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Low notes... and breathing capacity?

1K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  diskman50 
#1 ·
I have a pretty good relationship with the lowest notes of my alto - I can easily get a Bb out straight off. However, my friend who also plays alto says that she's rubbish at low notes because she has rubbish air capacity in her lungs and therefore struggles to get the lowest notes out when scaling down to them, let alone straight off. I was wondering if this is the only thing that makes a difference...? I know that low notes take practice from experience, and low notes on an alto are nothing compared to tenors and below. But surely you need to have just as much capacity to screech out the highest notes too? And surely it's not just that; breathing techniques, practising and so on all take a part in it don't they?
 
#3 ·
It may also depend partly on any compromises the player is making to get the top of their horn to speak - some players choose a harder reed, instead of using voicing (overtones practice) to get the top of the horn to speak. Using a harder reed to get past an inability to make the high notes speak will make it harder to play the lowest notes except when blowing hard / playing loud.
 
#4 ·
I had lots of trouble voicing any note below C1 on my alto. All sorts of warbling and other weird sounds were produced. Turns out there was a leaking G# pad when the left had pinky cluster was pressed. A quarter turn on an adjustment screw fixed the problem. If you play your friends alto's low notes do you have the same problem as her?

Diskman50
 
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