Is it necessary to practice long notes on the saxophone?

If you have to ask…

apart from everything else - practicing long tones is also an execution of - an exercise of - a practice of your breath support if nothing else. There are a lot of postive, advantageous reasons to practice long tones.

Benjamin Allen said:

Dr. G is correct. Greg Fishman, my phenomenal saxophone instructor who is an amazing player, works on ballads for his long tones so he kills two birds with one stone.

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Yes I was gonna say— Dr. G mentioned using actual music (ballads etc) as if it were long tones a while back and it stuck with me. Not because I ever hated doing normal long tones, but the list of things I want to work on is a mile long and 30 minutes on long tones is time I might better use elsewhere. (I already warm up with work on overtones every day.) Hopefully just focusing on my tone while playing slower music with long phrases and trying to tone-match my favorite players while playing along to transcriptions is enough.

Exactly, I play everything as if it's long tones. Meaning that I really focus on getting my best possible sound on every note. I do practice long tones in the high palm key notes, because nailing those on soprano with good tone is far from easy.

Zasterz said:

using actual music (ballads etc) as if it were long tones

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Soul Eyes is a go-to for me.

I play long tones, and intersperse them with vibrato, to get the most out of it. Sometimes, I play ballads with long sustained notes as a warmup. It's the tone you're listening for.

ROC said:

Soul Eyes is a go-to for me.

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Anything can be played slooowly. Donna Lee etc

Didn't Jackie Mclean say all he practiced were long tones?

Ariel said:

I would like to know if renowned musicians such as James Carter, Joshua Redman, Euge Groove, and Kirk Whalum continue to practice techniques such as long tones to maintain the quality of their sound, or if they have reached a level of skill where their sound no longer requires such practices.

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mmichel said:

Joshua Redman definitely continues to work on long tones (and other fundamentals). E.g., see the interview posted here:

How Joshua Redman practices - Bob Reynolds

Check out what he says from 15:00-18:30. I posted this video before, but for different reasons. One of my students asked about what to do when his practicing felt unfocused. I explained the common phenomenon of the beginner’s curse: plenty of time to practice & not sure what to practice. Once...

bobreynoldsmusic.com

Personally, I think asking "do pro saxophonists need to keep working on long tones" is sort of like asking "do pro athletes still need to work on conditioning"?
Of course they do, if they want to maintain a high level of performance.

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Kirk Whalum is another from your list of "renowned musicians" who has confirmed that he regularly practices long tones:

You don't HAVE to practice long tones, but if you have any interest in developing a rich compelling flexible sound over the full range of the horn and the full range of dynamics from pppp to ffff, they sure help. I'm not saying that refusal to do tone building exercises will result in a pinched uninteresting dull sound, but there's a good chance of it.

But practicing long tones does NOT mean being a surly middle schooler and playing some notes for a while. You practice long tones, like you should practice anything, with INTENTION and with ATTENTION.

Ariel said:

Hi everyone I have a question about practicing long tones on saxophone. Some musicians say that after a certain point, it's not necessary to practice long tones anymore since they're only for beginners, while others believe the opposite. I really admire the great sound of musicians like Euge Groove, and I was wondering what your opinion is on this. Do you still practice long tones in your current practice routine, or do you feel like it's something you don't need anymore? I would really appreciate your input and any additional information you can provide on this matter.🙏

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YES ABSOLUTELY

I will say sometimes I just do not have the time to do long tones and my skip doing them for periods of time, and as soon as I go back to doing them there is always a difference in my tone that is noticeable YMMV

I don't think I've ever known a good or great saxophonist who didn't practice long tones. The great ones still practice long tones.

Short answer is yes but remember, there are plenty of ways to work on this. I personally love playing with drones. I'll also play whole note guide tones through a ballad as a way of working on long tones. This allows me to fight off my resistance to just playing long tones into the ether, which I know I WON'T do every day. It also allows me to hear my sound vibrating with other instruments, the drone, etc, and helps with nailing my intonation in a more real life situation rather than just a tuner.
You can also incorporate articulation (light tongue, stronger tongue, breath attacks) and dynamics to help make it more fun and engaging!

Nick Mainella said:

I'll also play whole note guide tones through a ballad as a way of working on long tones.

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That's a really good idea!

Yes, long tones are necessary, but you do not have to hate playing them.

There's a foolproof method to determine if you need to play long tones that's completely independent of anybody else's opinion or practice regime. If your tone sucks, you need to play long tones. This works no matter what level player you are, whether you're a pro out of practice, or an absolute beginner.

As others have said, long tone practice can be boring whole notes, or it can be playing ballads. Regardless of how you do it, to get the benefits, you must be focused on producing a good tone, not just reinforcing whatever bad tone you may currently have. What works for me is trying to match the tone of a good player I admire. I personally get all the long tone practice I need during my regular practice. But you may need more or less. Your ears will always tell you what you need.

bad said:

Didn't Jackie Mclean say all he practiced were long tones?

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There's the Jackie McLean daily warm up book: https://www.amazon.com/Warm-Up-Exercises-Saxophone-Jackie-McLean/dp/0793563658

Can't say for sure that he played all of the material regularly, but there's a healthy dose of long tones with scales and other exercises.

You've mentioned long tones in regards to technique. I tend to separate good tone and good technique practice to make sure I accomplish being in optimum shape for both. Being in shape for tone, for me, means, in a controlled way, being able to change volumes (slowly and quickly), being able to play large intervals, staying in tune regardless of extremes of volume or intervals and being able to keep my embouchure somewhat steady throughout all that. That control comes with practicing long tones for me. And the added benefits of having a nice sound is worth it.

I've practiced long tones for many years but found that my biggest progress came with an emphasis on overtone exercises. I think it also added more consciousness to what's happening with airstream depth and control in both tone sustenance and quality.

Long tones by themselves was positive....but the next level for me came with working on overtones.