Re: Bass Trombone ?'s


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Posted by Joseph Felton on August 14, 2000 at 23:51:39:

In Reply to: Bass Trombone ?'s posted by Doug on August 14, 2000 at 22:33:55:

Hey! This is one that I can actually feel comfortable diagnosing over the internet. :)

I've been down this path myself.. eventually decided I didn't care for the trombone nearly enough to actually put forth the appropriate amount of time it would take to create a product that I would actually be satisfied with. All the same, I learned enough trombone to have some degree of confidence in this diagnoses. I can still make what I feel is a very good sound on a trombone although I tend to tongue too lightly to cover up my way sloppy slide technique. ;b

At the moment you are using 'tuba air' to play your trombone. The airstream that you are creating is *way* too thick for the instrument to handle and creating all kinds of wierd problems. While you can't rely in the specific habits that you have developed from playing tuba you can very readily rely on the *principles* upon which those habits are based. There are a couple different mental gimmicks that you might try to help you fix your problem.
1)Think about creating an air collumn that is proportional to the size of the bell. i.e. smaller than your tuba. ;b
2)Be much more conscious of creating a very directed air collumn that blows way past the end of the slide. I often think about 'leaning on' any brass instrument that I play. Because trombone is cylindrical bored for so much of its length it seems to need a little bit more attention to this aspect of the air collumn as compared to a comparable conical instrument such as a euphonium. Although, in reality, I think that a euphonium needs just as much if you actually want to do anything very technical.
3)Buzz. You will probably discover that your buzz on the smaller trombone mouthpiece is very fuzzy and not very focused. Experiment until you find what works for you here. Generally the answer has a lot to do with using more 'meat' and directing your air forward. This can fix all your problems.. especially if you buzz in tune with where you have just placed the slide.


I suspect that if you were to spend more time on the trombone and lay off your tuba for a week this would magically fix itself as you would adjust without knowing what you were doing differently.. the problem with this method is that as soon as you picked up the tuba you would be frustrated by how you sounded on that. Endless cycles of pain. Samsara. Eventually you would hopefully come up with your own mental gimmicks that would help you compensate for the differences in how each instrument blows or worse you might just learn those two specific horns, poorly, and never really be great at either. The idea behind 1-3 is to help you avoid those problems and learn more quickly how to compensate for any new instrument. These ideas will actually work for any instrument and are much more useful. Please don't be discouraged this experience will make you a much better tuba player as you develop more insights into brass playing in general.

Well, that's how I would think about it anyhow. Thoughts/Criques anyone?

joseph 'i'm here to learn' felton


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