 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: luckyclar
Date: 2014-09-30 12:30
I can't say that I enjoy practicing long tones.Lately I start playing more thanks to some adagios with 50-60 bpm tempo.
Could you advise me some technically easy adagios or low tempo pieces to replace my boring long tone routine?
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Author: DaphnisetChloe
Date: 2014-09-30 14:13
Rachmaninov Vocalise is great for practicing legato, intonation, sound and stamina. I'd also suggest possibly playing Etude No. 1 from 48 Etudes for Clarinet by Alfred Uhl. The Rach is available (arrangement for clarinet and piano) on Imslp.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2014-10-01 16:32
I agree with you. I was never a fan of doing long tones either for more than just a few minutes. As a substitute I would play very slow 12ths instead or slow octaves. There's also a great exercise I'd use often, starting of any given note as the center note going a half step up, back, half step down, back. Then do the same thing a doing a whole step up, back, whole stop down, back. Keep doing that increasing the interval each time, minor third, major third etc until you reach an octave. That would end up, as an example using the middle c as the center note, Middle C, high C, low C, middle C. You know you're on track when you reach the augmented 4th above and below the center note, it will be the same one on top of the center note as the lower note. I would change the CENTER note every day. Doing that for tone gives you work on the intervals as well playing slowly for tone . I would do that in slow half notes , then repeat in quarter notes, then again in eighth notes for flexibility and even in 16th notes for technique.
Then you can really play the slow movements of just about any slow piece or Rose Etudes, just play them slowly.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: TomS
Date: 2014-10-01 22:52
I've just started doing long chromatic tones ... first time since 1963. MM=60 and in the style of Robert Spring's advise. I may first rip through some notes to test the reed, but quickly return to my regiment of boredom. But, it is helping me, I think.
I had really spotty training throughout the years ... it's time to settle down and do the right thing ... I'm not getting any younger, you know ...
Tom
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Author: Dan Oberlin ★2017
Date: 2014-10-01 23:51
An alternative to chromatic long tones is the Baermann sixth exercise at a tempo like MM=60 per note. A benefit of this over the chromatic scale is the chance to refine transitions over larger intervals.
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Author: kilo
Date: 2014-10-02 00:25
Here's a discussion on long tones I often link people to:
Long Tones
Post Edited (2014-10-02 00:30)
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-10-02 19:10
If you think about it, anything you play without the interuption of articulations IS a long-tone. There is a certain exercise I had shown to me by Clark Brody but it sounds as though you are pretty sick of them. The point is that working on your sound in that way IS NOT an end in itself. You may want to just play lovely melodies at a slow pace to capture the same benefits.
There is the Wagner/Baermann Adagio and a plethora of slow orchstral excerpts (such as the Beethoven Symphonies 4 or 6 slow movements, or Light Cavalry Overture, or Weber Oberon Overture or Rachmaninov Symphony no.2 etc). But all you have to do is pick a favorite melody of the day and express it slowly.
...................Paul Aviles
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-10-04 20:53
I wanted to come back to this because we never addressed WHY we do long tones in the first place.
Of course there are benefits of develping timbre when you have nothing to entertain you but the sound of a very long note. But other equally important benefits would be (depending on how you do a long tone exercise) developing endurance; correct breathing; solid rhythm; and mastery of dynamic range (loudest to softest you can muster).
Perhaps working on one of those components at a time would make the endeavor more interesting.
...............Paul Aviles
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