Orchestral Ballad

Hi MG,

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The highest note on saxophones is actually F. ( concert Eb for Bb tenor ). My personal range was about a full octave higher reached by "lipping" the reed very hard. Those notes are only used for dramatic effect ( vanity ) to "wow" the audience... sort of like falsetto in singing. I would not use it with Baritone sax because the tone of the baritone is horrible even in the reachable high register. I once had to lay off playing for 8 weeks because of an operation. An audience does not allow you to limp back into shape, so after about 10 minutes of "wailing" away and hitting those falsetto notes, my lip opened up and blood dripped down my sax and onto the floor. That got the loudest ovation of my life. I thought I was playing in the colleseum for the Romans.

The arrangement is a perfect example of simplicity. I used the old "KISS" formula. There is very little trombone, modest string and choir voice parts, and simple piano part ( no left hand ). I didn't use all the insrtuments I normally do.
For the sax tone, midi forces you to either write the part an octave lower or in a lower key for a better sound. The Soprano sounds better high than Alto and Tenor because it is mellower ( at least with GM ). Although Kenny Gee plays mainly Alto, I might be able to get close to that sound with Soprano an octave higher. I'll have to try that later on. At least that works on my keyboard.
My MP3 would not sound much different because I still have to use the same voices. I don't have a sound card that accepts sound fonts ( My Synthfont is not working that well, either ).
I used the tenor sax for the lead because, more than simply a song, I wanted to personalize it. I think using the sax voice on my keyboard, rather than piano, put me into the right mood. Thanks again!
Cheers,
Fred