jamesfrmphilly

did you know there are people out there playing one note for 20 minutes?

http://www.r-o-d-d-y-t-r-u-m-p-e-t.cc/

kingpep

Yeah.
I've been told to do that before, I think it's part of the Cat Anderson method. Play for 20, rest for 10. Move to 3rd space C and repeat, and then there are some slurs on some extremely long tones. I don't do it that often, but I have done it before.

Nonsense Eliminator

That is just craziness. Any fool knows that anything longer than 18 minutes is a waste of time. :wink:

Youri le god

Hey, don't knock it till you've tried it. I use this in my regular parctice. I do 20 minutes of held G. Take a full breath, play a G till you run out of air and keep repeating this for 20 mins. It works!!

Youri

trickg

I think that you may have missed the sarchasm in NE's post. If you are going to spend that much time holding a G in the staff, is there really much difference between 18 minutes and 20 minutes?

I know a guy that attributed his double register range to just such an exercise. He said that he litterally would spend entire practice sessions playing a G in the staff. H said that it added focus and strength to his playing and embouchure.

dizforprez

Couldn’t you just do your scales, long tones, Clarke studies, or Flow studies softly and get the same thing done?

Why create a separate part of the day for extra exercises when you can work them into the normal routine. And anyone that has an established base of fundamentals in their practice should already be doing things that will accomplish what the 20 min G is designed to do.

trickg

I think that the reason for the extreme long tone exercises is so that you really begin to achieve maximum efficiency with your chops. If you are doing a lot of moving exercises, you may be moving your chops around a lot in an effort to maintain a proper focus and resonance to your horn. If you take the time out to do the extended long tones on just one note, your chops will self train to find the maximum efficiency and resonance.

I think that's the theory anyway.

slimshady

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.

Dr G

On the other hand, Cat Anderson had no problem with the high notes, let alone tone.

jamesfrmphilly

i can't do it.
my mind wanders after a few minutes.
i can't concentrate.
oh well.