5 lessons from daily long-tone practice

For years I avoided practicing long tones like the plague. I was convinced my teacher was trying to torture me every time she insisted we practice long tones during lessons.

Skip forward a few years. I had moved to Vienna to study under a fantastic new teacher at one of the top music schools in the world. And then I got my finger slammed shut in a door. Then I ended up with an injury that prevented me from fully playing the flute for about 5 months!

I was devastated. I had to do something to keep up, and what did I get into? You guessed it: long tones.

Long tones became my daily routine. With the few fingers that I could use, long tones were one of the few things I could actually practice. I remember making huge improvements during that tough time, and you can read more about it in this article, but I never connected the long-tone practice to other, more advanced improvements until now.

Recently, I embarked on a challenge. I wanted to try practicing long tones for a whole week and see what happened. Nothing went according to plan. I ended up getting sick and having to quit. Then, I attempted to restart but would manage a few days in a row, and then life would take over and I would miss a day or two. I tried starting again. And again. And again.

I am sure you can relate to this struggle. Then, it dawned on me. In all my attempts to retry this process, I had started forming a habit! One that I was actually enjoying! It seems this leopard still knows how to change her spots!

Here’s what I learned from playing long tones in my routine practice (despite all the distractions life threw at me):

1. Embouchure control

I gained noticeable control over my embouchure. Seriously, after just a few days of this sustained(ish) practice, I produced a more nuanced tone, creating beautifully controlled dynamics. I could really feel and manipulate the size and shape of my aperture.

2. More confidence

I am more confident. It feels like my muscles have a fresh memory of how to move and what to do. Truthfully, I am not nearly as “in practice” as I was in my university days. Life is so busy! But now, when I pick up my flute, that nagging voice that says “you are so out of practice” dies down.

3. Savour the practice session

Practice gives me permission to slow down. This is probably what I love about practicing the basics. It has allowed me to take a step back, slow down, breathe deeply and just enjoy my sound (even when it is terrible), my instrument, and being playful and curious.

4. Combined control = overall improvement

The overall improvement is a guarantee because continuing this work dramatically improves my breathing, tone control, embouchure flexibility, and any other parts of tone production that I choose to inject into my long-tone practice.

5. Falling in love

At first, I cannot say I really enjoyed the process, but about 3 days in, I started to feel the benefits and started looking forward to practicing long tones. They gave me a sense of joy in my own tone and playing again and dare I say, allowed me to fall in love with not just practicing long tones, but also my tone in general!

While I feel like a winner, there were also a few hard lessons learned:

1. Habits are formed over time, so sometimes you need to force yourself to do it before you can enjoy it. Be patient with yourself.

2. Regular practice builds ease. Consistent work is so much better than doing anything just once or twice.

3. Variety is key. If I do the same long tones every day, I will get bored and most likely stop. So remember to switch things up a little with every practice session.

4. Make a practice roadmap. Simply doing whatever comes to mind can work, but the time it takes me to think about what I am doing is enough to stop me from actually doing it! So build a flow of exercises that you can easily remember so you can focus on the flute practice rather than wondering what to practice next.

Watch my full process of practicing long tones here:

And now it’s your turn. Is it time to reignite your own long-tone journey again? If you’re interested but don’t know how or where to start, then you may be interested in some new resources we have available for you. We have written out a few long-tone exercises — 6 days worth! — and if you sign up to our mailing list we will send these to you for FREE. You can sign up down below.

But, if you would like a more guided approach with daily videos and practice materials, you may want to join our 21-day long tone journey! Starting on 03 October 2022 we are going to spend 21 days finding creative ways to practice long tones.

There are two ways you can join this journey:

Either way, enjoy falling in love with your long tones! I know I have.