Posted by Steve Dedman on December 29, 2003 at 11:11:03:
In Reply to: Exercises to work high range posted by Tracy Hooten on December 27, 2003 at 03:40:44:
An exercise that I do that helps strengthen the upper register is to do arpeggios. Start on F at the bottom of the staff. Play F-A-C-F and hold the last F as long as possible, until the tone starts to waver or go flat from lack of support. Now play Gb-Bb-Db-Gb and hold. Work your way up as far as you can. Make sure your tone is what it needs to be. This is like doing the Remington long tones, you're playing the notes but actually listening for tone production, tuning, air usage, etc.
Make sure you keep fast, steady air.
Stop when you feel tired, don't push it too hard right off the bat. Work into it.
Make sure you're not "cramming" the mouthpiece.
The other suggestions about Rochut in 3 registers are on target as well. The better your low register sounds, the stronger your upper register will be. Make sure that you don't change anything but the position of the lips between registers- same air usage, same posture, etc.
Also, when working up an upper-register phrase, play it down an octave until it is prepared to performance level in the lower octave; dynamics, articulations, etc. Then it's much easier to hear and play correctly in the upper register.
Good luck!