Lower the Slide

I find that a common issue in trombone playing is short-arming slide positions. It is pretty rare that I see someone playing fourth through seventh position too low. Of course it happens from time to time, but much more often people play 5th position somewhere between 4th and 5th and 6th position somewhere between 5th and 6th. Be extra careful when reaching for the long positions that you are diligent about playing full-length positions. A good example of this is the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony excerpt. Make sure to reach far enough for Db, Gb, C and F in 6th position. 

Another thing to think about is that the majority of pitch problems seem to occur on the high side. People are often unaware of playing sharp. Chances are - if you’re playing flat - you will hear it. When you're sharp, you may not be as sure. That's where we get that famous quote, "It's better to be sharp than out of tune!" If I'm unsure, I err on the side of playing just a little too low and count on the fact that if I go too far I will immediately notice. 

Another example of this issue is playing half positions in faster excerpts. La Gazza Ladra and Hungarian March are prime examples of places where players are often caught playing half positions. It is very important to be careful about the exactness of the slide in passages like these. If I had a dollar for every time I've told someone that they glossed over a C major passage in Hungarian March by playing D followed by something between Eb and E, then F instead of exactly D-E-F (4-2-1), I could probably fund a nice trip to the Caribbean. The same thing applies in La Gazza Ladra going from A-G#-F#. People often get sloppy and play the G# somewhere between 3rd and 4th, but not solidly in 3rd. So, in reality, it's not really a G#! To people who don't know these excerpts extremely well, these details may go by unnoticed. However, if you want to be successful at an audition, it would behoove you to make sure that these things get fixed. Attention to detail is oftentimes the difference between failure and success.

Low and Slow

When playing at a louder dynamic, it is important to retain the integrity of your tone quality and pitch. Too often, we sacrifice the beauty of sound in an effort to attain volume. Ideally, we would like to get both! I have found that playing with a slower, warmer air stream and thinking of playing on the bottom side of the pitch can be helpful. A common error is to blow an air stream that is too fast and play sharp in the higher dynamics. Try your best to avoid this. 

Lock in the Mouthpiece

I've noticed many players who have difficulty clearly articulating the first note of a piece. However, they clearly articulate the first note of later phrases. I think the reason for this is that the breath preceding these articulations originates from a different place. It is important to make sure that every breath you take starts with the mouthpiece placed securely on your chops, allowing you to breathe from the corners with your embouchure set for the first note that you play. Most players do this intuitively once they are a few bars into the piece, but I can't tell you how many players I've seen that seem to take the first breath with their chops separated from the mouthpiece. Try to make the first, second, and third (and so on) breath start exactly the same way. For those who don't currently do this, try it. I bet your batting average will go up significantly!

Less Effort in the High Range

A common error is to over-stress the embouchure in the upper register. From early on in our training, we are taught that in order to create higher notes, the lips must be closer together, creating a smaller aperture. While this is true, we sometimes apply this information incorrectly. One tendency I've noticed in my own playing as well as the playing of many students, is to make the embouchure extremely tight and inflexible in an effort to bring the lips closer together.

It is important to remember that a muscle bound embouchure will not vibrate easily. Work to shape the aperture and embouchure through flexibility instead of muscularity. Also remember that an aperture that is too closed off in the upper register will result in a high range that sounds pinched and lacks resonance. To work on this, practice your scales very slowly starting in a comfortable register. As you ascend, try to maintain the lack of tension in the embouchure and relative openness of the aperture that you have in the more comfortable ranges.

Ask for What You Want

As a student, I remember playing with piano was one of my greatest fears. Sometimes the accompanist was underprepared. It seemed like it was hard to hear what was going on, and the lack of familiarity made me generally uncomfortable. I always felt like I was just trying to keep everything together as opposed to making the musical statements I had been working so hard to perfect. 

In hindsight, I realize the biggest problem was that I was afraid to take a real leadership role in music making. Whenever you are the soloist, whether it be with piano, band, or orchestra, you have to proactively take a leadership role. This means knowing the score, knowing what you want, and knowing how to ask for what you want. If the pianist is moving the tempo in a way you don't want, be vigilant about asking for it to be different. If the band or orchestra is playing too loud and you are being forced to play the piece louder than you would like, don’t be afraid to ask that the ensemble play softer. Players who are uncomfortable making these requests end up having compromised performances. I know this is the case because I've been there myself.

By comparison to how often we play in an ensemble, it is a rare opportunity for a trombonist to have the spotlight and be a soloist. Take control of the situation and feel free to ask for what you want. If you ask nicely and your musical convictions are sensible, most people will go to great lengths to make sure you get what you're asking for. There's nothing more frustrating than working up a recital or concerto for months only to have it derailed at the eleventh hour by an accompaniment that seems out of your control!

Kleinhammer

Perhaps the greatest individual trombone lesson I received was from Ed Kleinhammer, former bass trombonist of the Chicago Symphony. For younger players who don't know who this is, check out some of the great recordings from the CSO/Solti era that made the CSO brass section so legendary. It is pretty awesome!

During my lesson, Mr. Kleinhammer shared a really great exercise with me to help develop my soft playing. Set your metronome to quarter equals 60 bpm. Take a breath, articulate a note of your choice and hold it for 8 counts at a piano dynamic. Rest 4 counts and then do the same thing at pp. Then rest 4 counts and start your last long note with an air start. Hold the note at pp for 8 counts and then continue holding the note for as long as you can while making the most beautiful decrescendo possible. The goal is to let the note fade away seamlessly. For just one moment in time, there should be a question as to whether you are still playing or not. Repeat this exercise on a few different notes to make sure you are able to do this well in all ranges. 

Maintain Embouchure Structure in the Low Register

Make sure to keep a legitimate embouchure and structure in the corners when going into the low range. Many players allow their corners to completely collapse when reaching into the low trigger and pedal registers. Always make sure that there is some degree of structure in this range. Otherwise, the tone will become "woofy" and unfocused. If you have a problem with maintaining structure, try the following exercise. Play a one octave descending Bb major scale starting on middle Bb. While doing this, take note of the structure of your embouchure. Next, play the scale again, only this time one octave lower, while using the same corner structure you had in the upper octave. Try your best to make all of the adjustments happen within the rim of the mouthpiece rather outside of the rim.

Get in the Piece Before You Start

Make sure that you get yourself firmly into the feel of a piece of music before you start playing. I think this is especially important in the context of playing excerpts in an audition. Oftentimes in an audition, the awkward silence between excerpts leads the player to rush into the beginning of the next piece. Taking the extra ten seconds or so necessary to calm your mind and get in the correct mind frame is worth a lot more than the satisfaction of feeling like you're not taking too long to get to the next excerpt.

I try to have a mental musical cue for every excerpt that will allow me to start immediately in the correct style and tempo. For example, in Bolero I try to hear a few steady bars of the snare drum rhythm before I jump into the excerpt. In Ein Heldenleben, I also try to hear a few bars of the snare drum. In Tuba Mirum and Hungarian March I think of the tempo at which I want to play the eighth notes in the later parts of those particular excerpts before I start. Until I feel comfortable with the established style and tempo, I don't begin the excerpts. Starting before you reach that comfort level can be a recipe for disaster. If you start off unsure and it takes two or three bars for you to get into the feel of the piece, you've already lost the battle and the attention of the committee/audience.

Don’t Overfill the Funnel

I often find myself talking to students about not overfilling the funnel when they exhibit an excessive amount of back-pressure while playing. Usually the reason for this back-pressure is because the air is not moving efficiently from the body into the horn. I think the analogy of a funnel helps make clear where the problem comes from. 

Imagine you are putting oil into a car. You have the bottle of oil, the funnel that you sit into the tank, and the tank itself. For our purposes, your lungs are the bottle of oil (filled with oil/air), the funnel is your oral cavity with the releasing end being your aperture, and your mouthpiece/instrument is the tank. Essentially, the back-pressure is created when the amount of air put into the funnel is too much for the funnel to hold. If you are pouring oil into a funnel with a small opening at the bottom at a very fast rate, eventually that funnel will overflow. You are left with two options. You can either pour less oil or you can make the opening at the bottom of the funnel larger so more oil can go into the tank instead of overflowing. As that relates to playing the trombone, if you are having issues with back-pressure, experiment with using less air or increasing the size of the aperture. Seeing as how most players have the issue of not using enough air, I would start with opening the aperture to allow the air that you are blowing to actually get past the lips and into the instrument. 

Football and fast passages

If you watch football, you've probably often seen a receiver drop a pass because he was looking for where he was going to run down the field before he had taken care to gain full possession of the ball. I think the same thing happens to us trombone players, especially in sections of the music that begin with fast moving notes. When passages like this occur, make sure to give full length and resonance to the first note of the phrase and let that serve as a springboard for everything that happens afterwards. Too often, we are so anxious about playing a million notes that we get tripped up before we even get started!

Eye Contact with Accompanist

When playing a solo with piano, don't overvalue the need for eye contact with your pianist. In fact, I don't worry about it all. I recommend standing as close into the crook of the piano as possible while facing outwards with your bell pointing directly towards your audience. This position makes it easy to hear everything that's coming from the piano, and makes it very easy for the pianist to see you. Remember, you are the leader of the group and THE PIANIST IS ACCOMPANYING YOU. Therefore, it is very important that the pianist see you clearly, but not very important that you see him/her. Have faith that your accompanist will follow you well, and make their job easier by taking breaths and giving subtle cues with your slide that make it clear where you will begin your phrases.

Embouchure

When working to build a fundamentally solid embouchure, focus on a few basic things....

1. Lips are evenly on top of one another (bottom never rolls under the top or vice versa)

2. Stable corners and flat chin

3. Aperture remains open and centered throughout the entire register

Chill Out

In pieces that present difficulties with endurance, it is very important to actively seek out and find "chill out" times where you relax the dynamic and pressure of the mouthpiece on your face.  I can remember having a lesson with Nitzan Haroz where we were working on the Martin Ballade. After I missed the high D at the bottom of the first page, he said, "I could tell by the way you played what came before the D that you weren't going to make it." The reason is because I had played the preceding music too heavily. Even the strongest players, like Nitzan, consider finding ways to allow their chops to "take a break" in the middle of these difficult works/phrases. Try to get out of the Superman mentality. It generally doesn't work, and if it does, it won't for long!

When playing chop busting pieces like Martin, Creston, Tomasi, etc., be aware of the toll you are putting on your chops. Make sure to take full advantage of softer sections as an opportunity to stop the heavy lifting, get the circulation going again and cycle lactic acid out of the musculature. A healthy vibrato in places that are musically sensible can also be helpful. Last but not least, nobody wants to hear these pieces played heavy and pressed from start to finish anyway. The variety makes everyone happier!

Car Horn

The ideal shape of a note and the ideal shape of a phrase are generally the same. The note should begin with immediate resonance and fullness, naturally sustain, and then conclude with a mild taper. If you want a perfect example of this, simply hit a key on a piano and hold it down. You don't even need to worry about the sustain pedal. Listen to the immediacy and squareness of the beginning of the note and the following sustain and taper. I attempt to make most of my phrases mirror this shape. Of course there are exceptions. Some phrases end fully sustained or with a crescendo, and there are many special effects that are required of musicians. However, the majority of the time (see 99% of Rochut phrases), this is what you are aiming for. 

If you would like a good way to practice this, start with a long tone. Take an easy, full breath and ping the front of the note as though you were hitting a chime. Then simply allow your lungs to empty naturally. Don't artificially sustain the volume by forcing the airstream. Artificial sustaining sounds like someone leaning on a car horn. There's a reason why it is so annoying when someone is leaning on their horn. That's because an artificially sustained sound is NOT pleasing to listen to! When you start to run out of air, simply let it go! This should result in a beautiful, easily produced long tone with a seamless taper at the end. Then use that exact same airstream to play the first phrase of Rochut #2, or any other cantabile phrase for that matter. Sounds kinda nice, right?

Bordogni/Kopprasch Routine

To help develop a solid technique, I would recommend incorporating this routine into your practice. I have found this routine to be very helpful. It makes me feel fundamentally solid when I do it regularly. Full disclosure... I can't take credit for this. I'm pretty sure that these particular etude pairings came from my lessons with Carl Lenthe when I was a student at Indiana University. 

Bordogni

1. Choose any Bordogni etude and go methodically through it one phrase at time. First, sing the phrase, then buzz the phrase, then play the phrase. 

Kopprasch (play all repeats on all exercises)

1. #1 or #2 tenuto and marcato

2. #3 or #11

3. #4 (play double tongued when repeating)

4. #5, 7, 8 or 9

5. #6, 10 or 15

6. #12, 13 or 14

Bordogni/Rochut Practice

As a good exercise in building your range, I recommend picking one Bordogni/Rochut etude a day and playing it 5 different ways (as is, tenor clef, 8vb, 8va and tenor clef 8vb). Additionally, to help build the bridge between your mind and chops, I recommend picking one Bordogni/Rochut per day and working through it one phrase at a time. Sing the phrase, buzz the phrase, then play the phrase.

Big Beats

If you notice that your phrasing or style sounds stagnant, it may be beneficial to think in a larger beat pattern. I often find that this solution helps to make the music flow better, as you get out of the mindset of micro-managing the music and see the bigger picture. A prime example of this is Mozart's Tuba Mirum. Most students who play this for me at first play the phrases very vertically, leaving the excerpt with no sense of forward motion. After being instructed to play the excerpt again at the same tempo while feeling the music in two rather than four, the phrasing is usually much more pleasing to the ear. 

Another use for this is with faster moving music with a lot of notes. Oftentimes, we get so involved in getting out all the notes that the music becomes frantic and no longer sounds comfortable. A good example of this is the third movement of the Casterede Sonatine. I have seen many students approach this piece in the feeling of four in an attempt to make sure they get all the counting correct. Unfortunately, thinking in this manner creates a very unsettling feeling to the movement. I prefer to think of this music in two, and if it still sounds too uncomfortable, I try to conceptualize it in one. Thinking through the music in these larger beat patterns is easier on the brain (after you've done your slow practice, of course) and sounds much more enjoyable to the listener. 

This way of thinking can be applied effectively to almost all pieces of music, and I would highly recommend trying it. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I'm confident that everybody has already put in the time and effort to practice in the small beat patterns, play the subdivisions to double check rhythmical accuracy, played slowly with a metronome, etc. :-)

Balanced Practice

I have run across so many students that seem to have very unbalanced practice habits. Make sure that each day provides a good balance of both musical and technical practice. Too much of either is not such a good thing. In general, I would recommend splitting them pretty close to right down the middle. All fundamentals and no music makes for a boring, stagnant player. All solos and excerpts with no breathing, buzzing, long tones, lip slurs or scales is a recipe for disaster as well.

Air in Front of Articulation

Many players have difficulty getting a note to respond immediately. This often results from having the tongue and the air not being properly coordinated. No matter what the dynamic, you should aim to have the sound fully resonate the instant the tongue is released allowing the air to escape your oral cavity. I regularly encounter students who have an air stream that is moving too slowly, too unevenly, or starts moving too late in relation to the release of the tongue. I have yet to encounter the person for whom articulations are problematic because the air is too fast, too soon and too immediate. Perhaps that's not possible.

Considering that last thought, perhaps it is a good idea to go to the extreme of putting the air in front of the tongue. I realize it's a strange concept, but for the sake of practice it is quite revealing. Try the following... Put your horn to your face and set your embouchure for a middle B flat. Take a deep breath and start the note with only your air. Once the note has spoken articulate the note with your tongue. Do it again. Only this time, try to make the articulation happen as close as possible to the air start. Continue moving in this direction until the air and the tongue are in perfect alignment. Hopefully, this method will help put an end to the air being too far behind the release of the tongue. I'd much rather err on the side of the air being too early than on the side of it being too late. Whenever I start having problems with getting an immediate response, I remind myself of the articulated air start. I know it sounds like a contradiction, but you get the idea!

Aim and Fire

The concept of "Aim and Fire" can be applied in two different ways.

1. Adopt a proactive, confident mindset to articulate the first note of a passage. Oftentimes missing the first note comes from a passive, indecisive state of mind. Make a firm decision about when the note will start and attack that point in time.

2. From a purely physical perspective, make sure that you "aim" with your chops before "firing" with your air. One of the main reasons why a lot of first notes are missed is because the embouchure is not set and stabilized before sending the air forward to start the note. Inhale, then set the chops for the desired note, then send the air past the chops. When done correctly, there will be just the absolute slightest hesitation between inhale and exhale to allow time for the embouchure to stabilize.