im playin on a (please dont hate) selmer prelude since funds were tight when i got the dang thing and a jody jazz dv ny 7. ok now the problem. if any of you have heard jaco pastorius' soul intro to the chicken off of itunes youll know its a great song all around. well our band director decided we would play it for our competition piece this year and asked me to do the intro solo. while i can play most of it the altissimo is killing me. if anyone could please give tips on how to his some of the high notes it would be greatly appreciated. im no beginner by a long shot so no 2 yr old explanations please ;}
IMO, harmonics practice every day for as long as you can, (if I have 2 hours available to practice in a day then at least an hour is harmonics/tone practice) Sinta's voicing book for saxophone goes into lots of detail on the best way to achieve the altissimo register, but like everything else it takes lots of practicing and time. Once you get your oral cavity/embouchure in the optimal position for the pitch you want, any fingering can be used depending on tuning and ease of fingering. ie. I have found that using palm D gives me an in tune altissimo B, palm E is good for C and palm F is an ok D, then using fork F# is good for D#. I have found using these fingerings allows me to play scalic passages easier up there, other fingering charts/players may tell you something different, making something as easy as possible for yourself is the way to go.