[beamccoy]

I can hit an above the staff F (F6) with good tonality with little to no difficulty but for some reason, my F# (F#6) key doesn't work. and I have no clue why. It has no change in pitch or difficulty. and the key works as far as I can tell.

I use a 4- 4.5 reed on a Yamaha

any advice/ fixes?

 

[Arundo Donax]

Any chance you’re inadvertently pressing against another key at the same time?

 

[soybean]

Did it work in the past? Make sure you are pressing the correct alternative F# key. There are two; one for first and second octave and one for altissimo.

 

[Alain Gen]

I can hit an above the staff F (F6) with good tonality with little to no difficulty but for some reason, my F# (F#6) key doesn't work. and I have no clue why. It has no change in pitch or difficulty. and the key works as far as I can tell.

I use a 4- 4.5 reed on a Yamaha

any advice/ fixes?

Sorry, but what is your level of expertise (beginner, intermediate,...) ?
The goal of this question is not to shame you, but an answer would help to sort an operator error from a real technical problem.

 

[lydian]

One F# key opens the big hole right next to it. The other (if your horn even has it) opens a much smaller hole all the way at the top, near the neck. The latter is the one you need to press. If you have no such key, you’ll need to learn altissimo F#.

 

[beamccoy]

Any chance you’re inadvertently pressing against another key at the same time?

no I am not

 

[beamccoy]

Did it work in the past? Make sure you are pressing the correct alternative F# key. There are two; one for first and second octave and one for altissimo.

it has never worked as far as I can tell- and I am using the written fingering for F# rather than the altissimo

 

[beamccoy]

Sorry, but what is your level of expertise (beginner, intermediate,...) ?
The goal of this question is not to shame you, but an answer would help to sort an operator error from a real technical problem.

intermediate I would say, but I also only play sax for jazz, marching, pep & honors. I am a concert and pit oboist otherwise. maybe that has something to do with it?

 

[mmichel]

it has never worked as far as I can tell- and I am using the written fingering for F# rather than the altissimo

Could you take a picture of the key that you are pressing? As others (e.g., @lydian, @soybean) have suggested above, your horn might not have a high F# key and you might mistakenly be pressing the alt. F# key (which is usually located adjacent to the high F# key) instead.

EDIT: I just saw that you said your horn is a Yamaha. Which model? If it's a student horn like the YAS-23 or the YAS-26, then it does not have a high F# key.

 

[swperry1]

If your horn even has a high F# key (still undetermined at this time…), then it should speak easily if you can play the high F with ease. What’s your sax? If you don’t know just post a picture of the RH area and yhe question will be answered.

 

[beamccoy]

Could you take a picture of the key that you are pressing? As others (e.g., @lydian, @soybean) have suggested above, your horn might not have a high F# key and you might mistakenly be pressing the alt. F# key (which is usually located adjacent to the high F# key) instead.

EDIT: I just saw that you said your horn is a Yamaha. Which model? If it's a student horn like the YAS-23 or the YAS-26, then it does not have a high F# key.

okay thank you so much, I do believe i was in fact pressing the alt key- thank you, I should be able to play F# with the altissimo fingering correct?

 

[turf3]

Well, yes, there are several different altissimo fingerings for F# - it'll depend on your particular instrument which will respond the best and be most in tune. You need to practice all the alternate fingerings for any note that has alternate fingerings as you never know when you'll have a passage that needs one or another of them. The all-palm-keys high F#, for example, will be very awkward to get from, to notes that close the upper stack - so for example to go from the all-palm keys high F# to G, will be a real bear to get it timed right. What to do, what to do? Well, because I also regularly practice a high F# fingering of 1 3 4 (LH index and ring, RH index), I've got a fingering that is an easy transition from high F# to top of staff G.