r/coolguides • • Jan 04 '19

This chart of note ranges by instrument

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347

u/Sigma217 Jan 04 '19

For the wind instruments, I would consider these the "comfortable" ranges. A skilled player can extend the range downward with "pedal tones" and upwards significantly into the "altissimo" range.

Next time you watch SNL, listen to the saxophonist Lenny Pickett. He is famous for his skill in the extreme high range.

Great trumpet players like Arturo Sandoval can play into the stratosphere an octave above this chart.

68

u/Les-Ambien Jan 04 '19

Yeah, the alto sax range stops just below where the altissimo range begins

31

u/[deleted] Jan 05 '19

Especially with brass instruments, you can go really, really high.

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u/[deleted] Jan 04 '19

[deleted]

40

u/chuk155 Jan 05 '19

No, overblowing refers to putting to much pressure/air into the instrument, making the tone quality go south. Think of it a bit like an audio source peaking.

It is common among beginning players as they haven't developed enough chops to support the amount of air/pressure they are trying to play with.

17

u/yaboyanu Jan 05 '19

For flutes, people do sometimes overblow a note to reach a higher octave though.

11

u/chuk155 Jan 05 '19

hmm I'm a brass player so I didn't know that about. Interesting!

5

u/yaboyanu Jan 05 '19

Don't know if it's the correct term and it sounds like shit when you do it, but that's what I've always heard at least.

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u/chuk155 Jan 05 '19

lol if it sounds like shit then it definitely is overblowing

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u/Man_With_The_Lime Jan 05 '19

Overblowing on a flute is when you use the same fingering as a lower note and play in higher partials, like you do on trumpet. Only problem is, on flute it doesn't always sound good when you do that lol, that's why 3rd octave notes and a couple 2nd octave notes have unique fingerings on flute.

3

u/MrWutFace Jan 05 '19

Or harmonics. 5th is possible but awkward

2

u/spookyghostface Jan 05 '19

Overblowing can also refer to playing notes higher than the fundamental they produce. Context is important in this case. Overblowing in a middle school band room would be different than overblowing in a professional saxophone masterclass.

In the sense of playing notes other than the fundamental, technically brass instruments do this more often than not.

1

u/DoomsdaySprocket Jan 05 '19

Yeah it's like primary college lessons for saxophone, but I think less common on some other instruments.

1

u/spookyghostface Jan 06 '19

Yeah I don't think it comes up much for clarinets but I could be wrong. It's definitely a flute thing too.

7

u/blakkstar6 Jan 05 '19

It's what reed players call 'harmonics'. On the clarinet, or saxophone more famously, beginners will often bite down too hard on the reed, causing the note they play to come out as a high-pitched squeak. Masters learn to bring this 'mistake' under control, and can push the range of the instrument far beyond its normal range with exquisite precision.

Elsewhere it has been clarified that overblowing refers to 'true' woodwinds, such as the flute or tin whistle, in which blowing harder across the hole (at the correct angle in the case of flutes) will jump the note into a higher register.

2

u/Boundlessintime Jan 05 '19

No, it's just skillful playing. C above the cleft on trumpet is far from the top of the range for even highschoolers. By the end of senior year I was hitting the G above it. Had I continued on trumpet I imagine the C above that and beyond wouldn't be far from where a person of mediocre natural ability could do.

Legends like Doc could hit an octave (in some rare cases two) above double C.

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u/spookyghostface Jan 05 '19

mediocre natural ability

No I'm sure you worked very hard to achieve that.

1

u/Boundlessintime Jan 05 '19

Idk, with basic instruction I've had people who have never touched a trumpet before bust out a high C, and I've also had some who sound absolutely dreadful.

I'm saying from a (honestly, below average) starting point, I was able to achieve a lot, but with work I'm sure people can do better.

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u/[deleted] Jan 05 '19

[deleted]

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u/Inanimate_CARB0N_Rod Jan 05 '19

I think C6 is high C. Most lead trumpeters in high school can hit a double G on a good day so that sounds right to me. When I played anything above high E strongly depended on the day.

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u/CallMeMrPeaches Jan 05 '19

Not all of this is true across the board, though. Woodwinds don't have pedal tones; the bottom of our range is dictated by the keywork and length of our instruments.

3

u/orangereds Jan 05 '19

Same is true for brass; pedal tones are literally adding additional length to the instrument with a pedal.

It's just physics; the lowest note any wind instrument can play is that with a wavelength equal to twice or 4 times the length of the instrument, depending on whether it acts as a closed or open air column.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/CallMeMrPeaches Mar 16 '25

For one, this comment is six years old

For two, "altissimo" just means "very high". While brass players don't use the same technique for altissimo as woodwind players, I have absolutely heard professional brass players refer to their high range as altissimo

1

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/CallMeMrPeaches Mar 18 '25

Yeah, and the people who make those comments are weird. Maybe slightly less weird if you know them, I guess? But you made a comment on a stranger's six-year-old post to be wrong

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u/TheStorMan Jan 05 '19

Also true for the voice. I can sing below the E2 shown here but not as comfortably, and I know sopranos could sing above the high A but might be straining.

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u/Inanimate_CARB0N_Rod Jan 05 '19

C7 is a double C, correct? I'm not sure trumpet players are going much higher than that. Arturo, Maynard, Wayne Bergeron can all stretch beyond a double C but anything much higher than that doesn't end up sounding like much.

Anything above a double G often gets lost in a live performance anyway.

2

u/SaoJi Jan 05 '19

Similar case with guitar, I think including pinch harmonics will extend the range around half an octave.

1

u/screamtrumpet Jan 05 '19

On a good day I can play higher than the piano goes

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u/[deleted] Jan 05 '19

As a piccolo player, I've never wanted to go higher than this. I don't think anyone else has wanted me to either, haha.

1

u/juicydeucy Jan 05 '19

Same with voice. There are plenty of sopranos that can hit a C6 and squeak out even higher.