Lesson 50: Altissimo — Bb5 and C6
- Produce Bb5 and C6 with a controlled embouchure and centred pitch.
- Produce Eb5 and F5 (the alto's reading of soprano Bb5 and C6) with a controlled embouchure and centred pitch.
- Move from the second-octave range into the altissimo without losing the line.
The high notes are not louder. They are higher.
Above A5 the recorder enters its altissimo: a region where the fingerings are several-degrees-removed from the diatonic stack, and the embouchure must do most of the work. Bb5 and C6 are the top of the range most Baroque writing asks for — Telemann's TWV 40 fantasias touch them; Vivaldi's concerti reach them; Bach's most demanding obbligato lines pass through them briefly. Above C6 you are in modern repertoire only. This lesson stops at C6 on purpose: the two notes you need, properly placed, are worth more than a haphazard reach for a third.
Above the upper notes you met in Lesson 49, your alto enters its altissimo: a region where the fingerings are several-degrees-removed from the diatonic stack, and the embouchure must do most of the work. Eb5 and F5 (the alto's reading of soprano Bb5 and C6) are the top of the range most Baroque writing asks for — Telemann's TWV 40 fantasias touch them; Vivaldi's concerti reach them; Bach's most demanding obbligato lines pass through them briefly. Above F5 you are in modern repertoire only. This lesson stops there on purpose: the two notes you need, properly placed, are worth more than a haphazard reach for a third.
Bb5
Eb5 (on your alto staff)
Thumb half-hole, left index UP, left middle DOWN, ring DOWN; right index DOWN, middle UP, ring DOWN, little finger UP. The fingering looks irregular because it is — you are coaxing the third harmonic out of a tube it was not designed to vent. The right ring finger is the key — without it the note cracks down to F5.
Thumb half-hole, left index UP, left middle DOWN, ring DOWN; right index DOWN, middle UP, ring DOWN, little finger UP. The fingering looks irregular because it is — you are coaxing the third harmonic out of a tube it was not designed to vent. The right ring finger is the key — without it the note cracks down.
C6
F5 (on your alto staff)
Thumb half-hole, left index UP, left middle DOWN, ring DOWN; right index DOWN, middle UP, ring UP, little finger UP. Compared with Bb5 the right ring finger lifts and the air pressure rises just slightly. The change between Bb5 and C6 is the smallest finger move in this lesson and the largest pitch change.
Thumb half-hole, left index UP, left middle DOWN, ring DOWN; right index DOWN, middle UP, ring UP, little finger UP. Compared with the previous note the right ring finger lifts and the air pressure rises just slightly. The change between the two altissimo notes is the smallest finger move in this lesson and the largest pitch change.
Whole notes. The note may break the first few times; do not try harder. Reset the embouchure, place the fingers silently, then whisper-tongue the attack.
Same patience here. C6 wants slightly less air than Bb5, not more. If the note cracks down, ease back.
Half-note Bb to half-note C, slurred. The only thing that moves is the right ring finger.
A four-bar climb from A5 to C6 and back. The two registers must connect — no audible bump where the fingerings change.
A four-bar climb in the upper register of your alto staff and back. The two registers must connect — no audible bump where the fingerings change.
Play: a Baroque excerpt that climbs to C6
A short virtuosic line that touches the new notes briefly — the way real Baroque writing uses them. The C6 in bar 3 is in and out in one beat; do not over-prepare it.
Now play these
- Telemann: Six Sonatas, TWV 40:102 (complete)
- The Vivace movements touch the altissimo briefly. Work the high passages out of context first.
- Vivaldi: Concerto in A minor, RV 445 (Larghetto)
- A slower movement that nonetheless reaches into the altissimo. Patience over force.
- Van Eyck: Engels Nachtegaeltje
- The Dutch nightingale variations — bird-imitation writing that lives in the top of the range.
When you can sustain Bb5 and C6 each for four beats at quarter = 80, three attempts in a row without the note breaking, and the Bb–C alternation drill stays even, move on to Lesson 51.
When you can sustain both altissimo notes on your alto staff each for four beats at quarter = 80, three attempts in a row without the note breaking, and the alternation drill stays even, move on to Lesson 51.
Altissimo cracking down? Reset embouchure before reaching for more air. See troubleshooting.