Long tones - is there a technique?

[A.N.A.Mendez]

Long tones are essential, they are most effective , they are boring.

Is there any way to make them easier ?

No.
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[Bflatman]

A.N.A.Mendez

I stopped practicing long tones for this very reason.

What I do now is lengthened tones but in a musical context.

Vin Dibona says totally correctly that exercises should be done with an emphasis on making music.

I believe that music and exercises are bound so closely together that they can be seen as indivisible.

I play music as though an exercise and exercises as though music

Following this approach I use stretched out and lengthened musical phrases so that each note becomes a long tone or more correctly a lengthened tone and the phrase becomes a series of long tones.

This makes the lengthened tone practice focused and more full of interest than just playing long tones alone.

Lets say that we are playing vengelis conquest of paradise which is played at a modest pace, this can be played very much slower as an exercise but musically in lengthened tones.

It remains then full of interest and also helps to polish the final performance and gives me plenty to work on.

Playing very long tones within a melody can still become boring but then we can lift the pace and make it more dynamic while still playing it slower than correct pace. A series of long tones is after all simply a phrase with all notes in it being long tones.

In this way we can flexibly moderate the long tone practice to suit our temperament on the day sometimes playing very extended notes and sometimes less extended.

It is not really long tone practice but it preserves may of the benefits of long tone practice, it gets rid of the boredom, and it helps improve the performance of the piece when we finally play it at the correct tempo.

Having said that we are faced with having to discipline ourselves to do the practice. Musicians are some of the most disciplined people on the planet it comes with the territory.
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