Thirteen Etudes for the Developing Contemporary Saxophonist

Thirteen Etudes for the Developing Contemporary Saxophonist and Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano, Spencer Arias (2025)
for alto saxophone

Throughout my career as a musician, I have worked extensively in spaces where saxophone was present. It was my instrument starting in 7th grade and all through college. It has also been the instrument that has defined my compositional output since college. Throughout this time, what was missing from my studies was a series of learning pieces to help me better understand this instrument so that I could play the music that was exciting me with a little less frustration. A book that was more closely designed for this instrument. While the Ferling Etude book written in 1840 is a fantastic resource, its design does not have the saxophone repertoire in mind since it was designed for the oboe, and the saxophone was not even invented yet (1846 was the first patent). While I did not take the saxophone performance path, I am very familiar with many of the challenges saxophonists face in their studies. This is from personal experience as a player and through conversations with professional saxophonists and saxophone educators. As someone who has written extensively for the instrument, I felt uniquely qualified as a Composer with a background in Pedagogy, with extensive knowledge of this instrument to complete this book, which is why when Elizabeth Rosisbum approached me at a NASA in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 2023 I knew that this was something that could be important and have an incredibly positive impact on our community.

One of the most essential parts of creating this book was not what I deemed to be the most important but what we, as a community, deemed most important. Now, with such a diverse community, what we consider essential is incredibly subjective. Hence, we found many individuals to sign onto this project. Elizabeth and I collaborated to curate a group of 6 additional individuals to act as a Pedagogy Team.

Pedagogy Team 
Elizabeth Rosinbum 
Jeffrey Leung
Tina Wang
Nathan Mertens
Crystal Alexander-Duckett 
Joshua Thomas

This book is intended to follow a developing saxophonist's growth. Some of the etudes, particularly the later ones, may be more appropriate after developing specific skills. Alongside the etudes is a companion page with pedagogical tips, as written by saxophonists who not only supported this project but are also people I respect and admire. The book has been designed with the intention that the person learning these etudes adopt a growth mindset, that learning does not happen in a straight line, and that some skills require development with time.

Finally, the included Sonata at the end was designed to be played after working through most of these etudes. The main prompt was to have a new work for alto and piano with accessible piano parts so that finding a pianist who is willing to work with a saxophonist could be a bit more approachable for those less familiar with the repertoire.

Etudes:
I. Sense of Time
II. Forks and Bis
III. Lower, Slower, Softer, Whole-tone
IV. Pulse and Syncopation
V. Compound
VI. Octatonic
VII. Dance of the 16ths
VIII. Groove
IX. Angularity
X. Lyrical 12-Tone
XI. Asymmetry
XII. Extended Exploration
XIII. Improvisation

Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano
I. With Rage
II. Gentle
III. On Alert