Teaching Materials

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These fingerings were developed to make as much sense as possible with minimal finger changes when playing both scales and arpeggios. These were developed on a Selmer Mark VI from 1969, however I have found they work on most altos. They work fairly well on soprano and tenor, with only slight adjustments.

Note the ascending and descending F#, used to make the transition easier when playing chromatics through the "break". The descending F# requires a bit more voicing control, but it works well for me. 

The longer I play my perspective has changed drastically on altissimo. When I was younger I used it frequently. On my first recording "No Such Thing," I played the melody to Inner Urge in the correct written octaves on alto, which goes up to a C above palm key F. Now that I'm in my 40s, I feel the best altissimo notes are the ones that stay inside the horn. 

This is the full text copy of my Masters Thesis from William Paterson University where I explore many of Dave Liebman's harmonic tendencies and theorize as to where they may have come from based on his various influences. Page 30 starts the analysis.