Professional saxophonists can play very high notes that amateurs simply can't reach. A new study has now revealed how they do it – they tune their own vocal tracts to help the instrument play well above its normal range.
The finding means that a player's vocal tract is sometimes more important than the instrument itself. It can add an octave or more to the range available to the most skilled players in the altissimo sound register.
The research, by UNSW doctoral student Chen Jer-Ming, resolves a 25-year debate among scientists and players of reed instruments, such as the saxophone and clarinet.
The longevity of the debate has been due to the technical difficulty of making non-perturbing, precise acoustical measurements inside the mouth during playing – that is, in a variable, humid environment with very high sound levels.
Mr Chen demonstrated that professional players achieve their special feat by systematically tuning their vocal tracts to resonate at a frequency close to that of the desired note. This tuning adds the tract’s resonance to that of the saxophone, which allows the instrument to play above its normal range.
The research revealed that amateur players, who were unable to play notes in the altissimo range, did not tune a strong vocal tract resonance.
The standard range of the saxophone taught in elementary and intermediate stages of learning is a little over two and a half octaves. The altissimo range, used by experienced players, extends another octave or two above this.
“Acousticians have long debated whether and how the resonances of the vocal tract are involved in the playing of clarinet and saxophone,” says Mr Chen. “We measured the resonances of saxophonists’ vocal tracts directly, while they played. Over the standard range, there is no simple relation between tract resonances and notes played.
“However, in the altissimo range, the second resonance of the tracts of professional saxophonists was systematically tuned slightly above the desired note. The players who couldn’t achieve this effect were also those who couldn’t play in the high range.
“Over the standard range, a resonance of the air within the saxophone determines the note played: you press the right keys and the right note – usually - comes out. But for the altissimo range, the sax’s own resonances are weak and to play up there you need to make the resonances of your own vocal tract stronger so they can assist those of the instrument to produce the desired note.”
Although the effect was shown in the saxophone, similar effects are likely to be important in other single and double reed instruments, whose players also report the importance of the tract for special effects, including high register playing. The study appears in the journal Science.
Sample sound file: A professional plays comfortably over the normal range and altissimo range of the tenor saxophone - www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/sounds/profsample.mp3
