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RE: Throat and Tone Color

Author: Fred
Date: 2001-04-16 13:31

I'll take a shot at this, though others on the board probably have more experience at it. First of all, practice long tones starting on low E going from very soft to very loud and hold the very loud as long as you can before coming back down soft again. Maintain a good embouchure - no fair puffing your cheeks. You will find that about all your throat can do at fff is open up and stay out of the way! You will also be building up breath support which is ESSENTIAL for the kind of tone you want. It would also be helpful to do this in front of a tuner. You will begin to learn how volume affects intonation, as well as the characteristics of your own instrument setup.

One thing more - I was insulted when my first professional teacher put me on long tones. I was first chair with no competition in sight . . . surely I should have been working on great music . . . or at least etudes! Nope, it was long tone exercises out of beginner books. He was right. Thanks, Mr. Seiler . . . wherever you are.

Good Luck!

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