: Fuzzy Bird Sonata
Saxophone Repertoire List
NEW!! Scroll over titles for direct links to the items in the Ohio University Music/Dance Library or on OhioLink.
The saxophone repertoire listed below represents only a sample of materials appropriate to the specified levels. Regard this list as a guide: Other literature of comparable difficulty may be substituted. The specified scale requirements are goals for the end of each academic year. All scales are to be performed full range, memorized and with varied articulation.
For notated major and minor scales and articulation patterns, see Kynaston’s Daily Studies for All Saxophones, pp. 4, 9, 14 & 47.
For a good resource defining foreign musical terms, refer to (or purchase!) Ammer’s Musician’s Handbook of Foreign Terms.