What do long tones do to help your playing ability? Can they help some aspects while hurting others? What would be a good way to practice long tones? Are there any interesting little facts about long tones? Anything you post would be much appreciated

Long tones are good. I have found in discussions that most horn players in England are against doing long tones at the begining of any warm up routine. I have also found most method books refer to a 12 second note as a long tone ( I don't).

Long tones teach you to listen, feel, and experience your notes. This gives you time to feel what your embouchre should be doing. They also allow you to center your pitch so you know where to play each pitch. (Which will help your faster passages). Long tones condition your lips to improve your tone. And long tones can help build stamina. Long tones help you play in tune. Long tones relax your lips and lip pressure.

Long tones can help a lot. I do not think long tones can hurt any aspect of your playing. (The English people I referred to above believe long tones at the begining of warm-ups will hurt or damamge your lips). Hogwash!

There are a variety of ways to do long tones. But the best advice is to be relaxed when you do them. Listen comfortably and experience the note. Do not rush through them. Time them - start at 15 seconds per note and slowly increase your time. Do this methodically and chart it. Eventually you can work up to 90 seconds per note.
Use a tuner correctly. At first you should watch the tuner and only watch it. When you see a consistent pattern then you can adjust your notes.

For my college and advanced students we actually measure and compare the lip frequencies of the upper and lower lip. But that is taking it pretty far and I reserve it for the advanced student, pro-amateur.

Interesting facts:
1. People who do not practice long tones usually cannot play in tune with a group.
2. Most method books I have read have you work up to 12 beats at 60bpm; this equals 12 seconds. Let me say what I said above "12 seconds IS NOT A LONG TONE !! It's not". My young students start at 15 seconds and then work up to 90 seconds.
3. Good long tones are the first step towards learning how to do circular breathing properly.
4. Long tones in the low register will help your upper register!

So what should we play a chromatic scale starting on the low concert Bb, and just go up until we pass out or what?

A friend of mine was at a Masterclass on horn ensemble playing at the Royal Academy of Music a while back and they were praising long tone excercises to the heavens. They are fantastic for helping develop your ear to listen to tuning, for breath control, tone quality and evenness of your tone. Dunno about anyone else but I always start my warm up with some of these excercises just to get my ear in and also to shake off any "Morning Lips"!!

Hello from Germany,

here's my experience with long tones:
I just recovered from a major illness and today is the fifth day of playing again. I had never played long tones, but I decided to try and build up my embouchure with them after I heard very many good horn players praying them. Today, I played chromatically from middle c (1st line below treble clef) up 1.5 octaves to high f, then down to low low d (1st below bass clef), i.e. a range of 3.5 octaves. I played each for 20 seconds using a tuner to level them out and concentrating on the tone quality. Every day so far I could go up half a note without applying too much pressure. High c is nearly clear again in faster exercices. So far, I'm very pleased with the effects of long tone playing.

Question to John: Do you seriously suggest playing a note for 90 seconds without breathing? That would be like holding your breath for 90s which is nigh on impossible. I'm getting a little dizzy at 20s already.

Mave - 90 seconds? yes and no.

I have my intermediate students do 30 - 40 seconds. 45 seconds is very obtainable on some notes with proper breath efficiency. I do have my advanced students work on 90 seconds, but I must admit I have them working on circular breathing. I usually do this in combination with multi-phonics. I use the multi-phonics for relaxing the throat, opening up the tone, and setting a perfect embouchre.

The circular breathing is so you can do it. There are certainly times it can be used, especially when doing musicals, operas, and shows. But 90 seconds in one breath - nope.

I'm a come back horn player. I'd been playing horn for about 8 months when I read an article about the vitues of practicing long tones. So the next time I practiced, I decided to do nothing but long tones. I didn't play terribly horn or terribly low, but just stayed on what seemed comfy for me. To my shock & surprize, the next day my chops were FRIED!!!!! So . . . I learned my lesson with long tones, work up gradually! They do all the wonderful things everyone says they do, but approach them cautiously!

Valerie Wells
"The Balanced Embouchure" for French Horn
Wells123456@juno.com

JOhn,

Multiphonic exercises to open the throat? Very ingenious! Could you better describe one such exercise? I've always had problems with my throat no matter which instrument I played, and these problems always make it almost impossible for me to continue playing when my chops are fatigued. It's a very prominent issue in my clarinet playing because of the extra air that gets backed up due to high resistance, but I have had it occur with horn and trumpet occasionally as well. Do you, say... play a middle C whilst singing the octave below? Or do you put no emphasis on what note is actually being sung, as long as there is vocalisation? Also, as the vocalisation distorts the vibrations in the embouchure, how do you use this to improve embouchure?

I can't imagine a case where you would need circular breathing in a horn situation - unless it is a very modern piece. I try and do my long tones in one breath up to 60 seconds max (try to beat my personal record every time, haven't quite got a minute yet!), but it seems to me that practicing them using circular breathing is a little counterproductive. Unless the goal IS circular breathing. What can it do for regular non-circular playing?

Enigmus -

Multiphonic exercises. My first suggestion is to play a note in your comfortable singing range and then try to match that same pitch with your voice. At first it may seem like you are signing from behind your jaw line, I suggest relaxing the throat and get the sensation of singing from your larynx. When singing separate pitches it is easier to sing a higher pitch than you are playing. I start with unisons, Octaves, move to Major 2nds, 3rds, 5ths, 7th, 6ths, and 4ths.

Of course at first just play and sing any note you can. Then work on relaxing the thraot and getting the singing to come from down in the larynx. Then you can work on specific pitches.

The vocalisation can distort the lip oscillations, especially early on. I blame this on incorrect embouchre support. Singing unisons and fifths will be easier. Then the other intervals as you build up your embouchre. How this improves your embouchre is that it isolates and builds the orbicularis orbis.

Circular breathing in a horn situation - unless it is a very modern piece?
Mahler #2 Mvt II, Reh 10 - low Bb (36 seconds and then a measure more.
Mahler #2 Mvt III Reh 51 - stopped horn G for 30 measures
Yes, most people won't notice you breathing, but why if you don't have to?

What does it do? You can't circular breathe if your embouchre is not correct.So practicing it improves your embouchre and will improve your tone.