I have been struggling with altissimo since my freshman year of high school. After your overtones video, I got a better understanding of voicing and now I am able to play so much higher (currently a sophomore). I really appreciate your videos so much. Keep it up!
Your the only channel I've been able to see that shows the fingerings past A. Thank You, now that I've gotten past the 50th dirt road, I can finally start practicing beyond altissimo A.
The first video that really explained simply how to reach altissimo! Thank you soooooo much! Allot of videos say they can't give you a fingering, or that it's all about the imagination, which is true, but here he also gives you fingering. Soooooooo useful. Going to practice now :)
Awesome! This finally worked for me after trying so many different tutorials! I think it was the "increase air velocity" line that finally made it click for me, it's so hard to understand until you finally figure it out for your self
Hey, that's awesome Gary! The "stepwise" approach works for me and the majority of my students. I hate quick fixes that fixate on embouchure and throat adjustments (leading to BIG problems down the road). I like to aim for control and homogenous tone with my students - rather than quick squeaks! Happy practicing, and have a great weekend!
This is excellent stuff! Thanks for that G fingering - I play Yamaha too and that one works better for me that what I've been using on alto before now. For me, the 'keys to the kingdom' with altissimo was spending time on overtones; yes it does feel different than when using alt fingerings but it is really useful to get you aware of the general principles of voicing. Great for your tone as well!
Thanks Mark. I agree. Oddly, I’ve had students who have zero success with overtones, yet perfectly fine altissimo 🤷♂️ I do it religiously for tone (as you mention). Happy weekend my friend!
It works! I hit altissimo G for the first time - briefly and squeekly. Touching the tongue tip to the upper palate seemed to help, but now I know it's attainable. Thanks Dr W. I'm just on day 2 of your Fundamentals Course.
These finally worked for me on a Selmer Tenor SAII except last 2 notes C# and D ended up as a C and C#. I'll take it! thanks for this great video. It took me 3 months of overtone exercises and a month to trying altissimo. I also had to tinker my F key adjustment to vent only one bit. My family, my neighbors and my dog hate me now.! My kind of humor as well!
Thanks as always for the lessons. These are so valuable and useful, and I love the light-hearted approach - it makes it so enjoyable. I'm just starting on the altissimo journey - but I am making steady progress! I'm on Tenor at the moment, and going from F# to G is very hard, but notes beyond G seam a little easier - not sure if that is just me or my instrument, or if it is a more general thing.
This is a great reference video for altissimo on alto sax ! I currently training myself to use Dr Wally's fingerings for E, F, F# , and altissimo G to aid in the transition to the higher altissimo notes. Finally a system I can work with for alto. I think I will try this approach on tenor as well, since I've been having difficulty with altissimo there too. Thanks DW !!
Excellent! Be patient with yourself - there's no rush to learn altissimo. Work daily to improve the response and focus of those front fingerings. Experiment with tongue position and when it "sings" - REMEMBER that voicing and repeat! Good luck!
@@drwallysax - Your so right DW; if I try too long, I lose the A and start to lose the G#, so like you said, a little a day and eventually it will become ingrained. Then a while down the road when I’m damn solid up through the A, then I could worry about learning to overblow the palm keys to get up to that paint peeling D woohoo lol PS> I might have a problem with the neighborhood dogs by that point. Right now I also have to break the habit of my old E and F palm key fingerings, and that high F# key.
@@drwallysax - Good news.. even better early success up to altissimo A on tenor for me. Btw, I get the altissimo Bb by just lifting the left hand middle finger from the A fingering. Then, based on what you said in your video, I’m assuming palm D (and the octave key) for altissimo B .. correct ?? PS> I will stay within the 3 octaves for quite some time to come, but looking to get the extended picture. Also, it’s fantastic for me that the front E and F fingerings are the same for both alto and tenor. This stuff is nowhere near as terrible as I thought, but I do put a lot of effort into technique within the standard sax range.
@@shipsahoy1793 so lifting the middle finger, you're actually fingering altissimo Bb - but your voicing is sounding an A. Not a big deal, but a firmer reed would likely remedy that. Still, great stuff! Keep it up!
Wow, that's a beautiful altissimo. The voicing thing can't be said enough, too - I tried different mouthpieces and ultimately a high step baffle doesn't make much difference. It might be slightly easier to get the note but it's harder to get a note that doesn't sound thin. Your method is basically what I stumbled on by trial and error, I wish I'd see this video when I first started trying to build altissimo. I'm still just starting, though, so it definitely is still helpful! I'm looking forward to more!
Thanks for making this video. Your altissimo is very musical. The fingerings do work well. One small nit: you skipped A#, for which I usually use your same fingering for A, and then lift the middle finger leaving only the left-hand ring finger.
Jacob, that made my day, thank you. And yes! I'm putting together the Sononauts debut album! Super nerdy arrangements of 80s music, video game themes, and more! Got a killer rhythm section lined up. Thanks for asking, I'll keep you updated!
Yeah I’m gonna need that next video if I’m going to play concertino da camera for my high schools solo ensemble next year. Or I could just wimp out and play the high parts down an octave.
Don't wimp out! So many people take the middle movement altissimo out (even college profs) with the "it's more musical down the octave..." Nonsense! Higher faster louder is always better!
Thanks This is great info currently doing front altissimo E, F & F# I do this once a week for 15 mins. My tongue gets a bit ache for a while. Can do plam keys no problem. What is the preferred method Front or Palm cannot decide. Love your videos a bonus. ❤👌
Thank You for this lesson, I've been practicing altissimo for a while now, and these fingerings work very well, the G sounded a little flat at first, I was using just the front key alone, which worked, but was a little pitchy. Where do we go from here? Fingerings for D#/Eb and on up, or, at some point do we, just practice overblowing the notes on up? Thanks Dr. Wally....I miss the suit and tie though.
Hey Max! I don't have any offhand, but "High Tones" by Eugene Rousseau has a fairly comprehensive list of fingerings for Soprano through Baritone. Other than that, keep practicing building bridges from front keys upward. Happy practicing, and have a great weekend!
It's the beginning of the second movement of Ibert's "Concertino da Camera." Most people take it down an octave - I just LOVE it up there. It's risky, but in a big concert hall, it just sings. Happy practicing, KojsonK!
I am having trouble getting the front e out, I am able to go from front f to front e though. If you or someone else could help me out it would be appreciated
Hey Dr Wallace, your altissimo is truly wonderful. Thank you for the exercises, I will certainly use them. May I ask you to explain what you were referring to about the Jumbo Java, sorry I didn’t get the reference. Also, whenever I’ve tried playing front E it never works, I can film front F fine but not E it doesn’t come out.
Hi Samuel - first, thanks. The Jumbo Java is a mouthpiece made by Vandoren with a HUGE baffle. Speeds the air column increasing air speed - making altissimo much easier (more of a rock/fusion mouthpiece). As for front E, I'm not entirely certain. Have you tried slurring from D?
My first guess with front E not speaking - not all your fingers are closing simultaneously. (or a small leak). Let me know what your teacher finds! Side note: I love Proraso aftershave.
Gee that’s interesting, I’d doubt a leak with a new horn but I’ll try pressing harder or more simultaneously. I sure will tell you what they say. They make some great aftershave, you don’t happen to be a wet shaver do you?
@@Samuel-ge7im I am, but less so with two young kids. Many mornings I'm raking an electric Braun across my face while pouring Lucky Charms. But on weekends, It's a Merkur with Barrister and Mann soap! You?
Common problem! most players tend to overshoot the voicing. Keep slurring from the F#. Make the F# focused and clear. Then keeeeeep slurring to the G. Maintain that voicing - then start the G with a gentle breath attack.
Thanks! I use a gold plated M1 neck (original neck with the 875). My horn is an 875EX and came with the G1. Much prefer the M-series. happy practicing!
Leycroft 50 that’s a great question, and I’m afraid I don’t know the answer! Let me reach out to a friend who’s a Yamaha artist and sax nerd. I’ll get back to you!
Hey Leycroft, reached out to Dr. Stephen Page (the nerdiest Yamaha guy I know). He's looking into it - if I don't hear back, I'll shame him on social media.
Still don't quite understand overtones yet I have reasonable flexibility up to D4. It's pretty possible to play altissimo with very little control over overtones.
I'm having problems playing the front E altissimo. any tips? I play the f just fine but the e I struggle with a lot for some reason, even though my intuition says that it should be easier to play than the f. I'm used to the alternate fingering of high e but when I play the front E, I can play when I slur from d, but not starting off. please help haha
I just get a big “fuuunff” when I try to go for F# 😭 I can hit a few high altissimo notes I’ve found, but I didn’t figure what the note names are yet, just the sounds. One is using front F fingering but it’s a higher note. 🤔 I will figure out what note it actually is. I will keep working overtones and the altissimo notes I can do and keep expanding them.
@@drwallysax thanks for the follow up! I saw today that when using the front key there is a tiny leak that isn’t there when my index finger pushes the C key. I will adjust it tomorrow. I still don’t think it will fix it because I tried pushing that pad closed with my right hand and couldn’t notice much difference. I was practicing your overtone exercise today and it’s hard! Very hard to get Bb third overtone or D second overtone and nowhere near being able to go between them. So I know where I need to focus and one day altissimo will come. P.S. I bet you are a Paul Desmond fan. When you were talking about projecting with a band your tone reminded me of him.
@@drwallysax thanks for the follow up! No I can’t slur into it. I have been working on it and your overtones stuff this week. I found that there is a tiny leak under the first small pad when I use the front key because it’s not being pushed down quite as much as when I finger C. I was waiting to reply until I adjusted that but I can’t seem to remember to bring my tiny screwdriver to work where my alto is. I’m 99% sure that won’t help as I pushed it close with my right hand directly on that pad key and it didn’t help. Also, I get the same thing on my tenor and on my other worse alto (but I could get an F# sometimes on that horn). It’s me. Just need practice and time and I will get there.
@@drwallysax hey dr WW! Thanks for the follow up!! I took about three-four weeks off due to a broken clavicle. After being back at it about a week my embouchure needs lots of work to get back in shape, however, I’m making improvements. After sticking with 3’s and rotating the reeds, and working on lots of overtones I can get front E and F a lot better. I can also get F#, but I have to find it. It is easier to het higher notes. The biggest key in this regard for me has been awareness of my larynx, and everything going on with my oral cavity. Jamie at get your sax together was a big help in that! It’s incredible that there are such good teachers creating online content that a student can pick and choose the best and get explanations from different perspectives and all kinds of different exercises, ideas and inspiration.
G is different indeed-all I hear is top D with a ghost of G coming through behind the squeaks... Tried alternative fingerings, but G still doesn't budge yet... Thank you for the explanation, will be trying later
Does the front e work in Bari or is my bari just messed up? When I use the front e on my bari it just plays an out of tune f then when I switch the the front f it plays the in tune F then I add the Bb side key and it goes to F# Edit: I can play a lot of altissimo on my alto but on my bari nothing comes out above an F#
Im an advanced beginner, i have no problem with 3 octaves on my zephyr alto. I recently switched to 1941 king zephyr tenor and all my altissimos are gone...is it just with me? Or are zephyr tenors have bad reputation for altissimos?
The saxophone itself has very little affect on altissimo production - but does influence intonation tendencies. It's more likely a voicing issue going from alto to tenor. Overtone scales (look for my overtones video) is a great way to start approaching the correct voicing on tenor!
@@drwallysax thanks a lot. Im working on it by bit. Keep going with this channel, youre helping so many here...and yup your videos are spot on. Kudus!!
I figured out how to do that at an honor band, and since we were middle schoolers, everybody was making tritones with their best friend or playing the highest notes they could. No regrets.
I would NOT recommend trying to learn Altissimo unless you have played both long tones and overtones to the point that you could do it in your sleep(not literally of course). Altissimo, while not a hard concept, is not extremely hard to do, but it is extremely hard to do correctly. Making sure you stay in tune is essential. If you develop bad habits, all it's going to do is make you very inconsistent with sound now and have to undo those habits later. Long tones help you develop a sense of tone, and then building on that overtones help you to manipulate that tone. Playing in tune is key. Then playing overtones. And then, if you think you have that down, start working on Altissimo slowly. Learn a new note a day, or better yet every week. Focus on making it smooth and in tune. TL;DR work up to altissimo and take it slow
Thanks for the advice .... I can’t seem to get the correct fingerings based on the chart as I don’t understand the top black forward slash Image ... please can you help ?
Gorgest Boi wish it were. 10 years of higher education and a dissertation that I still get depressed thinking about. But hey, I get to put “Dr.” on silly internet videos!
