Which keys make which note, and material to practise with. Everything here is written pitch, the note you finger, which is what the fingering chart in the manual shows.
Getting a note to come out the same way twice. Mouthpiece in about a centimetre, lower lip cushioning your teeth, and steady air. Nothing else matters yet.
Goal: Hold G, A, B, C and D for eight slow counts each with the loudness meter staying flat.
Watch out: Biting the mouthpiece. If your bottom lip hurts, you are pressing, not blowing.
No keys at all. Open C#, which is what comes out if you just blow.
Click the keys you are holding and this says what would come out.
Covers written Bb3 to C#6. The palm key notes above that are not included, and the manual’s chart on pages 20 and 21 is the authority.
G, A, B, C, D and back down. These five sit under your fingers with no little finger keys and no octave key, which makes them the place to start.
Hold each note as long as your breath allows, and keep the volume steady from start to finish. The least exciting exercise there is, and the one that changes your sound fastest.
The same five notes, but out of order, so you have to read each one rather than remember the pattern. Turn on Show music and read the staff, not the letters.
The same fingering with and without the octave key. Your left thumb does all the work, and nothing else should move.
Every semitone from G up to C and back. This is where the bis key, the side keys and the G# key stop being theory.
The scale that forces you to learn Bb, which is the accidental you will meet most often. Use the bis key inside the scale: it is what it is for.
The other accidental you cannot avoid. One sharp, and it sits right where your right hand already is.
Three lines with deliberately different note lengths. Press Listen first, clap it, count out loud, then play. The app does not score timing, so this one is on your ears.
D, C, B and low Bb, then back up. The low notes need a relaxed throat and a slower air stream, and they are the first thing to fall apart when you tense up.
The full scale from C to C and back. Every finger, both hands, and the octave key in the middle of it.
F# and C# in the same scale, low in the horn where the little finger keys live. This is the one that exposes a lazy right hand.
The bones of a chord, played one note at a time. Melodies leap along these shapes constantly, so knowing them under your fingers is what makes a new tune readable.
Four of each note, separated by the tongue saying "tu" against the reed tip, not by stopping the air. Then play the whole thing slurred and hear the difference.
A rising line, held notes, one breath from start to finish. Breath control is what decides where you can phrase in a real tune.
The three finger changes that trip everyone: C# to D, G# to A, and Bb to B. Each one moves several fingers at once, and each one is where a tune falls apart.
Each note held twice: once as loud as you can keep steady, once as soft. The pitch must not move between them, which is the hard part and the whole point.
Traditional. Two notes at a time, no accidentals, and the shape is already in your head, which is what makes it a good first tune.
Traditional, and in the public domain since 2016. Worth having by memory, because it is the one tune you will actually be asked to play.
Beethoven, 1824. Steps only, no leaps at all, so it is really a scale exercise wearing a disguise.
Traditional. Four short phrases, each repeated, so you get a second attempt at every one immediately.
Traditional. The tune every sax player learns, and the first one that sounds like a saxophone rather than an exercise.
Traditional. Long notes and wide leaps, which makes it a test of breath control rather than of fingers.
Type any tune as note names and it joins the list, tracked and drillable exactly like the others. One line per phrase, with an optional name before a colon, so you can practise a chorus on its own. Octave numbers are optional: bare letters are placed next to the note before them, which is how a melody moves.
Verse: G G A G C B Chorus: C D E F G