Hey sotw members! I've been really struggling with getting my high notes to sound good lately. I may just have to put lots of time of long tones on them. I've been trying to add some vibrato and dynamics in volume, and when I do these things, the pitch gets off. I'm looking for some advice/discussion. The notes in particular are from octave A through F#, the first altissimo. If we want to bring in altissimo G and G#, then bonus points haha.
You're not precise enough: are you too sharp, too flat, inconsistant (sometimes too sharp, sometimes too flat or with wild variations from one note to an other) ?
Added later: also, what mouthpiece and reeds do you use ? What is the reed strength and how old is it ?
Cane or synthetic reeds? Tip opening of the mouthpiece? Plastic,ebonite, or medal mouthpiece?
Most common experience that i have had on that,was that my embouchoure was tightened too much.Try to do a nice warm-up,pause after 20-30 minutes of blowing and have a rest.Then try to blow high E,F,F# without tonguing and i think it's a matter of days to solve this issue.
My set up: vandoren 2 greens, sr technologies mp, buffet-crampon student/intermediate model.
I have all sorts of ages of the reed, I tend to go back and forth between old and new.
Really my pitch is generally sharp. I feel like I have to drop my jaw once I hit b, and then compensate by having to blow much harder to get the reed to vibrate.
My set up: vandoren 2 greens, sr technologies mp, buffet-crampon student/intermediate model.
I have all sorts of ages of the reed, I tend to go back and forth between old and new.
Really my pitch is generally sharp. I feel like I have to drop my jaw once I hit b, and then compensate by having to blow much harder to get the reed to vibrate.
I don't know the SR technologies mouthpieces --if they are quite open maybe your reeds are not too soft. On the other hand, if your mouthpiece has a tip opening around 0.70 (and a middle of the road facing) I'd say your reeds are too soft and it may be part of the problem.
Dropping your jaw and blowing harder (within reasonable limits) is IMHO what has to be done over the whole range of the instrument --after all it's a wind instrument.
How does the intonation behave (on the higher notes, and also the lower ones) when you gradually change the dynamics from pp to ff ?
Alain,
my mp opening is neither small nor large, no idea actually, so maybe I'll figure that out, but it's like of the tiniest mpc's. I've been told that is probably part of the problem, but when I got it, I tried out all the big names of mpc's they carried, and the sr tech is the one I preferred most. It was the least "breathy."
I don't practice much ff dynamics, so I'll get back to you on the intonation by dynamics exercise.
I would really like to get rid of the shrillness of the palm notes and make them much "warmer" or "more round" as well.
The problem is probably not your equipment (though I would advise you to at least try harder reeds). When playing high, think low: don't bite, lower the back of the tongue and open your throat. You may have to blow harder than you're used to, don't be afraid by that.
Thanks Alain! I'll try low and open. Maybe some harder reeds too
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