[Trombone-l] Long tones

[Keith Marr]

I think Jeff's onto something there with the muscle tone idea. For various 
reasons I didn't play for about ten years and when I came back to the 
trombone I found most of my technique was still intact from before, if a 
little rusty. The one thing that needed serious work was breath control.

It makes sense as that is the most physical part of what we do and sot he 
one thing above all else that requires constant exercise. Long tones do 
exactly that.

It stands to reason, as Dan's found, that getting that diaphragm muscle 
going with the long tone practice improves the tone quality as the air 
support gets so much better.

Cheers!

Keith in Bb/F/D
Bass Trombone: St Albans Symphony Orchestra, Page Three Big Band and Mid 
Herts Jazz Orchestra
Soloist: Alto, tenor and bass trombones

----- Original Message ----- 
>
> Air is a big part of it, but I think there is some muscle
> toning/development/whatever that comes in too.  Long tones are just
> regular playing with all of the distractions of articulating and
> changing notes removed.
>
> jeff
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 2:45 PM,  <thetubameister at adelphia.net> wrote:
>> Air - pure and simple.  You learn to use it, maintain it, controll it, 
>> and never stop it.  All necessary to great playing.
>>
>> J.c.S.
>>
>> ---- Dan Thornton <dan at dethornton.com> wrote:
>>> Thanks to a couple Trombone-L members I started doing low-range long 
>>> tones
>>> in my practicing. In 39 years of playing I had never heard of doing long
>>> tones before joining this list. In the last year, they have made a 
>>> dramatic
>>> improvement. My pedals have opened up. Upper range has increased several
>>> notes. And endurance is generally better. That's even more remarkable to 
>>> me
>>> since I am a "weekend warrior" who only has time to practice when I need 
>>> to
>>> for the next gig.
>>>
>>> So, my question is this ... how do long tones help so much? Why do they
>>> work?
>>>
>>> I'm a believer ... now I want to understand.
>>>
>>> Dan