Altissimo Lesson 2

Sustained Notes

After developing smooth fingering movement, we need to work on an even and sustained tone from top to bottom. This will be a very simple exercise but requires a lot of effort. When this exercise is done properly, it is one of the very best things we can do to improve our sound and control.

What you’ll quickly discover is that playing the notes at a soft volume is much harder than it is to play them loud. This is because it’s easier to lose control when playing softly so we need to push more air from our diaphragm and at the same time hold it from going through the horn all at once, which is more of what’s happening when we play loud.

This is an important step in this entire process of gaining control of our horn, the kind of control needed to master the altissimo notes.

How to Play The Exercises Below:

• Nice and slow and holding each note for a good count
• no vibrato
• 1st time play it loud
• 2nd time at medium volume
• 3rd time through play it softly