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left handright hand8vaDE♭Ff123G♯C♯BB♭ECB♭123E♭Cupper body · left handlower body · right hand8vaDE♭Ff123G♯C♯BB♭ECB♭123E♭C
B♭3sounds C♯3Low octave
SongsDeck the Halls
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1 more song needs notes this instrument does not have. Changing the key brings some of them into reach.

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Welsh traditional air “Nos Galan”, in print by the 1790s. Public domain.

32 notes · B♭3–F6 written · sounds C♯3–A♭5 · 32 notes · The E♭ alto: the saxophone almost everyone starts on, in school bands and jazz alike. Sounds a major sixth below the part.

Tap a note, or slide along them to slur from note to note in one breath. On a keyboard the letters on the notes are the ones to press — Q is written low B♭ and they climb a semitone at a time.

SaxophoneFree · printable · plays in your browser

Deck the Halls — Saxophone Notes

Deck the Halls, written out for the saxophone as letter notes with the fingering drawn under each one and set up above on the Alto. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the saxophone waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes68, 9 pitches
  • RangeB4–C6
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo132 bpm · about 29 s
  • LevelIntermediate

Can a saxophone play Deck the Halls?

Yes — every one on this page plays it. The check is made note by note against what each one can actually sound. Where the tune does not fit as the library writes it, another key or octave is tried, and the table says which; where nothing fits, it names the notes that are missing.

  • Alto✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, B4–C6 · loaded above
  • Tenor✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, B4–C6 · load it
  • Soprano✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, B4–C6 · load it
  • Baritone✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, B4–C6 · load it

The notes here are written pitch, which is what a saxophone player reads. On the Alto this sounds in E♭ major.

Deck the Halls: saxophone notes

The large line is the note, and the drawing is its fingering — a filled hole or key is one that is down. A dash holds the note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and a dot beside a note makes it half as long again. Each line is one phrase.

▶ Play it above

Deck the Halls — saxophone notes (Alto) · tonalics.com

The 9 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 9 and you can play the whole tune.

  • BB4×2
  • CC5×11
  • DD5×16
  • EE5×14
  • FF5×9
  • GG5×7
  • AA5×6
  • BB5×2
  • CC6×1

What to expect on a saxophone

  • It runs from B4 to C6, an octave and a semitone, using 9 different notes. That leaves 13 semitones unused below and 5 above.
  • 87% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a major sixth, C5 to A5, at note 60.
  • It crosses the break 17 times — between C♯5 and D5, where the octave key comes in — which is the hard part of this tune on this instrument.

About the tune

The tune is the Welsh winter air “Nos Galan” — New Year’s Eve — a dance melody that was sung with improvised verses and a harp answering each line. It was in print by the 1790s, and the English Christmas words were added in 1862.

Welsh traditional air “Nos Galan”, in print by the 1790s. Public domain. The notes follow Paul Hardy’s Xmas Tunebook, 2019 (2024), cross-checked against 2 other transcriptions. More about Deck the Halls →

Deck the Halls on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the guzheng or handpan, which do not have the notes.

More songs for the saxophone

All 36 saxophone songs · Christmas songs for saxophone · The online saxophone on its own

Playing it on a real saxophone?

If it sounds wrong, check the instrument before the notes. The saxophone tuner listens through your microphone and names what each note is actually sounding.

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