lower-to-higher Octave without hitting the Octave key?

[Michael Bishop]

Hey Johnny,
As I am warming up for a practice session–like today–I’m doing something, literally stumbled across it by accident; I’m almost positive I’m playing the same note in 2 different Octaves without hitting the Octave key. I noticed as I tighten up on my embouchure when playing these low notes, they jump up an Octave, without hitting the Octave key. At first I thought that I was doing something wrong, but then as I compared what has happening to playing the notes with the Octave key, they sounded exactly the same! So I continued to go up and all the way to F# and still exactly the same, but once I hit G then it started to fizzle out a little but it was still trying to come out.
Is this something I should practice/develop? Is this a good or bad habit to have? I didn’t even know it was possible to play the same note on 2 different Octaves without hitting the Octave Key! 😎

[john]

Yes, this is natural and something to work on…which note was it? Hitting notes with the same fingering and no octave key is part of what we’ll be working on in the altissimo course I’m working on. The trick is to know what you’re playing and to control where you’re going…this is all in the air/embouchvure control.

[john]

on the low Bb key i can play the Bb above it , and then the F above that Bb . I tried loads of times to get the next note above the F and my Sax teacher told me to sing it and try to play it. So i sung it into the mouth piece and the reed started vibrating at the same frequency and i got the next note.So on the same low Bb key i can now blow 3 different pitches higher up. now i’m trying to get the next note above that.

[john]

On the Low Bb key you can play up to 7 notes higher up 2-Bb, 3-F, 4-Bb,5-D,6-F,7-Ab,8-Bb . I think i might start hyperventilating if i tried D and above- lol

[Michael Bishop]

It happened when I was playing a low Bb, I’ve been working on what you covered with me in our private lesson regarding these low notes and high F#. At first I thought the Octave key was stuck, but it was fine. I started at low Bb and made it a middle Bb. Trying to figure out what just happened and why I was doing this, I went to low B and made it a middle B! I went up to C, D, E, F, F# and with all these notes, I made them one Octave higher without the Octave key! At the beginning of my practice session today it was fizzling out on G, but I gave it one more go at the end and I made middle G and high G! Same thing happened with A and B, it fizzled out on me at C.
I’m kind of freaked; this is new to me, trying to understand how could I got from 1 octave to the next without the Octave key? So this is something that you’ll actually be covering in your new Altissimo course? I’m just SO GLAD you’re doing it–there’s virtually nothing out there and I have no idea what this is, or why it happened. I even went to the local music shop to see if they knew of any kind of books, videos, etc.. and they knew of nothing, even searching their database on books/videos to order!
I will say this: When I was trying to figure out what was happening and realized what was happening, it helped a little to think about the note an Octave higher first and then do it. That’s not to say every single note was perfect the first time, but it didn’t take long to get it once I thought about it. With the tuner and was able to see when I did hit it and then took note of my embouchure, what I needed to do to hold it, etc.. I’m just not sure about what I just did! Trying to make sense of it; I’ll have to wait and see in your Altissimo course more about this!

JOHNNY: Did you get the list I e-mailed of Trevor James Alto Saxophones that Massullo Music sent me? I attached it with an e-mail as to the models I’m interested in. FYI: I did do a culture on Monday with the guy involved with the “mold in the sax” thing here–I’ll try to get the link from my wife’s facebook page that the music shop put up so you can read it. I’m not sure, if I share with the music shop what I have CONCLUSIVELY proven,and the guy is glad that he volunteered to have it done (helps me out too, I get to log in my student file), if the music shop will like me or hate me for it? 😉

[john]

Yes guys, this is the natural overtone series of the saxophone. It goes up to the 4th octave Bb…this is the 4 octave range we talk about for the altissimo register. The exercises you talked about like going up the octave while holding the low fingering is one of the things we will be covering in this altissimo course and this is very important thing to be able to do well for controlling all the notes up there. Once you can play up there with just one fingering and embouchure control it’s just a matter of pulling it all together along with the proper note fingerings for all the chromatic notes.
Yes I had a look at the models… I think you’re going for the middle one, seems like a good choice.

[Michael Bishop]

I literally stumbled across this, by complete accident, just from warming up for a practice session, and it’s actually something involved in Altissimo? I went from the low Bb to the middle Bb and that was it, and we can go up the 4th Octave from this low Bb?!? WOW.
Flutter tongue is starting to happen for me too–I’ve been able to hold for just a little longer every day; a work in progress. Taking the MP out of my mouth and doing it like that video I shared on tips for flutter tongue really helped. I’m getting ready to start the 2nd exercise in part 1 of Killer Blues regarding Improvising with the Pentatonic Scales, just taking my time to learn everything the right way, no rush at all.

[john]

Yes, most people do stumble on this just by blowing a certain way. You actually did something wrong when you got that 2nd octave note because you weren’t trying to hit it. Developing control over this is were it’s at for getting a better tone and then eventually mastering the altissimo range. Yes you can get all 4 Bb’s on that one fingering position, but this is just an exercise and not the actual best positions you’ll eventually use to play those actual notes.

[john]

http://youtu.be/G0N7zmGtAzk by claridiva2000 is an example of someone playing all the notes on the low Bb key

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