alto
Example Sentences
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Mr. Threadgill, who plays alto saxophone and flute and is a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, first assembled this band 25 years ago to further a compositional strategy that is singular and yet invites improvised collaboration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Hearing Hawkins’s recording of “Body and Soul” as a fourth-grader had been a turning point for Rollins musically and eventually lead him to switch from alto to tenor saxophone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
But to see instrumentalists like Lakecia Benjamin who has really come to the forefront as an alto saxophonist and to see her get Grammy nominations, that’s something that, for me, is huge.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2026
“Chulahoma” is riveting for Mr. Sewell’s lines, which are alternately gritty and soaring, and for Mr. Lloyd’s playing, which hints at the blues-based melodicism of yet another dear, departed friend, the alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2025
Transpose parts up a major sixth for alto sax, and up an octave plus a major sixth for bari sax.
From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones
All but two of the singers are, be they women or male countertenors, are sopranos or altos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2023
"But if you notice, they are all from melodic lines and they move in intervals that can be taken by sopranos, altos, tenors and basses, and this is not possible to do like that."
From BBC ● Nov. 16, 2021
“Pattern-mixing is a chorus, and you need altos, sopranos, tenors and a bass line,” Luckett says.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 11, 2021
“And she was like, ‘Yeah, you’ve got to represent for all the altos and all the low female singers.’
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 6, 2020
There were girls with squeaky voices or soft altos, plump girls and thin ones, babyish girls who wore heart lockets and girls who were old before their time and worked as secretaries in insurance firms.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Vocabulary lists containing alto
Music - Introductory
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Music - Middle School
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Music - High School
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