Author: Liam Murphy
Date: 2009-07-08 00:14
Skygardener,
>>>how was it [long tone practice]?<<<
In short: it was, for me, an inferior means of improving my clarinet playing.
If I were to say any aspect was improved, it would be the stability of certain altissimo notes; namely C#7 and D7 and Eb7. But this would have probably been because I've never really considered practising these notes before.
>>>After not practicing long tones much ever before<<<
I would contend that I've actually been practicing long tones all my life. Saint Saens mvt III, Chagrin Improvisation, Mozart Adagio etc.
What is more lively music but a series of shorter long tones?
I'm not even sure if I agree with myself on that last point, I'll try to qualify it all the same though. The skills which are honed through long tone practice:
>>>legato, emboshure(sp?)airsupport, tounge, voicing, projection, dynamics, intonation<<<
I felt that I was consolidating those skills just as efficiently whilst slowly and carefully practising passages such as the first few notes of Mozart's Rondo. Same deal with the practice of slower music and scales/arpeggios.
I prefer this to long tones for the simple reason that more is being achieved. I am, in the case of practicing music, gaining a greater understanding of the repertoire which will, by simple extension, make me a better musician and performer. If carefully practicing scales/arpeggios, my raw finger technique/sight reading/harmonic awareness will be improved alongside that improved through long tone practice.
>>>He [clarinet teacher] advocates a maximum 8 minute warm up using long tones or something so easy, you are not thinking about the notes you are playing. You warm up with 4-two minute exercises. You pick a fundamental component of playing, such as: oral cavity, air support, embouchure, tonguing, etc.<<<
How on earth would it ever be desirable for a student to not be thinking about the notes? Arn't notes the aural manifestation of the extent to which you've successfully executed those aforementioned "fundametal component of playing"?
>>>You spend only a minute or two (no more) and concentrate on that one fundamental to develop a memory of the correct process or technique.<<<
The satisfactory performance of “one fundamental” cannot be seen as a success. Rather, all must occur together. The only scenario I can think of where this might be useful is, once again, in students’ first lessons. I can’t see how any other player could not concentrate on, for example, embouchure + tonguing + oral cavity position. After all, what would one of these sound like without the rest backing it up? Do they not all work together anyway? Then why not practice them together?
Is my incredulity in this regard musical hubris? I don't think so.
>>>My clarinet prof told me he uses "long tone hell" on students that tend to excell on fast passages to "calm them down." He did confide that this is mainly a male problem as the young guys just out of high school<<<
Being in high school myself, I’ve certainly encountered such guys. I’m not one, and I’d only need calming down if a long-tone-automaton insisted that I become the subject of her musical-schadenfreude rather than her student.
I recently turned 18 and I can choose what to practice and what not to. I chose to discontinue my practice of long tones after an honest experiment with them.
- Liam
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