Master the 12 Keys — practice scales, vibrato and long tones for every wind instrument
MAJOR SCALES · ALL 12 KEYS
F major
sounds as A♭ major (concert)
Scale · full range · starts on the tonic
Throat-first, not lip. Finger the middle note, close every key, and hold that exact throat position — the overtone keeps singing. Then play the low note and lift it to the same overtone with the back of your tongue. Play it very quietly — it sounds ugly (everyone sounds bad doing it), but when the throat locks before the note, the sound gets remarkably bigger. Four times on each; don't rush past low C♯ for months. La gorge d'abord — doigtez la note du milieu, gardez la position de gorge, puis montez la note grave vers le même harmonique avec le dos de la langue. Très doucement. Quatre fois sur chaque.
High F
Low C
Tempo60 bpm
How many notes5
Fingerings · Doigtés
Note names
0reps
0:00on this exercise
Sound & click settings
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The free trainer is your 12 major scales — straight up and down, every key, the full range of the horn, until they're fluent. Everything deeper lives here, each one in this same simple format.
Minor scales & arpeggios · Mineurs & arpègesRelative harmonic minor + the tonic (I) & dominant-7th (V7) arpeggios
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Every instrument · Tous les instrumentsTrumpet, flute, clarinet, oboe, strings… correct transposition & clef
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Technique · La techniqueIntervals (3rds, 4ths…), chords & the ABCD method
Vibrato · Le vibratoA gentle, even vibrato — the throat-first wave, 5 per beat
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Long tones · Sons filésSix notes, ~30s each — soft to full and back, nose-breathing
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Grow your range & fingerings · Étendue & doigtésExtend your range one note at a time; see the fingering
SOON
For teachers. Send this exact practice as a link — your student opens it ready to play.
About — Prof. Thomas Hornig
Founding faculty and first-category Professor at the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music since 1994, Selmer Paris artist, and Principal Saxophonist of the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra. Jazz studies at the University of Minnesota; classical study with Alain Bouhey at the École Normale de Musique de Paris.
Staccato — the note is separated from the one that follows. Play it as half its written value, the rest of the beat silence: a quarter note becomes an eighth note + an eighth rest. What matters is the perceived space between notes — and you make that space with the air, thinking of the syllable “TA,” not by stopping the reed with your tongue. Stopping the reed with the tongue is a common habit, but in my view a mistake: it kills the tone.
Tenuto — hold the note its full length with the lightest possible articulation (it's marked with a small line on the notehead side). The long game is to isolate just the tip of the tongue. A young player moves the whole tongue on every attack — you can actually see the throat and larynx move — so every variable of the sound is in flux. A mature player keeps a gentle “E” position (feel the sides of the tongue brushing the rails of the upper teeth) and lets the throat drive and control the sound. Weaving very light articulation into your daily scales and warm-ups is the fastest road there — over the years the tip of the tongue learns to move on its own.