Co-Authored By:
Regarding this, how many keys are there on a alto saxophone?
Early saxophones had two separate octave keys operated by the left thumb to control the two octave vents required on alto and larger saxophones.
Correspondingly, do saxophones have keys?
Left Thumb Keys The octave key is the only thumb key found on most saxophones. It is used as a vent for most second and third octave notes and for almost every altissimo fingering.
As fingers are added, keys are closed on the saxophone and the effective length of the instrument increases and the pitch lowers. Pitch is basically determined by the length of the instrument from the mouthpiece to the top of the first open tone-hole.