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Advice to hit lower altissimo and high altissimo

Author: Jacob R
Date: 2023-03-09 19:01

I have been having problems trying to hit a basic concert D6 and notes above such as a concert Eb6 and other things.They're in my concert pieces and I have UIL soon,so is there any advice out there to help me at least bring the notes out?

-Jacob

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Re: Advice to hit lower altissimo and high altissimo

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2023-03-09 19:14

First suggestion: find a comfortable strength reed (per your other thread about airy tone).

Karl

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Re: Advice to hit lower altissimo and high altissimo

Author: Hunter_100
Date: 2023-03-09 21:45

I may assume you are trying too hard to hit these notes. I think beginners think they need to tense up, and exert much effort to get altissimo to come out. Those notes do not require much more force/effort/tension etc. compared to the lower notes. But you have to get your tongue and oral cavity shape right to promote fast smooth air. Think about the shape and position your tongue goes into if you hiss like a cat. Try to emulate that with the mouthpiece in your mouth.

Also make sure you are getting all your fingers moved correctly going from C to D, which involves more finger coordination than moving around the upper clarion. Once you get D, the D#/Eb is easy, just hit the sliver key on the right hand.

If you can play C6, you should not have any harder time getting to D6 (it's only 1 note up after all!).

BTW, if the finger is giving you problems, you can try playing the D as the same as open G (G5) but keep the register key down. If you are running up the scale in the clarion register, this should be feel really intuitive. The Eb can be fingered like this using the side Ab key (for Ab5).

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