Flex&Flow
Flex&Flow is a collection of flexibility exercises and flow studies for low brass accompanied by drum beats and drones. The routine starts with a breathing exercise, a mouthpiece exercise, then progresses to flow studies and flexibility exercises that gradually increase in range and difficulty. The whole routine takes approximately 30 minutes to complete and is intended to cover all major keys and the functional range of the instrument.
Flex&Flow is available for BBb Tuba, CC Tuba, F Tuba, and Euphonium (or trombone) with backing tracks for each specific instrument.
The exercises included with the routine are:
Filling the Tank
a breathing exercise designed to help players breathe to their fullest capacity
Modal Melding
a mouthpiece buzzing exercise that combines major and minor modes
this exercise also works nicely as a warm-up exercise on the instrument when played as written or down an octave
Flex&Flow #1
a flow study that combines lip slurs and major scales which covers an octave (2nd partial to 4th partial)
Alessi Triplets
a flexibility exercise from Joseph Alessi's Warm-up and Maintenance Routine
Flex&Flow #2
a flow study that combines lip slurs and major scales which covers almost 2 and half octaves (fundamental to 5th partial)
Mixing Modes
a major and minor mini scale exercise that challenges players to play as soft and short as possible
Flex&Flow #3
a flow study that combines lip slurs and 1-3-5-6 patterns which spans over 2 octaves
Flex-y Interval Scales
a variation on a classic major scale interval exercise
Flex&Flow #4
a flow study that combines large lip slurs and descending major scales+arpeggios which covers 3 octaves (fundamental - 8th partial)
Resonant Waves
a long tone and dynamic exercise that starts on the 2nd partial and descends chromatically down to the fundamental
Beautiful Sounds Variations
a variation on the classic Beautiful Sounds flow study that incorporates a lip bend and articulated 16th notes in all 12 major keys