Long Tones and Dynamic Phrasing

Here’s the tip from this month’s winner, David Hale, Centennial High School, Franklin, Tenn.:

“Approach long tones with a specific goal in dynamic phrasing. Most long tones should actively keep the phrase alive by getting louder or softer. For younger students, this attention to phrase endings improves breath support. This type of dynamic shading may be dramatic, or may be so subtle as to be almost imperceptible. The result of this performance technique is a phrase that comes alive and leads into subsequent phrases.”