Excellent altissimo course…Q re embouchure?

[Michael]

Hey Dazza,
Did the guys at the shop, when they looked over your Sax, say that they recommend that the entire Sax gets serviced, just the pads, etc.? Did he say you were getting any leaks or anything? If we don’t have the right tools there’s no way we can expect to play up there, so of course it’s related to helping play in the Altissimo range…check out the video of Johnny’s I posted below of having a good working Sax…there’s no way we can play up there without a good working Sax. Late last year, my bro-in-law gave me an LJ Hutchen and I played with it, but it needed some work–it’s no fun playing without having the right tools for sure. I was happy to get my new neck strap…made a HUGE difference. The padding on it helped relieve some of the weight from the Saxophone on my neck. From your last video of “Misty” your tone was really, really good…I was like “Wow!” Keep up the great work Dazza.

[Dazza]

Pads were all good. I was more concerned about some mechanism noise that he assured me wasn’t a major issue. I have just watched overnight the overtone videos again and reaffirmed a commitment to make these a staple along with the MP exercise. Once again so much to include in a practice session it’s no wonder I need more than an hour! But it’s fun not a chore!

[Michael]

Keep at it Dazza, you will get there. Once you get through those Overtones, then you’ll be on your way to hitting those high notes….and it’s an awesome feeling to say the least 🙂 You should feel really good at this point because you’re sticking at it. Once you get through the Overtone series and start working on the actual Altissmo fingerings (that’s what’s next after the Overtones…you’re almost there!) then that’s when we really realize that hitting those high notes are not about “secret” fingering positions, but rather Johnny’s course will give you the technique to play up there.
If I remember correctly, Johnny at this point talks about the need for us to experiment with things like our bottom jaw, tightening our lips, etc.. For me, the more I tightened my bottom lip, the higher I was able to go. On the Alto Sax especially for Alt C# and D, if I don’t tighten my lip then I don’t hit the note, but we’re all different in this regard.

[paddy jordan]

Hey Guys
i did a little blog here on sax straps a few weeks ago cant remember now where it is , but it was on the the importance that a comfortable neck strap makes to your over all playing on sax. everybody is to to taken up with sax set up horns mouthpiece etc the humble strap does not get a look in, but it should look at the hours we all put in now if your strap is rubbish and uncomfortable it will effect your playing.and your playing ability is what we are all here for.now i am from england and i came across this guy in the states who makes this neck strap that is just awesome check it out you wont regret buying one of his straps. http://www.justjoesmusic.com
Paddy

[Jazz Cat]

Johnny – to keep threads focused and on-topic, I’d highly recommend you make a “NO POSTING COMMERCIAL URLS or Ebay listings” rule. Or require external site links to be limited to posts in a single “other resources” thread. That’s what I’ve done for years in my forums, with hundreds of members.

Otherwise your forum may become overrun with unwanted ebay listings and “hijack postings” like has occurred twice on this thread already, completely OFFTOPIC and commercial in nature, ruining the forum experience. I’ve ran forums for over 8 years, if you don’t put rules in place things do go downhill.

If you look for example at threads in SOTW there’s little or no offtopic/commercial URLs:
http://forum.saxontheweb.net/forum.php

For those new to forums, it’s impolite to ‘hijack’ threads with unrelated posts. The TOPIC of this thread is embouchure for altissimo, not ‘3rd party commercial URLs for neckstraps’, sheesh. Otherwise next you could see posts like “hey my old tenor is Great for altissimo, it’s only $3000 on ebay, bid early bid often here’s the link: ___”. I’ve run forums for years, I’ve seen the need for friendly Guidelines & rules, for focus.

’nuff said….rock on.

[Jazz Cat]

p.s. here’s some ideas for forum rules from popular forums:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/forum-rules-and-guidelines
https://www.phpbb.com/rules/
http://themeforest.net/community/community_guidelines
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/741403-warrior-forum-rules.html
http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?123283-Important-Update-Regarding-The-NO-POLITICS-NO-RELIGION-House-Rules

or just common sense…no spam, no attacking others, be polite, honest, positive, no linking to commercial URLs or competitors’ etc are good starting place.. ok I’m done w/the topic.

just wanted to ask about altissimo embouchure, geez… (also fyi changing my nick to ‘jazz cat’ more on-topic)

[Anonymous]

Jazz – i can see your point, it can be very frustrating, when you raise a genuine question, and you have to read through a lot of posts with unrelated stuff.

JF – it might be worth a separate forum just for idle chatting?

I’ve been in IT for 33 years, and i’ve trawled through thousands of forums in that lifespan, from specialised fields to mundane garbage sites.

It tends to be the more specialised the site, the rules become more draconian – this then tends to restrict the audience to a bunch of elitists, making the common person like me feel inferior. This is the one of the reasons i find those sites very boring and quickly lose interest in them – to academic for me.

But saying that, i do agree about not allowing negative stuff, none of the members to my knowledge are abusive, might be a bit competitive rivslary, we all pool our knowledge, and i do find it refreshing when other members throw in random stuff.

I think some people may need to be a bit more tolerant – afterall, if you are face to face with several people, you’re not going to say ti someone who goes off topic – “were not talking about the price of fish, can you pay attention etc.” social ettiqute would be to steer the conversation politely back on course”

Me i prefer the site like it is!

[Jazz Cat]

good points James… my main concern here was “spamvertising” (affiliate/commercial URLs posted for no related/on-topic reason) and ‘thread hijacking’ with completely unrelated content. Running a forum can be a lot of work; having a few clear upfront guidelines/rules to avoid problems is what 100% of all of us who run successful forums elsewhere do, to reduce commercial spam, or negative comments. It’s a balance between being welcoming, engaging & user-friendly (to encourage participation), while minimizing off-topic/spam/unrelated content. Unmoderated forums attract unwanted ‘spamvertising’ posts, with a bunch of commercial offtopic posts.

[Dazza]

mmm….can anyone else see the irony here….that the thread has innocently continued to meander “off-topic” for the past dozen comments since my ghastly faux pas. Let’s get back to the music before we create another SOTW forum.

[Jazz Cat]

good point… back on topic…in looking for ideas re embouchure for altissimo…I know one point Johnny makes too is the jaw/throat… if any of you are good at altissimo, it would be helpful to hear insights on the *main differences* to keep in mind between playing normal upper register notes, high D/E/F…to alt. G/A/B/C?

[Author]

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