I still don't get it.  Even though they have the same fingerings -- they will sound different-- and not just up or down an octave -- they will be in totally differnt keys.

When you play a "C" on an Alto -- it sounds like an Eb
When you play a "C" on a Tenor -- it sounds like a Bb

I realize that all music is relative -- you could pick any pitch as a standard.   But it took a while to get over the fact that when the teacher says "Play a C"   I hear an Eb.   Call me crazy... I had to start calling it "Alto Sax C"

But the fingering is only the same between Alto and Tenor if you don't care what key you are playing in when you switch from one to the other.

Once you care about the actual absolute key (according to a standard)-- you are going to have to use different fingerings.(Well 2 fingerings because Soprano matches Tenor and Alto matches Baritone)

You are correct in that it gets a bit confusing at first for the musician with perfect pitch. However, even for the musician with perfect pitch, that's a very temporary thing and once you become accustom to the instrument and the sounds it makes, you're exactly right in that you will begin to think of it as "Alto Sax C", or more precisely you'll think of it as "Eb as played on an alto sax".

Because the instruments are transposable, when you say "Play a C" on the saxophone, you're invoking both a visual and a muscle memory to the saxophone player to press the second to the bottom pearl of the left hand. If the instruments were not conceived as transposable instruments, this would not be the case. This would make it much more difficult to switch between alto and tenor, especially for younger musicians. If the instruments were not transposable, if I saw a "C" on the page, I'd have two different fingerings for it depending on weather I was playing alto or tenor (or 4 fingerings back in Adolphe Sax's day when this invention was adopted). If I were playing tenor, I'd have to press all of the stack pearl keys down (fingering what we think of as "tenor D") whereas if I was playing alto, I'd have to press down top two pearls on upper stack (fingering what we think of as "alto A"). C and F saxophonoes would have their own set of fingerings. In other words, the musician would have to be transposing all of the time. As it is, the instrument does the transposing for us. It's nice on saxophone, but be especially thankful for this invention when switching between Eb, Bb and A clarinet. Yikes!!!

That being said, simple transposing in order to read concert pitch is not that big of a deal to the trained musician. I have to transpose all of the time, especially when playing in church or playing a session where parts are being written on the fly. So, when you're reading a concert score or piano music on tenor, just think of it as taking it up a step or if you're playing it on alto, just think of it as playing down a minor third. With just a bit of practice, it will become very easy for you to do this.

Cheers,

     Mark Overton
     www.saxquest.com