Hitting An Overtone Wall

[RRafael]

Hoping somebody has some ideas on how to help me get over the hump. I have been struggling to consistently hit the 3rd overtone on any of the keys for months now. The first two came out right away and I never had any problems with them. The third one comes out easy sometimes and other times I can’t seem to get it. Nothing beyond that seems possible and I have tried Everything that I have read so far (changing embouchure, breathing, reed strength, etc…). Nothing has helped and I am about to give up but I really want to play the overtones, if for nothing more than tone improvement. I have hit an altissimo G a few times but it was with a fingering that was neither of the ones JF gave. With that fingering I get squeaks and all kinds of lower harmonic sounds but no altissimo. I have even split a couple of reeds from presumably too much air support/overblowing. ANY IDEAS would be welcome.

[Anonymous]

are you using JF’s altissimo course?

[RRafael]

Yes I am using the JF altissimo course.

[Anonymous]

ok – is the sax in working order? it may be leaking air around some pads?
Can you play all the keys from low Bb to high F# ?

[RRafael]

My saxophone is in excellent working order and is only about a year old (Keilwerth MKX). No leaks anywhere. I can play every note from the low Bb to the altissimo F# and most of those in tune. My tone is really pretty good but does go a little flat toward the altissimo range, still not too bad. I am wondering more and more about my set up but don’t have any proof of it. My set up is Otto Link STM *6 and I use a Vandorren Red Jazz cut 2 1/2 or a Rigotti Gold 3 light. I’ve actually had better luck in the upper range with the Red Jazz reeds but both reeds are comfortable to play with. Crazy thing is I have been working on this altissimo course for 6 months or better and I devote a lot of my practice time to it. It’s getting discouraging.

[Anonymous]

if you can’t play all the notes on your sax, and there is nothing wrong with your sax, then concentrate first on being able to play all the notes fist then come back to learning overtones at a later date.

With overtones you can pick up where you left off at anytime/day/week/month, and when practicing overtones i wouldn’t do more than 10 mins a day even if you don’t think you are improving, as it is mentally and physcally exhausting/frustrating – comes with the territory.

if you can play all the notes & nothing is wrong with your sax.
Start with Low Bb fist its the easiest low key to learn all 7 overtones on.

Try the following –
1)
play the mid Bb – and sing the phrase ‘VAW’ and make it sound like the mid Bb. Memorise the mouth/tongue position exactly – then play the Low Bb just like if you were singing VAW mouth/tongue position and play the 1st overtone which is mid Bb.

2)
play the mid F – and sing the phrase ‘VOO’ and make it sound like the mid F. Memorise the mouth/tongue position exactly – then play the Low Bb just like if you were singing VOO mouth/tongue position and play the 2nd overtone which is mid F.

3)
play the high Bb – and sing the phrase ‘VER’ and make it sound like the high Bb. Memorise the mouth/tongue position exactly – then play the High Bb just like if you were singing VER mouth/tongue position and play the 3rd overtone which is High Bb

the reason for using these different phrases, is because it puts your in the correct position for each overtone. If these phrases don’t work then try different phrases to sound exactly like the notes you want to play.
Other ways is to go through different vowels ….

[Anonymous]

typing correction
3)
play the high Bb – and sing the phrase ‘VER’ and make it sound like the high Bb. Memorise the mouth/tongue position exactly – then play the Low Bb just like if you were singing VER mouth/tongue position and play the 3rd overtone which is High Bb

the reason for using these different phrases, is because it puts your tongue in the correct position for each overtone. If these phrases don’t work then try different phrases to sound exactly like the notes you want to play.
Other ways is to go through different vowels ….

[Anonymous]

if you are singing it correctly, then singing VAW VER should like
some where (over the rainbow song)

good luck

[wayne wojnarowski]

Than sx poet if that doesn’t work try NAA NAA NAA NAA, NAA NAA NAA NAA , HEY HEY EY GOOD BYE!!!!LOL!!!!!

[wayne wojnarowski]

Rafael I too get frustrated, try fingering a mid F But blow the HIGH F without the octave key than blow the lower F , I think your using your throat muscles ??Hey sx poet play the altissimo notes for us, can you ?

[Author]

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