To answer the question, "Is the new chromatic 'Schmidt fingering system' better than the Boehm?" I give the following examples:

Suppose you are playing G with the conventional Boehm system, holding down the Thumb, 2nd, 3rd and 4th digits of the left hand. Now add the left 5th digit. Notice that the pitch goes up to G#. Then play E and add the right 4th digit. This time the pitch goes down to sound D. Now add the right 5th digit. This time the pitch goes back up again to sound D#. Even worse things happen when you play F# or Bb. This is just plain backwards. Now suppose you know a tune in the key of C major but you want to transpose up to C#. You’re in trouble. You’ve just switched from the easiest Boehm key signature to one of the worst. All of the patterns for holding down the fingers have been drastically changed; you have gaps where fingers have to be lifted out of sequence; and out of place touchpieces that have to be pressed. You literally have to learn the entire tune all over again. This is worse than confusing. It’s an outrage. Musicians have accepted the Boehm system because it has been the only one available. We have been stuck with his fingering system for a hundred years. Until now!

Enter the twenty-first century. Music has changed drastically. To keep up with it, the musician needs an improved fingering system. First and most important, it has to make sense. Adding more fingers to lower the pitch or lifting them to raise the pitch is the only way to go. My fingering system does just that. The amount of lowering or raising of pitch corresponds to the number of fingers lifted or closed respectively. A musician can even count on his fingers while doing this (doesn’t work on the Boehm). Non-musicians who look at my flutes or saxes often ask me “Aren’t all instruments played this way?”

Now suppose we are playing the same tune in C major and want to transpose it up to C# as mentioned in the first paragraph. Play the first note, then simply lift one finger to raise the pitch one chromatic note. Do the same with the second and third note and work your way through the entire piece. Its easy to see that there is a pattern to be followed. This pattern can be employed to transpose a tune up or down any desired interval. All of a sudden you’ve got mathematics working for you instead of against you. The patterns between chord intervals and harmonic structures become clear and apparent. The relationships between standard chords and their extensions become easier to grasp than with the Boehm method.

This new fingering system allows the accomplished musician to find purer tone, improved intonation, more available alternate fingerings, clearer and extended high register and multiphonics, and trillable low notes. This doesn’t mean that you’re going to become a virtuoso overnight. You still have to practice and develop your technique. But you’ll have a lot more going for you, and (after you’ve paid your dues) you’ll have an advantage over more restricted players.

So why doesn’t everybody jump on the band wagon? One problem is cost. These instruments are hand built to high standards. Another problem is courage. The first players of this new instrument will be leaders and visionaries. They will be breaking new ground and developing techniques which were impossible with the Boehm method. It takes a lot of guts to set a new course for others to follow. Its risky. But nothing great is ever achieved without risk.

Adolfe Sax didn’t invent the fingering system he applied to his instrument, he borrowed it from Theobald Boehm (flutes). Boehm’s fingering system for flutes found favor over previous fingering systems. Unfortunately, it is based on the C major scale with sharps and flats inserted here and there in an inconvenient sequence. Boehm would’ve preferred an all open holed instrument with a logical layout in reference to pitch. His ideals were compromised by the C major scale which makes it more difficult to play in any other key. Had he been born in more recent times with more opened minded musicians, I think he would’ve invented the chromatic flute himself and saved me a lot of trouble in the process.

Lighter spring pressures throughout because of the independent keys (few interlinkages). This makes for faster facilitation and reduced fatigue - in the same way that flute or clarinet players (with lighter keys) can usually play faster than saxophonists. The Boehm keywork has heavier spring pressures because in many instances one finger must close more than one key (and spring) due to the interlinkage mechanisms.

The linear chromatic layout makes for faster & smoother chromatic runs.

The Schmidt fingering system is based on the chromatic scale which is the Grand daddy of them all. All key signatures are easy to play with no “problem” key signatures such as Db on the Boehm system.

Freedom of choice to open or close many more tonehole combinations. This provides better choices for altissimo forked fingerings and special combinations for multiphonics and other special effects.

No closed keys/toneholes (except for the top palm keys). This provides a more open, clear and projecting tone. Because of several closed keys, the Boehm system sax has some stuffy or ill sounding notes.

Simpler, stronger keywork - fewer problems.

Freedom to use more shortcuts or “cheat” by closing some keys which can remain closed throughout a fast scale or phrase. The Boehm system provides fewer opportunities because its interlinkages lock you out of many short cut sequences.

More resonance in the horn because there are fewer ribs and keywork posts soldered onto the body to deaden its vibrations. Even if a Boehm system sax were made similar to one of my horns by reducing the number of posts, it would not sound as good because of the intonational compromises and misplaced toneholes inherent with the Boehm design.

Fewer (if any) redundant keys. The Boehm layout has several redundant keys to try to get around the problems of its C scale based design.

Trills are clean, easy and in tune because of the light key pressure, fewer interlinkages and ideal location of the toneholes. Tremolos (the trilling of wide intervals) are better for the same reason that trills are better. Usually several fingers can be held down during a tremolo while only one or two fingers need to move in order to perform the fluttering interval. Several tremolos (or intervals) can be strung together to form a phrase. A player can use this technique to develop muscle memory patterns which will allow him/her to play faster and with more ease. Low note trills and tremolos are available in all intervals - far beyond the capabilities of conventional horns.

Better facilitation of the palm keys. The Boehm system sax has some palm keys which are awkward because they are not operated by the fingers but are sort of bumped into by the hand.

Although my horn does require development of technique and muscle memory training, the new finger motions, once mastered, offer more advantages than disadvantages compared to the Boehm system sax.

The following info is written as advice to new customers who are adapting to my fingering system. It is easier to understand in a "hands on the horn" situation, but I have provided it here for those who want to read on.

It is possible to use a new approach to fingering when playing this sax.

Since there are no interlinkages, the fingers of the right hand can remain closed while articulating fast passages with the left hand. Mid Bb will remain open to be played at will with the left hand. This means that chosen fingers of the right hand can be depressed in preparation for an upcoming note or scale passage, even though the player is still playing notes in the G# to C# range with the left hand.

The same is true with the right hand. F# is an independent key played by the index finger only (no interlinkage). Articulating from F# to F simply involves opening and closing the third digit. This minimal finger movement while holding fingers in preparation for an upcoming note holds true for a great variety of intervals. For instance - depress the fingers to play F# and trill it. While still trilling F#, depress your right third digit, then add your 4th digit, then your little finger, etc. Try the same technique with the left hand starting with trilling B (2nd digit). Various forked fingerings can also be used with this technique.

It is important to develop muscle memory by keeping an extra finger or two closed in anticipation for an upcoming note, (example - quickly playing up & down from C/Bb/G/F to Eb can be fingered with both thumbs, both 3rd digits and D lever arm pulled back throughout). The way to start learning this is to play scales which have a particular touchpiece or two closed throughout the scale. Since it is basically an all open hole sax you can afford to close an extra hole here & there. Then the horn begins to work for you and its potential starts opening up.

Another example - Quickly playing downward from C#/B/A/F# to E can be fingered with the right thumb and index finger closed throughout. Repeat this through two octaves & back up to see how fast you can go.

The intervals I have just described are simple ones...there are others too numerous to list. Often, a difficult passage can be studied and streamlined by developing a custom fingering for that specific passage. In the long run all of this will become automatic as it sinks into your muscle memory.

These possibilities extend into the upper octave when you start over blowing to the next harmonic, etc., etc. There are more possibilities available in this technical area of my horn than there are available on the conventional horn. This is something that is not apparent at first - it must be learned, but it can also be abandoned at any time in exchange for the best tone production (ideal/selective tonehole openings) of any note. Give yourself enough time to discover & develop these advantages.

The short cut techniques mentioned above don’t work as well on the Boehm because of the interlinkages between Bb and the right hand index finger, and the interlinkages between F# and the right hand ring and middle fingers. With my design you can leave the right index finger down throughout a scale that has either B, Bb or both in it. With the Boehm you are forced to play Bb in the scale whenever the right index finger is held down. F# is even worse for the Boehm because two different right hand fingers will lock you into playing F# whenever those fingers are held down. These restrictive fingerings prevent the conventional horn player from using numerous shortcut techniques that are available on my design.

NOTE - When refering to the fingers - the thumb is the 1st digit and the little finger is the 5th digit etc.

LEFT HAND
Shift down the entire hand one space - holding down both of the specially shaped left hand mainline B and Bb keys with one finger. Now BOTH the 4th and 5th digits are available to operate the touchpieces of the G# & low C through Bb cluster. The 4th digit can be used to hold down the low B key while the 5th digit trills low Bb (the Boehm setup does not accomodate for this). Either the 4th or 5th digit can hold down G# or low C while the other finger trills the lower touchpieces. In this way many easy trills are available. For example - an easy trill can be produced between low C# and B or between low C# and Bb (both are unavailable with the Boehm system). A variety of combinations (trills and tremolos) are available. Experiment.

RIGHT HAND
Shift down the hand similar as above. Now the 4th digit is on the D lever arm so it can press/hold it in either the D or the Eb position, etc. The 5th digit is then free to operate low C# by itself and so can trill it from either Eb or D. This makes for an easy trill between low Eb and C# or between low Eb and C (impossibilities on the Boehm setup). An additional touchpiece is provided to enable an easy trill between mid Eb and D.

Combinations of intervals between the left & right hands can be discovered by experimentation. Familiarity with the whole process will come naturally over time and with practice.

The mainline F# key (right hand) can be trilled extremely fast by using both the 2nd & 3rd digits to flutter the F# key (which is usually operated by only the 2nd digit). The same fingers and technique can be used for an extremely fast trill of the right thumb key (using the knuckle sides of the fingers in this case). The same fingers and technique can be used for a blazing trill of the hi E key. You can perform the same trill techniques with the left hand or you can even bring up the right hand to trill the left hand keys (using two fingers to do speed trilling as mentioned above).

A redundant octave touchpiece is located on the right thumb tip to open the octave vent of the neck only. This is in addition to the normally used left thumbtip octave key. The main purpose of this new key is to give an alternative octave key to use whenever the left thumb is too busy using the C# thumb key. This new right thumb tip octave key can continue to be employed throughout the busy playing of the left hand mainline and top keys (best if only used from middle A and above). When playing middle Ab and below, the new right hand octave key should be released and the operation of the octave vents should switch back over to the more commonly used left thumb tip octave key - which can be used throughout the entire 2nd octave and high notes because it operates both the body octave and the neck octave in the same manner of conventional saxophones.

The right hand octave key opens only the neck octave vent and has no connecting linkage to the body octave vent. It is completely independent. This makes it a very useful key for getting higher harmonics above the fundamental low notes. Closing all of the keys for low Bb and then opening the new octave key (neck vent) gives a secure 5th harmonic above the low Bb. The same technique works for low B and so on (with increasing reluctance) up through the keys. Other uses can be found when playing multiphonics and special effects.

This new dual purpose key adds a lot to the versatility and playability of what is already a very versatile and playable horn.