Is it necessary to practice long notes on the saxophone?
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Could you elaborate on this please? I'm trying to understand "target. tone in your head" in this context
That's what Ernie Watts does too
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I used to practice chorales from my Dad’s old Methodist hymnal at 8th note = 60 for several hours a day in my 20’s. I think I had the best sound of my career in those days. Nowadays, I’ll do SOMETHING at the beginning of my practice routine: extra slow scales and intervals, chorales, slow etudes, ballads, etc. something different each day. But SOMETHING to keep the embouchure in good enough shape to survive whatever gigs and record dates I have to do.
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When I was grinding in the early days trying to unlearn all of my bad habits, I was obsessed with trying to have Dexter’s tone. So when I’d do long tones I’d play the note with that specific tone quality in my head, adjusting my airstream/oral cavity shape/bottom lip position (etc) until I was in the right ballpark. Eventually I was able to land somewhere pleasant.
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I was always of the school of playing ballads personally, not that I have never done long tones but… Specifically, My One and Only Love, Early Autumn, and Lush Life. I do practice overtones though. Then I like application for them and may play ballads in multiple octaves.
So, do you have to sit and hold a note for a long time? No and it won’t do you any appreciable good unless you know why you are doing it and working towards a goal. You will passively pick some things up that way. Some good, some bad… ultimately you need to do something that focuses on your sound and breathing. Long tones are a tried and true method though so… I’d consider them.
So, do you have to sit and hold a note for a long time? No and it won’t do you any appreciable good unless you know why you are doing it and working towards a goal. You will passively pick some things up that way. Some good, some bad… ultimately you need to do something that focuses on your sound and breathing. Long tones are a tried and true method though so… I’d consider them.
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I could be wrong about this (if so, someone correct me & tell me why) but I don't think it's an 'either-or' situation. When playing a ballad slowly, more slowly than normal and drawing out the notes while paying attention to the tone quality, you are practicing long tones. As a warm-up I sometimes will hold a long note out as long as possible, but at a certain point, I'd rather do something with that note and play a melody or some sort of pattern using more than one note. A ballad works great for this purpose.
There's nothing WRONG with using ballads for tone practice, but there are two ways in which it's not as good as specific tone practice.
1) Very few ballads cover every single note in the entire key range of the horn from low Bb to as high as you can play altissimo. No ballads involve the complete range of dynamics from pppp to ffff unless of course you specifically do something about this. Every note, and every dynamic level, is a little different in its response.
2) No matter how you play with the time, you'll still be constrained by the song's form to moving from one note to the next to keep the song going. So if you need to go back to that low F#, you probably won't.
My particular tone practice consists of playing each note on the saxophone from low Bb to the highest altissimo I have, starting at pppp, crescending to fffff, then back down to pppp. If the note drops out when very soft, or breaks up when very loud, I go back and try it again. On the lower notes of baritone, I'll need to take each note in a couple of breaths. One of the objectives is to increase dynamic range. If you are regularly practicing going from too soft to too loud and back again, while trying to maintain a constant tone quality and a constant pitch, over time the soft and loud dynamic levels at which you can play with a pleasing tone in tune will get softer and louder. The wider the range of "just barely in control", the wider the range of "in pretty good control" will be, and the wider the range of "command of the instrument with complete control of expressive qualities" will be. (This applies to range as well; someone who's spent several hundred hours concentrating on starting low Bb at pppp level, or playing high F in the palm keys at ffff without having the reed close up, willl have a far better control of these extremes of tessitura.)
And the last point: I recommend that tone exercises be done, whenever possible, outdoors in a location far away from reflective surfaces. This helps build a big husky tone with vibrancy. Avoid practice room tone.
1) Very few ballads cover every single note in the entire key range of the horn from low Bb to as high as you can play altissimo. No ballads involve the complete range of dynamics from pppp to ffff unless of course you specifically do something about this. Every note, and every dynamic level, is a little different in its response.
2) No matter how you play with the time, you'll still be constrained by the song's form to moving from one note to the next to keep the song going. So if you need to go back to that low F#, you probably won't.
My particular tone practice consists of playing each note on the saxophone from low Bb to the highest altissimo I have, starting at pppp, crescending to fffff, then back down to pppp. If the note drops out when very soft, or breaks up when very loud, I go back and try it again. On the lower notes of baritone, I'll need to take each note in a couple of breaths. One of the objectives is to increase dynamic range. If you are regularly practicing going from too soft to too loud and back again, while trying to maintain a constant tone quality and a constant pitch, over time the soft and loud dynamic levels at which you can play with a pleasing tone in tune will get softer and louder. The wider the range of "just barely in control", the wider the range of "in pretty good control" will be, and the wider the range of "command of the instrument with complete control of expressive qualities" will be. (This applies to range as well; someone who's spent several hundred hours concentrating on starting low Bb at pppp level, or playing high F in the palm keys at ffff without having the reed close up, willl have a far better control of these extremes of tessitura.)
And the last point: I recommend that tone exercises be done, whenever possible, outdoors in a location far away from reflective surfaces. This helps build a big husky tone with vibrancy. Avoid practice room tone.
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Can someone give me a ballpark guess here so I don’t have to compute it? Well here I’ll try— 30 notes on the horn times what? 30 seconds per note so 15 minutes just holding the notes. You work on this 15 minutes every time you practice? (Probably more if you’re doing the dynamics or other exercises on the notes?) The question isn’t whether this is a beneficial thing to do— obviously it is. The question is opportunity cost: that was a transcription you might have learned, or a new tune you could’ve gotten down.
Cannonball Vintage Reborn Tenor Sax with Cannonball 5J HR & Otto Link STM NY 7.
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I like everything you have written here, except the "practice room tone," whatever that is. I have developed better when hearing the front of the horn reflected off a hard surface. Then, I can feel what that is like without hearing all of the horn. The back does not sound like the front.
Keilwerth saxes (S/A/T), Selmer clarinets (S/B), Altus Azumi flute
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I don't do exactly what @turf3 suggests here, but I do spend a significant chunk of my practice time on dedicated tone work (e.g., long tones, harmonics, the "hinge" exercise), probably 15 minutes on average. It's often the only thing that I practice when I've got limited practice time.
In terms of opportunity cost, note that the OP's question was about whether this is useful for established professional saxophonists. Though I'm not an established professional myself, I have been playing for decades and I've found that tunes, transcriptions, and finger technique are pretty "sticky"; while tone, control, and stamina quickly degrade with limited practice. I'd imagine that most pros have already memorized hundreds of tunes and are probably doing fewer transcriptions (and doing them more quickly) than beginner/intermediate players. Finally, my personal view is that it doesn't really matter what you have "gotten down" if you sound like crap.
It is a tradeoff, and some people require less maintenance than others, but to answer the OP's question, it's best to see what the established players that he asked about are actually doing (i.e., how do the y view the trade off?), and it seems that at least two of the four artists he mentioned see fit to spend significant time playing long tones.
Keilwerth saxes (S/A/T), Selmer clarinets (S/B), Altus Azumi flute
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It's sort of like long tones combined with (slow) interval practice. The way I do it is to pick a starting note near the middle of the horn's range (it varies, but I typically start on middle D, because that's often a problem note), then:
- play a descending sequence of intervals, connected with continuous breath and without tonguing: e.g., D-C#-D-C-D-B-D-A-D-G#, etc. to the bottom of the horn's range
- do the same thing, but ascending: e.g., D-Eb-D-E-D-F, etc. to the top of the horn's range
There are threads about it elsewhere on SOTW (some people call it the "step" exercise). I picked it up from here years ago, and it's been fantastic for building control and really mastering the intonation tendencies of my horn. I practice this (and all my other tone work) either along with drones or with pitch matching tuner software.
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As a teacher myself, I like to point out that the exercise is different. Mostly from the standpoint of isolating the exercise. It is a great exercise specifically for those who have a direct interest in the exercise but I have found, for me, that I do better with a focal point and I am more working on maintenance in my tone than developing it. Some people need the isolation and I generally start students off on the exercise but as they would go to adulthood of have developed their sound, I definitely think the ballad playing is a useful application to remind yourself of why you do it. So in short, no not the same but an extension of.
Also, as was mentioned earlier, Ernie Watts using ballads was part of my inspiration. I never had the luxury of teacher before college. I did have some band directors who were saxophonists but no private lessons. In my early 20s I had the privilege to meet and play for Mr. Watts. One of my professors (a pianist) at one of the colleges I attended was playing a gig with him and and insisted I come along to the rehearsals and whatnot beforehand. In the process I got to actually talk to him and pick his brain about a few things and that was one of them. I can’t take credit for it my lonesome and not trying to name drop. I was just in the right place at the right time.
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Excellent points turf! I don't disagree at all. But to clarify what I (sometimes) do with a ballad when I want to work on long tones, I don't play it with any particular time frame for the song form. I stretch out the notes and even add notes that might not be part of the melody. IOW, totally 'free form' mostly concentrating on each individual note and holding it as long as I want. I'll admit, it's not quite the same thing as what you're doing, and there's a lot of value in the exercise you describe. I'll give it a try, but doubt I'll do it every time I practice.
I like that 'hinge' exercise that mmichel just described (in post #53). I'm definitely going to give that one a go.
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Yes the “hinge” exercise I actually do but I modify it slightly from the above. Middle D all the way down and all the way up in half steps at 60bpm daily. Pattern is below; air column not broken.
Note 1: 4 count
Note 2: 4 count
Note 3: 4 count
Rest: 4 count
Next interval.
Note 1: 4 count
Note 2: 4 count
Note 3: 4 count
Rest: 4 count
Next interval.
thanks for that detailed explanation.
by an amazing coincidence, I was looking on you tube today for a Joe Temperley video, where he was playing a Selmer soloist.
I stumbled across this…..
Jos is doing youre ” hinge “ excercise !!!!!!
He starts on middle C sharp.
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One thing that is missing so far in this wonderful discussion of the utility and execution of long tone-style exercises is vibrato. I like to mindfully exercise the range of frequency and depth at all dynamics as well. For instance, at fortissimo, start with no vibrato, then increase its presence to add to the intensity of the note. At pp, sneak in the vibrato until just detectable, then fade the vibrato while sustaining the note.
So much to do, but the emphasis for me is to always make it musical.
So much to do, but the emphasis for me is to always make it musical.
Keilwerth saxes (S/A/T), Selmer clarinets (S/B), Altus Azumi flute
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Yeah, 12 beats of continuous air at 60bpm, 8 of them on one note, focusing on tone. To me, that's effectively a long tone exercise.
Well, the idea of doing this every time you have a practice session is much more of an ideal than a reality.
But "frequently" would be what I'd say.
I'd also point out that if you know 1000 tunes but play with a pinched dull tone and bad intonation, no one will want to listen to you; but you can play the simplest stuff with a big rich compelling expressive tone and everyone will want to listen to you.
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