Beginner altissimo fingerings

[allansto]

Hi guys
Merry Christmas
Ive just downloaded the altissimo fingerings chart to learn from taming the sax .
What do the terms mean Rsk1, Rsk 4 , Rsk 1,4, Rsk 2 , etc , Lsk 1.
Also the F at the top and Rsk 3,4 etc.
Cheers
Allansto.

 

[Fraser Jarvis]

Right Side Key1

Left Side Key 1

 

[kevgermany]

This might help:

http://www.wfg.woodwind.org/sax/sax_fing.html

But you really need something which takes you up there, like Pete's Taming the Sax vol 1, or Rob Buckland's book or Rascher's top tones for saxophone.

 

[spike]

and this:

http://tamingthesaxophone.com/saxophone-altissimo

 

[kevgermany]

and this:

http://tamingthesaxophone.com/saxophone-altissimo

Guessing, but I think that's where the download came from.

 

[spike]

TX Kev, yes it appears to be . . . - didn't check the .pdf download.

 

[BigMartin]

I'm still not following. What is "Right side key 4", for example?

 

[spike]

What is "Right side key 4", for example?

F# me think.

 

[BigMartin]

F# me think.

The low one, presumably. I think the chart could use a key though.

 

[spike]

Yo, saxophone speak, very weird speak, terminology jungle sometimes,
I certainly prefer charts with pictograms.

http://www.wfg.woodwind.org/sax/sax_alt_4.html

 

[kevgermany]

My German book gives the keys as follows:

Lh palm keys
Lh1 D
Lh2 Eb
Lh3 F

Next 4 on lh table
Lh4 G#
Lh5 C#
Lh6 B
Lh7 Bb

Next 3 are the side keys on the right (confusingly these are also known as palm keys, but aren't played with the palm)
R1 E
R2 C
R3 Bb

Between low D and low E
R4 F#

On some saxes next to F# is a high G. Probably R5, but I'm guessing as my chart doesn't have it.

Hope this helps, there's probably a ton of Web references, but I can't find any giving all the numbers.

 

[Pete Thomas]

The low one, presumably. I think the chart could use a key though.

Yes, I'd forgotten about that chart which I think comes from a very old out of print book. When there is some time, ie after taming The Saxophone VolII, I will do a comprehensive altissimo chart.

Which will probably still not be very good as every horn is different.

And yes, RSK 4 is F#.

 

[jbtsax]

My German book gives the keys as follows:

Next 3 are the palm keys on the right
R1 E
R2 C
R3 Bb

I personally find the name "palm keys" for the RH "side keys" quite confusing since unlike the LH "palm keys" that are actually played with the palm of the hand, these keys are played using the side of the RH index finger. I think this would be less confusing if this key were called HF# rather than RSK4 since technically it is not in the group of the three traditional side keys.

Yes, I'd forgotten about that chart which I think comes from a very old out of print book. When there is some time, ie after taming The Saxophone VolII, I will do a comprehensive altissimo chart.

Which will probably still not be very good as every horn is different.

And yes, RSK 4 is F#.

From the pdf fingering chart it is apparently the high F# and not the fingering for the "fork F#" which is nearby.

 

[allansto]

holy smoke .........I think I opened another can of worms.

 

[kevgermany]

I personally find the name "palm keys" for the RH "side keys" quite confusing since unlike the LH "palm keys" that are actually played with the palm of the hand, these keys are played using the side of the RH index finger

Agree. Thanks. I'll reword.

 

[kevgermany]

When I've got some time, probably Wednesday I'll annotate a couple of photos and post. If we're really lucky Pete will link them to the Taming the Sax articles.

 

[Fraser Jarvis]

holy smoke .........I think I opened another can of worms.

Yes you sure have, best chart I've seen is the one our very own Nick Wyver wrote, much better than anything else and more importantly his fingerings work!! Pm him I'm sure he'll let you have a copy or you can do a search on here.

 

[allansto]

Thanks for all your help guys
Now heres the thing.!!!!
Ive come up with some conflicting charts about altissimo fingerings .
There seems to be a few different diagrams/charts out there on the web about the fingerings .
Ive been playing around with them and it seems to me that some of the fingerings work no problem and some don't .
Now obviously a large part of this is embouchure control. So what ive don't is tried different keys to achieve the specified note and low and behold some combinations work.
Can I assume then, that because of the difference in the players embouchure, combined with a difference in the particular sax, make ,model ,setup ,etc that altissimo fingerings are different for different saxes.
And not as some charts suggest (that theyre all the same)
Regards
Allansto

 

[Jeanette]

Yes you sure have, best chart I've seen is the one our very own Nick Wyver wrote, much better than anything else and more importantly his fingerings work!! Pm him I'm sure he'll let you have a copy or you can do a search on here.

Post 22 here well remembered FJ

Jx

 

[kevgermany]

Thanks for all your help guys
Now heres the thing.!!!!
Ive come up with some conflicting charts about altissimo fingerings .
There seems to be a few different diagrams/charts out there on the web about the fingerings .
Ive been playing around with them and it seems to me that some of the fingerings work no problem and some don't .
Now obviously a large part of this is embouchure control. So what ive don't is tried different keys to achieve the specified note and low and behold some combinations work.
Can I assume then, that because of the difference in the players embouchure, combined with a difference in the particular sax, make ,model ,setup ,etc that altissimo fingerings are different for different saxes.
And not as some charts suggest (that theyre all the same)
Regards
Allansto

I don't do altissimo. If it's not keyed, it's beyond me. Just trying to remember/decide which C or Bb to use in a piece is too hard. Never mind all the complicated altissimo fingerings.

The different charts in the link Spike posted show many altissimo fingerings for each note. And all the reading I've done, including Pete's post above, suggests that what you say is correct.