altissimo update

[Anonymous]

after 18 months, finaly managed to get the 8th overtone on the low Bb.

I’ve been hitting all 7 overtones over the past 6 months, but never got any higher than that.

[Anonymous]

Wow 8 and I’m still trying to get the 3rd!

If you go any higher you may require pressurized oxygen.

[Anonymous]

i can just hit the 8th overtone and sometimes the 9th overtone,
the 8th overtone is one tone above the 7th overtone & the 9th overtone is one tone above the 8th overtone. So if you play the overtones on a low Bb key, then the 7th=Bb, 8th=C, 9th=D – the 8th and 9th are that close together i sometimes hit one or the other, and need to work on these.

There are 15 overtones or 16 harmonics,
where the 1st harmonic = the fundamental.

the chart at the bottom shows the distance between each harmonic, which is also the distance between each overtone

Fundamental 1st harmonic
1st overtone 2nd harmonic
2nd overtone 3rd harmonic
3rd overtone 4th harmonic
4th overtone 5th harmonic
5th overtone 6th harmonic
6th overtone 7th harmonic
7th overtone 8th harmonic
8th overtone 9th harmonic
9th overtone 10th harmonic
10th overtone 11th harmonic
11th overtone 12th harmonic
12th overtone 13th harmonic
13th overtone 14th harmonic
14th overtone 15th harmonic
15th overtone 16th harmonic

1st harmonic = fundamental tone
2nd harmonic = octave
3rd harmonic = fifth above octave
4th harmonic = 2nd octave
5th harmonic = third above 2nd octave
6th harmonic = fifth above 2nd octave
7th harmonic = minor seventh above 2nd octave
8th harmonic = 3rd octave
9th harmonic = whole tone above 3rd octave
10th harmonic = 2 whole tones above 3rd octave

[wayne wojnarowski]

Hi sx poet long time no talk , I can only get to the third overtone I believe ? I want to know how do you get above that and are there other players out there that practice this for a warm up and if so where does this get you and where has it gotten you so to speak??? I mean I will practice this but if it’s only to say I can hit the 13′ octave so what?????????????? Is it going to improve our playing substantially?? When the jobbers are out there playing are they happy that they can play 2 whole tones above the 3’rd octave ????

[Anonymous]

What did the Scottish sax player say?

Oct-ave have on me suntan lotion to protect me skin from harm-on-ic, I don’t wanna get overtoned!

The ability to hit all these notes is probably an accurate measure of one’s improved embouchure skill?

[Anonymous]

Wayne – you raise an excellent point.

I’ve raised similar questions in the past – if i only want to do x, y & z then whats the point of doing unrelated exercises, which i feel are pointless and a waste of my time?

A lot of people want to play altissimo – it’s like the guy driving the flashier car. I’m better then you Pal! lol

The main reason i wanted to play altissimo – i have a collection of piano sheets and after i transposed them for my alto, i often found they went s few notes into the altissimo range. So i couldn’t play along to the exact notes on the piano – ended up moving the transposed notes down an octave and then found i couldn’t play a low A on the slto. Result – i had to abandon the song as i couldn’t play altissimo G etc..

At the moment i don’t do improvisation to backing tracks, so anyone doing improvisation will benifit from being able to play in the altissimo range.

For transposing purposes, i only need to go up to altissimo C, anything above C doesn’t sound suitable for melodies – mainly good for screaming …

Because altissimo notes are basically playing overtones, then obviously you need to be able to play all 7 overtones from Low B to Low D.

Once you can play all 7 overtones – trust me altissimo notes are a breeze.

10 minutes a day is the max time to spend on overtones, when you start struggling – STOP, start again the next day, above all stay CALM. It is the most frustrating exercise to master, its like passing a brick through your anus. lol

[wayne wojnarowski]

Sx poet and Jeff excellent responses! Sx poet I try lot’s of things on this blog to get better, after about 10 min of overtones I’m ready for a “cold one’ Jeff the sax guy started when he was 19????? Man I have some catching up to do, thats part of the frustration to much to learn to little time, To be clear all I meant about the mouthpiece comments were do you think that guy with the great chops thinks he needs a new mouthpiece?? I try every day to improve , that’s what makes this blog so cool we can respectfully comment on or to each other that’s how we learn, I’ve asked this before and I think Johnnie mentioned something about what should we be practicing to get us to where we want to be quicker!!

[Anonymous]

Wayne i’m 58 time, isn’t on my side, so i can’t afford to dilly dally.

You want to know what to practice? to get you where you want quicker?

That’s a vague question! you need to be more specific!
What is your main goal? is it sight reading? ir playing without sheet music? What type of music do you want to play? is it Jazz? the blues?
good old rock & roll? classic music? etc. Do you want to play in a band?
on the street corners?

Narrow down the list and then hopefully JF can come up with
some suggestions.

my main goal is just to play sheet music, i’m way too past it to
start playing songs from memory. So i practice tone building exercises,
study music theory, take weekly lessons to get feed back (like holding a mirror in front of me), and then i want to get back playing in a band like i did with my acoustic guitar years ago.

[wayne wojnarowski]

Sx poet I want to be able to play rock +roll blues, +r+b easy swing stuff, I would love to play it with a band!!Sir I hear ya about no time to waste I got 5 yrs on ya buddy !!

[john]

I’ll just add that the exercises we do that help achieve the altissimo register will also help improve tone, air support, strengthen embouchure, and improve your ear training for all-round playing. these are the beautiful side effects of mastering that upper range.

[Author]

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