A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that LA-based, multi-instrumentalist and music instructor, Ray Pizzi, had shared an exercise with me. I finally had a chance to work through the exercise as intended, so I thought I’d write about it today.
Ray’s long tone warm-up exercise, is a great tool to help you develop and maintain your: intonation, breath control, phrasing, and embouchure. The key, as he writes on the top of the exercise, is to play it musically, not mechanically.
Ray’s long tone exercise has the player pivot chromatically around all 12 notes. This is similar to the Pivot Around Middle C exercise that I’ve personally been using for years, and have also had my students doing. The only thing is: Ray’s is better, because it covers the full range of the horn.
Ray normally charges for access to his exercises, but for a limited time, he is offering his Long Tones Treble Clef exercise free, for readers of this blog.
I encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity to pick up an exercise that will change your sound—if you do it religiously, every time you practice.
I always tell my students: long tones don’t have to be a grind. You don’t have to do them for hours. Five to 10 minutes of long tones per practice session, if done consistently and musically, will drastically improve your sound, and take your tone to the next level.
