Why practice long tones? What are you trying to accomplish? What do you listen for? How long should you do them? How often? Should you use a metronome? A tuner?
Below is described a method of long tone practice you can do every day, that will lead to better intonation, a more consistent, even scale, better vibrato, a more relaxed embouchure, and if applied with a positive mental outlook; a more relaxed and focused approach to your practice sessions.
Tone matching is the process of playing the same note with different fingerings and manipulating the tone of each differently fingered note so that all notes match in pitch, volume, color, and attack.
The goal of this tone matching exercise is to establish and reinforce an efficient oral cavity position, meaning the position of the tongue within the mouth. The benefit of these exercises is that often students find that the tones can be produced with reduced embouchure pressure, thereby reinforcing the concept of a relaxed embouchure. The resonance and intonation of each note will improve when the resonance of the regularly fingered note more closely coincides with its harmonic relationship to the fundamental.
The Harmonic Series
All musical instruments are based upon the same harmonic principles, that each note is based upon a fundamental pitch and contains within it the components of its harmonic family. If we play the lowest Bb on the saxophone, through embouchure and oral cavity manipulation, we can also play its harmonic offspring, so to speak. It is possible to play all the notes below (and several more) without changing fingerings from the low Bb.
First Harmonic Set
Start with the first pair of Bb’s at a moderate volume level aiming for a seamless transition between each note. The transition is important because the goal is to find a combination of oral cavity and embouchure positions that works for both notes. Listen to match the sound quality and pitch of both notes. Often the naturally fingered note will be lower in pitch to the harmonic. Work more to bring the harmonic down as you also try to focus and raise the natural fingering. Problem solve as you go; if you can’t move from the natural fingering to the harmonic, reverse the process, or try breath attacks.
The beauty of these exercises is that while you are playing and listening to them you are learning from your instrument. It will show you where your tongue, lips, head, and air need to be to accomplish these notes together. So often students rely on their teachers to tell them everything the need to know regarding music and their chosen instrument rather than listening, looking, and feeling for their own answers. Raise or lower the instrument. Look in a mirror. Is you embouchure relaxed? Is your chin bunched or smooth? Is your lower lip lightly drawn over your teeth? Be creative. Stand on your head. Face south. Eat a peach.
Once you able to consistently produce these note combinations and move between them at a variety of dynamic levels, begin to use a consistent sixteenth note vibrato where one quarter note equals 72 bpm. Once again, the benefits are multifaceted. Your tone work becomes a vibrato exercise and you also must eliminate embouchure tension as a means of producing the tone.
Second Harmonic Set
As you move to the second set of harmonics you will find fewer pitch discrepancies between natural and harmonic tones, but again listen for the harmonic complexity of the harmonic fingering and try to achieve that richness using the natural fingering. As you proceed through these exercises, take a physical and mental inventory. Are your hands relaxed lightly resting on, or just above the keys? Are you balanced? Are you breathing naturally and deeply? Speaking of breathing, you should breathe between each note pair as indicated. As to oral cavity, your tongue position should be as if you were saying the syllable “EE.”
This set is the gateway to the altissimo register, so if all is going well and you are able to produce a solid G# with a low C# fingering continue up the chromatic scale to an A with a low D fingering, a Bb with a low Eb, B with low E, on up all the way to altissimo D with a palm key F fingering. If you can accomplish this, you may notice that the relationship of the interval of a twelfth breaks down around the note pair of an E produced with an A fingering. Above this, a bis Bb fingering produces an altissimo F#, B an altissimo G, a side C fingering yields an altissimo G#, and open C# sounds a high Bb. Pay attention here and you will find that these fingerings are the basis for accepted altissimo fingerings.
Third harmonic set
The third harmonic set will produce Bb two octaves above the fundamental and may feel more resistant, or speak reluctantly. If you took the little extended journey described above, you already felt this. You can force the harmonic to sound for Bb and B by raising the middle finger of the left hand, in effect a greatly covered fingering for Bb. The same concept applies to raising the first finger of your left hand for C and C#. As you produce these notes, feel where the note is resonating within you. Does it feel like the sound is moving higher, almost into your sinuses? Maintain a consistent vibrato to ensure that these notes are the result of oral cavity position and not embouchure tension. The pitch of both notes should match exactly.
Fourth Harmonic Set
This set is really only part of a set because the E natural produced with a low C fingering is very unstable and depending upon the player, instrument, mouthpiece, reed, day of the week, or phase of the moon, may be out of tune a quarter step sharp or flat. Don’t spend too much time on E, concentrating primarily on the other three tones. Note that the high F is produced not with a fingering two octaves and a major third below, but with a fundamental Bb two octaves and a fifth beneath it. Try it with both C# and Bb fingerings.