I have to add that the sound of the sax and clarinet is just like garnishing to the main music in our group. For example, if the original note of the song in the key of C is A, it transposes to F#, but it may sound better with G. For alto sax I usually go one chromatic note higher that the original transposed note. This is why it’s important to hear the song being sung. This helps a lot in terms of finding the right notes to play (by sax or clarinet) for each song.įrom experience I learned that when I transpose note to note (from key of C to key of E-flat for sax or B-flat for clarinet) it does not always sound good. This means I have to be sure of all the notes before I play them or else it would distract the singers, other instrumentalist and congregation.Ī few months back I resorted to recording the songs during our practice sessions. With the clarinet, usually middle B and middle C# notes sound well with most of the songs we sing.īut with the alto sax it’s not possible to do this because it’s louder than the clarinet and its higher pitch can be heard over the loud guitars and keyboard even if I blow quietly. (We have two acoustic guitars, an electric guitar, keyboards and bass guitar.) When I have the right notes then I blow loud enough to be heard by all. This is not difficult to do since I don’t use a mic while the other instrumentalists are all “mic-ed up”. (Of course I have to transpose first since the clarinet is in B-flat.) That means I quietly blow some notes which I think may be suitable for a song. If I don’t have the song sheet I improvise by finding these notes through trial and error. With the clarinet I started by playing 2-3 note riffs after each phrase of a song. When I started playing instruments for praise and worship I didn’t know exactly what to do.īefore I played the alto sax I played my clarinet for praise and worship. The music is Integrity/Don Moen type songs coupled with traditional Church music I belong to a Catholic charismatic community which holds praise and worship meetings every Wednesday except for the first Wednesday of each month when we have a healing mass. I have been using my alto sax for praise and worship for six months now.

Sax praise and worship