Re: tounge position. Another idea that might help someone is I found that the throat and tounge position when you start to say the letter Q. Your tounge is up high in the back of the throat, and the articulation of that initial sound is like a high pressure valve. The air is built up behind the back of the tounge and gets released with a lot of speed, which helped get the reed vibrating to sound those notes. Ymmv.

I hit my first altissimo note. Thank you so much

Wow, you are one of the first sax teachers on KZfaq I’ve come to and you’ve helped me improve so much. Thank you 🙏

This helped me get my first altissimo note, I’ve been doing overtones forever and I finally hit a g

I have to say you have the most solid altissimo guide for alto. Although I’m better at tenor this did help because I live in a saturated area so I got to be hot on alto too

Reading this as I'm about to board a plane. When I get back home will try it and if it works I'm joining your course ,..altissimo has alluded me for years and haven't heard this advice before cheers!

Thank you Scott. I needed this info, I have been playing for years and no one has explained this to me like this. You are an excellent teacher.

finally after watching every video about altissimo i can get it consistently. thanks

Thanks for that video Scott I can't wait to go and give it a go. & p.s. Your videos are so helpful & informative thanks again

This is what i needed... Thanks!!

Excellent advice Scott

Hi Scott! I hope you're well. You mentioned the 'e' position, and to raise your tongue higher, but where is the tip of your tongue? Above the mouthpiece, below the mouthpiece? Also, thanks for clearing up that the embouchure has to be more firm.

WHOAA! Scott Patrick I am a BIG Fan of yours! You have made my day! I have been in need of help with my embouchure or whatever is to happen inside my mouth regards to Altissimo Notes. I have never been able to "Crack" the secrets of hitting my Altissimo range and has been such a mystery to me on Tenor or Alto Sax. I appreciate you sharing your secrets. Are there any other special Hints or Clues that you are willing to share regards to further practicing? Thanks in Advance! 🥂

Brilliant and fast video! Thank you!

My sax tutor right here!

This was really helpful.

Great advice that works!!

Thank you so much for these tips 🙏🏽

Amazing 👍👍👍 thank you so much for this lesson 🙂

always giving good tips, thanks ♪♫

Dude I like am nailing all the way up the horn. Always had an issue with g g# and a. Plus being accurate is a breeze now. Literally one night if this I’m nailing some pretty complex altissimo runs. I guess I just needed a lil help. Where and when I grew up they avoided anything over f#. Even in college they just avoided it. Now it’s more common to teach this stuff. It really should be part of standard saxophone training.

You are right about tounge position but there is a bunch of tones when I blow front F on my tenor

Thank you master !!!! It works

Literally I was able to hit F# and G after doing the tongue technique but the rest are a mystery but I'll keep working, thanks!!

No chop chop series for altissimo? Please Scott I need it

Thanks for the tips!!! I’m pretty good with Altissimo but I was wondering if you could do a video on split tones/multiphonics? There’s no video that goes in much depth

Thank you Man!

Good video Scott, thanks !

Ok so I'm still having problems. I'll give you some context: I was able to reach altissimo notes since a few months ago. Alone, I could reach up to an A, no problem, and if I tried hard enough, I could reach all the way up to a D. So a couple months ago I had figured out that while altissimo notes on their own were pretty easy, incorporating them into my scale patterns somehow made them ridiculously hard, near impossible for a matter-of -fact. This is what initiated my desire to improve my altissimo. So I watched a plethora of videos, including both of yours, and I got tips including these ideas: open up the throat, move the tongue position up, use a bunch of air pressure, tighten the corners of your mouth, and from some, SLIGHTLY put pressure on the Reed, and practicing overtones. Whenever I practice altissimo a lot and actually get the notes out (with my old habits), my bottom lip started to give me pain by the end of the day's shedwork, which indicated to me that I was likely putting too much pressure on the reed. So I was trying all different kinds of combinations of the things told to me in these videos, just trying to avoid using as much lip as possible. I have experimented with my mouth position on the mouthpiece, too, and I have even been practicing whistling in hopes of improving my tongue positioning. My long tone exercise I always start the day with involves overtones. Each note, I will crescendo from as quiet as possible to the loudest I can in one breath, one consistent and slow crescendo. Then the next breath, I do the same thing, except decrescendo from my loudest to my softest. Then I go up an overtone and do it again. So after doing this for a couple months, and already having a strong diaphragm for a year or two, according to my private teacher, I've come to understand that I very likely have what it takes in terms of air support and tongue position, with the whistling in mind. In regards to tongue position excercises, I also take the mouthpiece on its own and go from a concert A and go downwards in chromatic intervals to the octave below. So a few weeks go by doing this stuff, and I realise I'm still getting nowhere in terms of the problems I was having before. I apologise if this was extremely wordy, but it's been a while and I STILL DON'T GET IT. If it helps more, I am an alto player, I use an Otto link (not custom), tip opening 6, with the Otto link ligature, and V16 size 3 reeds. No matter if the reeds are too thick or thin I still get the same problem. So what is the problem, then? You ask. So the issue is partly what I said about the scales in the beginning. The overarching problem is when I try to do certain things in altissimo, it jumps all the way down to notes IN THE STAFF, and by then, I can't even get it back up. For example, I try an altissimo A (fingering 2, 3, and octave key), and it wants to jump all the way down to C in the staff. I then try from the C in another breath (same fingerings) all of the tips I've heard from the videos, and NOTHING happens. It just stays the same, and it's just so frustrating. This struggle is actually pretty consistent if I try to tongue a note in quick succession, like the break in the anime Cowboy Bebop's "Tank." Except the difference is I don't even try it remotely that fast and I still get the issues I guess the only question I can ask, Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered by this issue, is what can I do?

How do you articulate the reed if your Tongue is that far down???

How does this differ if at all if you are on a tenor

I'm looking to upgrade to a sax with the best sound quality possible for jazz and blues. What kinda sax do you have ?

Why I'm struggling on altissimo g?

When improvising for beg-intermediate..how do you approach a chord. I'm a blank slate, example c7, I usually try to use c triads ex. CEG, then fill in blanks.. but is not always a good practice. Instructor is giving me patterns but u might have some other input that can help..in this case is old school vs new school..anything helps..is just a lot of patience n start filling those blank pages.

I am using a Yamaha 4C mouthpiece, I feel like with such a small tip opening I am not getting the vibration I need... does that make sense?

Question: I found out it is much harder for me to succesfuly play altissimo range with a synthetic reed (legere). Is it true that a cane reed is better for that? Or is there a different embouchure for altissimo range with a synthetic range?

I can't play higher than altissimo F. The note shoots up really high for higher notes and E and F most times. Please help.

Tighter corners seem to lose the vibration in the reed 🤷🏼‍♂️

What kind of mouthpiece are you using

What mouthpiece size is best for altissimo??

How to play your intro?