| long tones can be great for developing the embouchure and sound.
obviously you get more of a workout from a long note vs. and short note.
the danger is that you are not moving around on the horn. most music calls for more than one note to be played.
i think this is why flow studies like the stamp and clarke are a better choice than just simply holding notes. the key is you have to treat these excercises as if they are long tones. you have to take your time and strive for absolute perfection.
a better excercise concerning building range and long tones would be to use the chromatic scale. start on middle g...hold and move up the g#...hold then back to g. then g# to a.....back down etc. continue to go up and down adding a half step lower and higher each time. when you need to breathe you do so thru your nose...and leave the embouchure in place. eventually you could be playing from pedal C to high G with the mouthpiece having never left the face....one embouchure. if you do this softly and remember not too get too loud or cram as you get higher it can really do great things. |