O V E R T O N E S

[Anonymous]

This is a tip when i did the Altissimo Course 3yrs ago, which might be useful to anyone who gave up trying to do overtones and it is worth them having another go.

One of the first things people assume when it comes to mastering overtones is that it has to been done in a logical order. That assumption is based on other learning experiences which is true. For instance – You can’t run, until you can learn to walk.

However with overtones. Overtones IN GENERAL do not follow a logical order of mastery.

The first three overtones, most people can manage.

Then they try the fourth overtone and give up trying to master overtones.

Overtones in general, once you’ve done the first three, the rest of the overtones can and will happen in any order.

You MUST keep a tuner in front of you at all times, what will happen is you will make a a high pitched Squeek every now and then. That believe it or not, is one of the higher overtones which you can check on a tuner. If you focus on repeating the same pitch again consistently, then you will have cracked one of the upper overtones.

In my case the fourth overtone was one of the last overtones that i could hit everytime.

Bending notes is another way of cycling through different overtone pitches.

Just to let you know, i did the the first three overtones, then i did altissimo G, then i worked down from the higher overtones, and then did the altissimo notes up to the second altissimo G.

In terms of playing the sax, the only useful altissimo notes i use are between G G# A A# B C C# D D# & E. Most of the time i never go above Altissimo G.

[john]

well said. basically, anyone who blows some air into the sax will get an altissimo note (apart from a pure reed sqweek)
so the art of this range is in learning how to control it.
I also don’t use it to the extend of some other players…
I’ve heard players do scales like crazy up there with so much control.
I can’t really do that very well and never felt I had to but every once in a while there’s nothing like blasting a couple really high ones to break things up. some people say they don’t need to go above a high F or F# but I can’t imagine that being my top note….very limited range.

[Author]

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