[saxgirl16]

Hi guys,

I am currently a senior in high school and have been playing sax since 6th grade. I just recently tried to start working on my altissimo range. I have Rascher's Top Tones for the Saxophone and have been trying to work on the overtones for about a month now. I can get the Bb, the Bb an octave above that and the F, but not anything higher. Same goes for B, C, C#, and for D I can only play the D an octave up. I have been trying to get notes higher, but it never works and it is getting very frustrating. Any advice on how to perfect my overtones? Also, how long did it take you guys to develop your altissimo range? I want to play the Creston Sonata for Solo & Ensemble, which is in two months, but I heard there's a high G in it and I don't know if I will have learned it in time...

 

[minous]

This is how it works for me... It may not be correct from a fundamental point of view, but it's what works...for me. Overtones and altissimo are all about the tongue. If you imagine playing a long tone with a very open throat, it's almost like you are singing an AAAAAHHHHH sound. As I move up the overtone series, my tongue moves more to the roof of my mouth towards the back of my throat...sort of like an EEEEEEEEEE sound. It's kind of like putting your thumb over the end of a garden hose. With the end of the hose open the water flows out slowly without much velocity. But you put your thumb over the end of the hose and the water is focused into a sharper stream. The same thing happens with the air you are putting into the horn. Also, support your air stream from your abdomen. Without a firmly supported air stream through the horn, it doesn't work.

Keep at it, it will come with time and lots of practice.

 

[Agent27]

Yeah, overtones are all about tongue and throat position. There are a few other exercises you can do that will help.

1) The mouthpiece exercise

I'll let this guy explain it.

Don't change your embouchure. Use the shape of your throat and the position of your tongue to change pitch.

2) A variation of this on the horn itself.

Play a high F and then a High E. Now finger high F using the front F key, bend the pitch down to the E you just played using only your throat. Repeat for Eb, D, C# etc. See how far you can bend that F without changing your embouchure.

Also, if you plan on playing the Creston for solo and ensemble in 2 months and you haven't even looked at the music yet, all I can say is good luck. There are bigger technical hurdles than the one altissimo G that appears in the first movement.

 

[magical pig]

You should check out "Voicing:An Approach to the Saxophone's Third Register". It has helped me much more than "Top Tones".

A trick to get conscious of what your tongue / oral cavity should be doing is to avoid using the octave key and play the whole range like this. You can put a small piece of tape or poster tack on both octave pips and practice normally.

 

[RootyTootoot]

Hi Agent 27. Unless I missed it somehow I don't think the guy on the youtube clip actually explains that he is varying pitch with his throat rather than his lip. I do think that's what he's doing because his embouchure doesn't move, but isn't that a bit of a weakness in the clip? I can imagine people seeing that and then going away and doing the exercise by lipping up and down?

 

[ManEast]

Hi
I am a very big fan of the JazzLab mouthpiece silencer. The Silencer works very well. It also comes with a small book/dvd that will take you step by step to where you want to be.

I have no links with JazzLab.. other than the fact that I use this Silencer/book.

http://www.jazzlab.com/en/

 

[jlima]

Hi
I am a very big fan of the JazzLab mouthpiece silencer. The Silencer works very well. It also comes with a small book/dvd that will take you step by step to where you want to be.

I have no links with JazzLab.. other than the fact that I use this Silencer/book.

http://www.jazzlab.com/en/

I also find it very useful.

 

[TMadness1013]

+1 for the Voicing book by Sinta. It it filled with a variety of great exercises, including playing scales with overtones & playing simple songs using overtones only.

You should also start implementing "overtone matching" into your exercise. Finger a high D (palm key) & play it. Keep that pitch/resonance/tone in your head & then try to make it happen with your low Bb fingering (sometimes flicking the octave key will help overtones to pop out) Use this approach on all notes you're looking to expand your overtone ability with.