Donut Etudes vol. 3: Don’t Step in the Holes! – Saxophone Quartet (AATB or SATB) Saxophone Quartet - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.784345

1 Octave Scale Studies in 15+ keys for 4-part ensembles of like or mixed instruments

If this is your first exposure to these scale studies, you are in for a treat! Donuts, if you make a mistake!

The initial incarnation of these studies were written for trombone quartet and we would play them in the Tennessee Tech Trombone Choir with the challenge that whomever made the first mistake had to buy donuts for the rest of the ensemble. Since then I have brought that version to several clinics and warm up sessions. One time before I got to explain the title, a fellow trombone professor said, "Oh, I get it! Don’t step in the holes!"

I only wish I had thought of that myself... Since we have one of the best donut shops in TN here in Cookeville, treating the studio to sugar coated goodies was always my intent.

As with those initial exercises, you can vary these as much as you’d like.

·     Choose a tempo.

·     Choose a dynamic.

·     Choose an articulation/style.

One way I like to play these is to have one person be the model, playing the entire scale over and over while everyone else plays the fragmented versions. That helps everyone to keep on track and stay in time. Double or triple up the parts for ensemble cohesion with a larger group.

Practice one key, gradually speeding it up to improve fluidity, or choose a variation and take it through all keys, playing version A, B, C, or D then skipping to play the same set in a new key.

If you want an additional challenge, play them in different octaves or change the key. Play the F Major set in f minor (all forms), different modes, etc. Players really have to be on their toes to remember if they are playing melodic minor in the ascending or descending form! For jazz players, try swinging them in dorian or mixolydian modes.

The variations are endless!

If you are using these with transposing instruments, 1) is F Major in Concert Pitch, 2) is Bb Major in Concert pitch, and so on. When you reach a scale that is enharmonic for another key (Db/C#, Gb/F#, or Cb/B), they are presented in both keys for each instrument so Trumpets can play in Eb while the Flutes are playing in C# with similar examples for all keys.

All Donut Etudes with the same volume number are compatible so you can play them in mixed quartets or large ensembles with one or more instruments/people on part 1 and a different instrument on part 2, etc. Since the quartets are all identical, conductors/coaches can use any of the scores to tell which part should be playing at what time. Once you have played a scale with one set of parts, everyone can rotate to a different part and play the same scales again!

Enjoy!