Lesson 1

The first tone

――――――

Now let's start playing. At first, hold the Aerophone mini as shown in the illustration.

But before we begin blowing, a word about tonguing. The tongue does not produce the sound, it simply make the start of the note neater. All notes should begin using a tongue stroke, whispering the word tee.

Now relax your arms and shoulders. To finger the note b', press the lower octave button with your left thumb and place your right thumb under the thumb hook. Press the b'-key with your left index finger. Then take a deep breath without raising the shoulders, and blow the tee as though you’re filling the entire instrument. That’s your first note!

Your first note b'. The fingering chart shows you which keys you have

to press to play the note. In our case these keys are colored black.

 

Using our first tone, we will do some exercises in rhythm. They will improve your rhythmic sense, understanding and execution. Use a metronome. The problem: while playing, players often speed up gradually without realising. To keep the beat of the music constant, the metronome will help you. To do the exercises we take a steady pulse of 60 beats per minute on our metronome. The signs at the end of the exercises are repeat signs, which indicate a section should be repeated from the beginning.

Exercise 1

  teeee     teeee         teeeeeeee              tee   tee  tee   tee       tee  tee   teeee

Exercise 2

  tee               tee         teeeeeee              tee     te   te   te   te     teeee        tee

Exercise 3

  teee       te   te   te    tee    tee     te  te     tee    tee    tee      te   te  te   te   tee

Repeat these exercises several times and invent similar ones. When you have mastered them you will be ready for lesson 2.