Long Tones and Breath Support
Warm-up · Concert band · Grades 5-12 · 4 to 8 min
Sustained pitches, held full and steady from the start of the breath to the end, to build tone, support, and control. Described generically for winds, brass, and voice -- pick a comfortable pitch and hold.
The rights, in plain language
This is our own original warm-up — a generic, public-domain music-theory technique written out in our own words, free to use, print, and teach at your school with no royalty and no fee.
Print as many copies as you need, and use it in your classroom and rehearsals — free, with no royalty and no fee. Keep the Free School Music credit on any handout you copy. For the full terms, see Licensing & rights.
How to use this warm-up
Run it at the top of rehearsal or class. Read it here, or print it — or save it as a PDF — straight from your browser for the rehearsal room. It is free, with nothing to sign.
What this warm-up is
Sustained pitches — long tones — held full, steady, and centered from the very start of the breath to the very end. This is fundamental technique shared by every wind, brass, and vocal tradition; we describe it generically here and it is our own plain routine, not a copy of any named study or method.
How to use this warm-up
For winds, brass, and voice. Choose a pitch squarely in a comfortable middle range — nothing high, nothing strained. The whole value is in the quality of the held sound, so keep it easy and listen hard.
The exercise, step by step
- Breathe in slowly and deeply, low and relaxed, without lifting the shoulders.
- Begin the note cleanly — no scoop, no burst — and hold it as steady as you can for a set count (start with four beats, build toward eight or more).
- Keep the tone even the whole way: same volume, same pitch, same color from beginning to end. Let it stop cleanly rather than trailing off.
- Rest a full breath, then move to a neighboring pitch and repeat. A few pitches, done well, is plenty.
Teaching tips
- Steady, not loud. The target is a tone that does not waver, at a comfortable volume — not the biggest sound in the room.
- Listen to the ends. Pitch and volume usually sag in the last second; hold the quality all the way through the release.
- Match across the section. Have a section hold the same pitch and tune it into one unified sound — long tones and tuning go together.
- Comfortable range only. This is a warm-up, not an endurance test; strain defeats the purpose.
Variations
- Swell and fade: start soft, grow to full, and return to soft on one breath, keeping the pitch dead steady the whole time.
- Two-note slur: hold one pitch, then move smoothly to a neighbor and hold that, with no bump at the change.
- Section unison: the whole section holds one pitch and listens the beats away until it locks.
What it builds
Tone, breath support, control, and pitch steadiness — the foundation everything else sits on. A few minutes of honest long tones at the top of rehearsal makes the whole ensemble sound rounder and more in tune for the rest of the hour.