Altissimo lesson 1

[Anonymous]

restarted lesson 1 yesterday, and had another go today.

Got no problems with going up & down the sax chromatically, including doing all the separate chromatic scales Bb up to high F and mid F down to Low B.

Going at a speed i can do it from memory with out making any mistakes it takes me 90 minutes to do all of lesson one, including the 15 arpeggio scales!

I might just do this lesson until i can the practice time down to 30 minutes as 90 minutes is a bit excessive?

[john]

ya maybe, but you’re gonna get a lot out of doing it all like that….eventually it’ll get shorter as you get faster obviously.

[Anonymous]

I’ll be happy if i can get it down to an hour. Because i’m currently spending another 90 minutes practising 30 scales from memory up to 2 octaves, as well as spending another 90 minutes practising 3 songs & another 60 minutes studying theory!

[Anonymous]

In my piano playing days i found scales fairly straight forward as the black keys are always in the same place no matter what register you play in.
it took me several months to see the pattern of the flat/sharp keys on the sax.
on the piano you have to raise your finger a lot higher to get to a flat/sharp key, similarly on the sax –
C# – left pinky
D# – right pinky
F# – middle finger
G# – left pinky
A# – right hand palm
strange at it seems, to me raising the little pinky does sort of fit in with the piano layout of raising the finger to go up a sharp or down a flat.

[Anonymous]

Wow – doing those 16 chromatic scales one after another really does wonders for your finger technique flow.
After a while you do it automatically without thinking where the next key is.
Similarly when you do 30 scales one after another, i soon notice if i hit a wrong note, you get used to what a scale sounds like.

I’ve just recently started chord theory, and for a root chord say C major which is C . E . G,
you can play it 3 ways
1> counting half steps : 4 half steps + 3 half steps
2> counting in 3 rd intervals : major 3rd + minor 3rd
3> just play the chord intervals for the key scale root note : C + major 3rd for a C + perfect 5th for a C

the fastest method is number 3, which means i’ve got to really know all 13 intervals for each of the 7 naturals & the 5 flat/sharp notes.
Now i see what those jazz players are up against!!!

[john]

You’re getting it now. Developing fast fingers has little to do with having fast fingers, it’s totally a mental thing. You have to know what the key signature of every key to play all scales at a quick pace…you can’t 2nd guess any fingerings either. you gotta know that inside out or you’ll be doing all these things at a snails pace.

[Anonymous]

Something else i’ve noticed which holds true for music playing, well for me anyway!
if i watch the same film 3 or four times in a row, everytime i rewatch it i see things that i missed when i last watched it, similarly if i read the same book several times i understand it better.
The same thing has happened when i revisited lesson one of the Altissimo course!
To me the 1st 3 lessons of the altissimo course are the equivalent of a daily practice routine part 2, which you haven’t done yet.
These 1st 3 lessons everyone can do once they’ve got fully into the swing of your daily practice routine part 1.

[Anonymous]

finally after 6 days i’ve got the all the exercises in lesson one down to 1 hr!
The hardest thing is keeping that embouchure from tiring when i get to the end of the 16 non stop chromatic scales.
It feels really strange and alien when you start going up and down them not thinking in terms of notes or where the next note is! its as if the fingers know automatically where to go next without thinking where to put them!
The really scary thing is my mind is starting to map where sounds are in relation to keys thats something i’m not used to. Think it play it feels like not being in control!

[Dazza]

Good on ya mate. I’m seeing the same on the Chromatic the C# to A was tripping me up and low D# to B was frustrating me until I played these sections 20 times so slowly I nearly went to sleep and hey presto! After that didn’t even think about it. I have got a few songs coming out really well so I am looking to upload for a critique this weekend so be gentle everyone.

[Anonymous]

That’s great Dazza!
initially i found mid Bb down to Low Bb and back up to mid Bb easier to do
than mid Bb up to high Bb and back down to mid Bb – starting in one direction was easier than starting in the other direction. same problem with scales & arpeggios.
I’ve noticed now when i go up to altissimo B i’m hitting these notes more consistently.

I’m not in any rush to move on to lesson 2 yet. But what i’m doing now is using altissimo lesson one as part of a daily warmup & using the long tone exercises in the daily practice routine.
As for scales i do a more intense one covering 2 octave for my grade work

but its nice to c someone else do the same altisimmo course!

[Author]

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