Part 2. High-Med-Low Longtone Warmups (free pdfs)

Dear Flute Lovers,

Free printable Longtone Exercises in pdf!

NEW: Middle & High Register Longtone Warmups (pdf)

UPDATED: Low Longtone Warmups (pdf from previous post)

When you print these sets of pdfs out you get seventeen pages of warmups in three octaves that will last a lifetime. All professional flutists and great teachers and their students do these exact tone warmup exercises, and I've tried to include some hints, tips, tricks and widely spaced pages, so you may write in fingerings, and have room to pencil in your own teacher's tips, tricks and reminders for your tone work.

These first set of longtone exercises are also using a free flow of air. They are geared towards students who tend to try and play with too little air speed, and so are marked mezzo-forte to forte to allow the development of good air motion, open throat, free rhythm, and the development of good "ear to mouth" co-ordination.

The main lip motion, or embouchure technique that most flute students learn when they move into the middle and high registers of the flute is this one:
(click on this jpeg to enlarge it)


This embouchure skill, of moving the lips forward, in a "half-kiss" in order to leap easily up an octave leap with good quality tone is also shown by James Galway with close up camera.


Galway demonstrates octave leaping on headjoint.



Compare what you see Galway do with his lips with the lips illustrations.
Stunningly simple, right? Experiment in the the mirror and listen to the effect on your headjoint. Look in the mirror. See how it's done, then do it yourself.
The two most common errors are:
a) mistakenly rolling the headjoint inward to try and get a high or low note
b) mistakenly pulling the corners of the lips back, thinning the lips or tightening the lips to try and play higher octaves.

And having seen the embouchure move from the center of the lips forward, do you see how using the wet part of the lips allows greater freedom? Also, in the free pdfs of warmups, to you find that over-blowing harmonics with the added resistance of lower fingers, allows you release excess lip tension, to develop your upper register tone quality more quickly?

Also, interesting to note, for those who are encountering this technique for the first time, note that the drawings of lip shapes by Moyse and Lazzari are just approximations of a lip movements. Please don't think you have to make your lips look exactly like these drawings. Tension inhibits flexibility. And you eventually want to make the lip motions so small and so unnoticeable that you can flex just the center of your lips to effortlesly play with great tone in all octaves.

Moyse's drawings focus on the importance of using the wet-part of the inner lip membrane, while Lazzari is estimating the movement of the embouchure muscles that surround the lips. Both are needed at various stages in a student's embouchure development.
But everyone's lips look different and sound quality is the key feature of these techniques. A good teacher can tell by the sound quality whether you need to let go of excess tension, open your throat, release your lip corners, or whatever stage you find yourself at in these exercises.

(And go ahead and click on their names for more embouchure illustrations by Moyse and Lazzari.)

Give these Longtone Exercise pages of "Pure Tone" a try for 15-30 minutes a day, for a few months, and then send feedback. With your teacher's help, you'll undoubtedly fall in love with your own tone over and over again. And that's one of the RICHEST parts of playing the flute.

I've always wanted to make these tone practice pages available for free, so that everyone can get ahead in their tone work before tackling their other goals of "fast fingers of fluting."
Too often students play with fast fingers before they create purity of tone.
So here's your chance to put tone first.

All best,
Jen

Also help yourself to:
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More free pdfs for your flute practice:

Jen's Easy to Read Flute Fingering Chart (pdf - 2 pages)

All free fingering charts and trill charts
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Free Scale Booklets:

Part 4 - Creative scale practice - samples of variations for scales

Part 3 - Morning Scale Class (free pdf - III - Scales in Thirds)

Part 2 - Morning Scale Class (free pdf - II - Chords of all kinds)

Part 1 - Morning Scale Class (free pdf - I - Chromatics, Whole Tone, Major, Harmonic Minor Scales.)

Jazz Modes & Seventh Chords (free):
Extended Major Scales, their Modes, and all jazzy 7th chords pdf.

How do I get fast fingers? (24 pages pdf free flute exercises)
Exercises in trills for fun; chromatic scales for finger evenness.

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Free pdf exercises with mp3 backing tracks:

Major and Minor Scale Pattern with Harp Harmonies

Expanding Intervals Warmup

"The ScaleGame" with mp3 backing track (Taffanel & Gaubert E.J. 4)