Bb soprano saxophone

F#6

Impedance

Fingering a key depressed a key not depressed a hole covered a hole uncovered a part of the mechanism that is not normally touched Details in fingering legend. Acoustic schematic a closed tone hole an open tone hole Non-specialist introduction to acoustic impedance Non-specialist introduction to saxophone acoustics Notes are the written pitch. Frequencies are the sounding frequency, for Bb saxophone. Unless otherwise stated, the impedance spectrum is for a Bb saxophone.

Played with this fingering (not available on all instruments), this note is the highest note in the second register, meaning that it plays (normally) at the second peak on the impedance spectrum. There are no more tone holes to open to shorten the effective length of the tube and thereby raise the first and second peaks.

This fingering uses a register hole. This causes a leak in the bore that weakens the first impedance peak (although both peaks will play comfortably with different embouchures). Above the second peak, the curve is irregular: see the discussion in cut-off frequency.

Compare with the impedance spectrum for a tenor sax on written F#6: same fingering but sounding one octave lower.

Sound

Sound spectrum of a Bb soprano saxophone played using fingering for F#6.
For more explanation, see Introduction to saxophone acoustics.

Sound Clip

You can hear F#6 played.

Impedance

Played with this fingering, this note is in the third register, meaning that it plays at the third impedance peak. It is also bordering on the altissimo or very high range. The weakness of the third peak (due to the relatively large cone angle of the saxophone) explains why notes in this range are hard to play and require the player to assist the weak impedance peak of the bore with a strong impedance peak of the vocal tract. See this page for an explanation and some interesting results.

Sound

Sound Clip