Using the Diminished Scale for a project I was assigned to do…

[Anonymous]

Sxpoet, you inspired me to acquire those James Rae books so now I’m beginning to play properly I want to start working through those studies.
Actually I’m sure I did more theory exams but they only awarded certificates for the first three exams, if I remember correctly.

Did you get my little snake joke? (and-a-coda = anaconda)

I tried your trick with the full lung approach to altissimo, at this stage I can’t get further than F#. But at least I am able to play it with greater ease now. Having a larger volume of air under breath will certainly make for a smoother blow, and it will be easier to exert greater pressure on the MP & reed.

[Anonymous]

lol – the snake joke!

If you are doing JF’s altissimo course, the 1st three overtones you should be able to do.
I found the 7th, 6th & 5th overtone the next easiest to do and the 4th overtone was a right pig on my sax.
I also found the higher overtones on the low D much harder compared to the low Bb overtones.

Once you get the 1st three overtones on all 5 Low keys, then try and go for the Altissimo A, which i found easier
than the Altissimo G. in my case i was doing the altissimo G,G# and A before i could do the higher overtones.
Then by practicing lots of chromatic runups – i started to get the rest of the overtones all at once on the low Bb.

If you hear any high pitched noises on the low Bb, check with a tuner as these are normally the higher overtones.

[Anonymous]

Try pushing your lower jaw slightly forward and up – or pushing your bottom lip out more

[Anonymous]

also try angleing the mouth piece like how a clarinet player holds the mouthpiece, sometimes this helps with high altissimo keys

[Anonymous]

Sxpoet – Thanks for those helpful tips, I’ll concentrate on getting the three OT’s on all lower five notes first.

I didn’t think of using my tuner to identify OT’s – that’s a great idea – instant feedback!

[Anonymous]

Jeff – most definitely use the tuner with overtones, some overtones are naturally flatter and sharper than the actual note,
so use the tuner and correct the note.
The best thing is when you play the actual altissimo note in tune, you can hit the overtone exactly in tune
straight off.

Also the very high altissimo notes jump higher or lower in pitch so you really have to fine tune them with long tones

[Author]

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