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 ;}
Please help!
- Thread starter Tcazes
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Two Voices
Senior Member
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Nothing wrong with a Selmer Prelude 
Everytime I get a new sax I end up having to learn a new set of Altissimo fingers. Mainly to get the best sound but some are more difficult to play on certain saxes I find. Your sax may not be Altissimo friendly. However, try various fingering for the same note to see if you notice any difference.
I have found the site below good for offering various fingerings!
http://www.levelthreesolutions.com/saxcharts/chartview.php?chartid=30
Everytime I get a new sax I end up having to learn a new set of Altissimo fingers. Mainly to get the best sound but some are more difficult to play on certain saxes I find. Your sax may not be Altissimo friendly. However, try various fingering for the same note to see if you notice any difference.
I have found the site below good for offering various fingerings!
http://www.levelthreesolutions.com/saxcharts/chartview.php?chartid=30
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There's a good altissimo section on the main site (click on the Saxophone Stuff link above).
Rascher's Top Tones is a great reference work for this.
Rascher's Top Tones is a great reference work for this.
VirusKiller
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Short of years of practice using Rascher's techniques and playing overtones, extra reed support is essential and you just need to blast those notes out!
thomsax
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Are you improvising or playing from outwritten charts? If you are improvising pick the nice altissimo tones! That means the tones that you master and comes out best from your sax. It's also a matter in what key you are playing! Some altissimos are easier to blow than others.
A great song. Didn't Pee Wee Elis write that song? I listened to Jaco Pastorius - soul intro/the chicken on spotify. I'm not sure in what key they perform it. Bb?
Thomas
A great song. Didn't Pee Wee Elis write that song? I listened to Jaco Pastorius - soul intro/the chicken on spotify. I'm not sure in what key they perform it. Bb?
Thomas
SaxyMalcolm
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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.
