I am the second (..Should be first. But you know how seniority goes) chair flute in my High School Honors band, and I found myself in the middle of a really easy looking solo.
What I failed to realize that made this solo so hard was one note.. An Eflat that is held out for 20 beats. Well, this wasn't an issue when I practiced it until my band director rehersed the song with the band and I found out what tempo he was taking....
Very, -VERY- slow.
20 Beats is hard to get out at moderato for me, but when you go as slow as he is going, I just can't hold it our long enough. Right now I am a measure short of breath.
Does anyone perhaps have any techniques or tips for me to be able to hold out a little longer? I am affraid I am going to lose the solo if I can't hold the note out long enough (I am the only one in the whole band playing during it, strangely enough, so they can tell if I run out of breath.)
Thanks for any help you can offer!
Need Help on Holding out Really Looong Note in Solo
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Need Help on Holding out Really Looong Note in Solo
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Jamie_Babie
- Posts: 25
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- Location: England
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fluttiegurl
- Posts: 882
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The best thing you can do is practice long tones daily. Increase them each time, setting goals as you do this. Also make sure that you are VERY relaxed. Tension can cause players to both loose air and to not be able to take in enough air. A friend of mine who is a recording artist and teacher says that air "control" is about relaxation and balance. "With these elements, you should be able to hold out for long periods of time." Make sure that you don't have any tension in your neck or back as you play. Maintain a good posture without causing tension. Generally, players loose a large portion of their air in the first few beats because they don't know how to control the initial exhale. Play a few long tones at home and take note of how much air you actually use.
I hope this helps some. Good luck!
I hope this helps some. Good luck!
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fluteguy18
- Posts: 2311
- Joined: Sun Jul 16, 2006 3:11 pm
try to rework your phrasing so that you can take a DEEP breath, and then decreascendo from there.....
Last edited by fluteguy18 on Sat Aug 05, 2006 6:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Sleeping Turtle
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- Location: Cambridge, UK
long notes
A lot of techincal problems (intonation, articulation, tone quality, length of breath) are all dependant on each other. The big thing to work on is tone quality (as so often). If you are wasting air trying to make a big noise then you are not going to be able to hold the note unless you take up free diving as a cross training exercise... Draw the sound in to you from the room (mind games...) don't push the sound out or you will run out of breath.
Do the Moise 'De la Sonorite' exercises - which you can find also in Trevor Wye's tone book as far as I remember. In the days when I used to practice I would warm up with 30 mintutes of this - take a breath, play a note for 45 seconds, 50 seconds a minute, then a very quick breath and another 45 seconds and so on. It's quite relaxing after a while.
T
Do the Moise 'De la Sonorite' exercises - which you can find also in Trevor Wye's tone book as far as I remember. In the days when I used to practice I would warm up with 30 mintutes of this - take a breath, play a note for 45 seconds, 50 seconds a minute, then a very quick breath and another 45 seconds and so on. It's quite relaxing after a while.
T
Long Note
Just came from a seminar by a professional flutist and long time teacher. She suggested two breath support items that you might want to test out. One, when inhaling start with the mouth as usual but 'top it off' by also inhaling through the nose. This seems to generate a larger volume intake. Two, a deep exhale enhances getting a fluller inhalation.