[collegebound]

OK, help me out here. I seem to have lost my high F#. I don't know that I've ever really focused on the tone quality of that note in particular, but now I'm working on a piece that requires leaps to that note at pretty rapid tempo and it's not working. The immediate issue is A above the staff to F# above. The F# either comes out as a tepid top-line F# or a squeaky altissimo F# (an octave above where it should be).

Playing scales, I can hit the F# and the note speaks and is in tune. The tone quality is poor, the note just sounds weak and thin. D, Eb, E, F all sound fine - they sound like palm keys but not bad. The F# is just not there. Anything that requires a jump of more than a 3rd or so and it's not going to play.

Equipment: I'm playing a Yamaha 875, Vandoren Optimum AL3 mouthpiece. I have some Vandoren V12 #3s, Vandoren blue box 3.5 and Rico Royal 4s in the rotation and haven't found a reed that'll hit it. As far as I can tell the horn is in great adjustment - it was looked over at a local repair shop a few months back.

The craziest thing - if I finger the high F# without the octave key, it pops out strong and in tune. I can't seem to coordinate opening the palm keys and closing the octave key at speed, but maybe that points to something I'm not doing right?

I do practice overtones daily but I can't ever seem to get past the octave+5th reliably. I know the next step is 2 octaves, sometimes I can hit it but not often.

Help? Suggestions would be very welcome. I have less than 2 months to college auditions!

 

[Souportwenty]

Go over your left hand keys with the octave and check each note with a tuner. It sounds to me like there may be a small leak. The Bbis key can sometimes be the culprit. You could also check your octave keys to make sure they are opening and closing correctly.

 

[collegebound]

Go over your left hand keys with the octave and check each note with a tuner. It sounds to me like there may be a small leak. The Bbis key can sometimes be the culprit. You could also check your octave keys to make sure they are opening and closing correctly.

Sorry, I guess I should be more clear - it's the palm-key F# that I'm having issues with. I checked the octave pips and even blocked the body octave pip as a test (made no difference). The octave mechanism is switching at the G just as it should. Maybe the Bb or C side key could be the issue, but it seems like those are pretty far down the body to have any effect.

I have a feeling it's more embouchure related. Could be reed related as the weather is getting colder. I'll see what happens with practice tonight.

 

[buddy lee]

Play those passages slowly. Focus on your voicings for those notes. Right now say EEEEE or HEEEE like you're hissing, and note the tongue/throat/jaw position. Something like this should be the position for the high F#... and the A should be something slightly lower than that voicing like AAAAYYYY. So when you play you would be switching between the voicings like EEEE AAAYYY EEE AYYYY