POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!! WOOHOO!!!

YEAH!!!!!!!! MAN I FEEL DAMN ULTRA POWERFUL NOW MAN!!! WOOOHOOOO!! Okkk, well it's
like this.. I managed to hit my altissimo A!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!! And dat makes an amatuer sax
player feel damn powerful!!

Ok, basically rite, the sax has a technical range of 2 1/2 octaves. One octave consists of 12
chromatic notes. The saxe's 2 1/2 octaves just means dat it can play from Bb up one octave
to Bb2, up another octave which is Bb3 and plus 7 or 8 more notes B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, (F#)
depending whether ur sax has an extra F# key~ Therefore 2 1/2 octaves means like 31 or 32
notes? yeah~

Now beyond this 31 notes, these notes are given a special name called altissimo notes because
they are in the altissimo register of the saxophone. According to a glossary of musical terms,
"Altissimo (from Italian alto, meaning 'high') means very high". So yeah altitude?? Yeah so it
means high~

Anyway, yeah i am so damn happy because earlier on i was experimenting with those weird funny
fingerings which are supposed to help u play these altissimo notes and by golly, i managed to hit
F#, G, G# and A!!! Dat effectively increases my saxophone range up by 4 semitones, making me
able to hit 35 notes! Now i'm really only an amatuer and such things should only be attempted by
advanced players who have a well developed embouchure and a good ear. I sorta er.. jumped the
gun.. :P But anyway, wat the heck i hit them so i'm real happy!!!

So the first thing i did after screaming the whole house down with my joy, was to sms boon chye
and tell him about it. And he replied saying: "U should be proud. Not many can reach those notes."
DAT MADE MY DAY MAN!! Dat's why i feel damn powerful! Haha! The last time was when Brady
enlightened me on some chords~ You bet i am damn proud of myself for how far i've advanced!
In particular, altissimo A is probably the hardest note of them lot to hit because of the complicated
physics involved in producing dat note.

But then again, i've got so much to improve on in other aspects like er.. sightreading.. *cowers*..
yeah only dat.. and a few other things.. technique is fine, my theory knowledge also quite ok. My
tone is more or less good but needa be more consistently good. BUT HEY I'M HAPPY TODAY!

Well, now dat's a great start for the day though it's like gonna be night soon now but well it sure
is a booster for tmrw's 3 hour sax lesson with jazz improv and wat not! I'm lookin forward to tmrw
man~ Someday i'm gonna achieve my goal of mastering the altissimo and go as high as i can up
to 3 1/2 or more octaves until i deem the note musically useless~

Altissimo Fingerings

For the saxophonists who happen to read this blog :D


For F#, there are 2 fingerings:

1.    Oct key, Front F, A, Side Bb.

2.    Oct key, B, G, F.

The one dat worked for me was the first one.


For G, there are also 3 fingerings:

1.    Oct key, Front F, F, Side Bb.

2.    Oct key, B, G, F, side/high F#.

3.    Oct key, B, G, F, D.

Personally, the first worked better for me.


For G#, there are also 2 or 3 fingerings:

1.    Oct key, Front F, Side Bb.

2.    Oct key, B, G, F, (D), side C.

The second one didnt really work for me so i stuck with the first and it's easy to switch from alt
G to alt G# with this fingering. Then again the second fingerings for both alt G and alt G# switch
well when u wanna alternate betw the two.


For A, there are also 2 fingerings:

1.    (Oct key), A, G, F, E, D.

2.    Oct key, A, G.

Well, i always see boon chye using the second fingering but the first one works very well for
me! However, i added the octave key on the first fingering to make the note easier to play.
Basically to play altissimo A, you needa have a really good feel for the note. The note comes
out as a harmonic and to do dat, you needa really control the embouchure and focus the
airstream! Once you manage to bring out dat altissimo A harmonic note, hold on to it! HAVE
FUN!!! :D