Rascher's "Top Tones for Saxophone" question

[kZepp17]

So of course, upon receiving this book, I immediately found the page with the altissimo fingerings despite Mr. Rascher's warning. I was shocked. I seriously have not seen any of these fingerings in my life!

I'm not brand new to altissimo. I'll often put a G3 in my solos, and in Duke Ellington's "Bli-Blip" I have to open the song with the clarinet's D, our alto's A3 (and suspend it for awhile... man the air moves fast.)

But anyways, I've played around G3-C4, and none of these fingerings look familiar in Rascher's "Top Tones for Saxophone."

I went back to the overtone exercises and am not as proficient as I'd like. I can only rarely get the Bb3 from the low Bb fingering. Does anyone use the fingerings presented in "Top Tones" or do you use other fingerings? (ex: A3= LH 23, optional RH 123)

[Flatted 5th]

There are some great exercises in the book and the overtone studies are a regular part of my practice sessions, but, out of the 19 fingerings that are shown, I only use 6.

[Wailin']

You could have better luck with Dr. Luckey's book.

[mr00420]

What's "Dr. Luckey's book," and how does it differ from "Top Tones?" Does anyone know if the book about Bert Wilson's Technique has been published yet? That should have multiphonics and altisimo linked to harmonics.

[homemakerjeb]

Hey kZepp17,

In my experience, I have found the fingerings in the back of the Rascher book to be mostly useless. An encyclopedic reference for altissimo fingerings can be found at http://www.wfg.woodwind.org/sax/index.html. One of the key things to keep in mind when figuring out which altissimo fingerings to use is the ease with which you can move between different fingerings.

With regard to the overtone exercises, I strongly suggest seriously working on them (I remember constantly annoying my parents by duffing missed overtone exercise notes). As I got good at them, however, my tone quality and my control of altissimo both greatly improved.

Adam

[paulwl]

I always thought of Top-Tones as a kind of Zen exercise: only by not studying the altissimo can you master it. It's almost as if Rascher gave those fingerings as a misdirection, to make sure you don't catch on too quickly.

I guess his point was that the overtone series is such a good thing in so many ways that it must really be understood as an end in itself. Who else would have had a sax made that didn't even have keys?

[Wailin']

mr 00420, "Saxophone Altissimo:High note development for the contemporary player" by Robert A. Luckey, Phd.

Science all horns are different with varying mpc's and reeds. This book gives you several figerings for all the altissimo note. One will work for your horn. It gives fingersings for alto and tener as well as exercises for playing in the altissimo range.

[Kevin]

fingerings are the least important part of playing altissimo's. Rascher's fingerings worked for him, but he has stated that there are many other possible fingerings to use. I have yet to see a better book for mastering the techniques to play altissimo's than Top Tones...use the book for the exercises and when the time comes for fingerings, discover them on your own or check online for all kinds of fingerings listed on different sites. I personally use about half the fingerings Rascher suggests and the others are either completely different or variations. It depends on the type of saxophone you use, the type of reeds, and the way in which your oral cavity is constructed.

[awholley]

Mr. Rascher's altissimo fingerings work best on a setup similar to the one he played (especially in the case of the lower altissimo). If it's fingerings you want, try these:

http://www2.potsdam.edu/CRANE/mcallitp/Altissimo

I also think the Eugene Rousseau book takes a nice approach to developing altissimo, and has the added benefit of addressing the differences between fingerings and overblowing on the different instruments.

Alan

[Dr_sax]

I learned altissimo 28 years ago with Raschers book(my neighbours almost went crazy :wink: ) and still use most of his fingerings. They work perfect on my setup: Selmer tenor MK6 103xxx, guardala mb1 mpc and alexander "DC" 2.5 reeds.

[love4jazz]

I'm looking for this exercise from book of Top Tones somebody has a copy in PDF or JPG???

Thanks :roll:

[saxmasta89]

There are many different exercises in Top Tones.
Which exercise are you looking for?

[love4jazz]

I'm interested in Terrace Dynamics but I found this book in the net, thanks anyway :D saxmasta89

[wianno]

kZepp17,

Consider as a supplement to the Rascher book Ted Nash's "Studies in High Harmonics" which, I believe, is still used in college level teaching. It's cheap at $4.95 below.


http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/store/smp_detail.html?sku=WB.00123227&cart=3294975586381 1923&searchtitle=Sheet%20Music

Also, there is a copy up for sale on eBay.

JD