Trombone NOTES

Brian Diehl

July 18, 2024

403 River Road, Andover, MA 01810

Tel 978-886-0501

bridiehl@gmail.com

www.briandiehl.net

• Long tones

  • The most important part of brass playing

  • Relaxed but full breath

  • Always fill pitcher (i.e. lungs )from the bottom up rather than shallow, clavicle breath.  

• Common Problems

  • Legato on the Slide Trombone

  • Gliss the Tri-tone (1-7) from Bb

    • Add a gentle "duh" to "dent the air" if there is a slur but a gliss is sounding

  • F and Bb-use triplet chromatics for evenness.

• Embouchure & Sound Production

  • Both lips are buzzing, 

  • Free buzz

  • Cut-away mouthpiece

  • Sing, buzz, play

  • "Hard boiled egg" inside of mouth

  • Warm air

  • Whole notes at quarter =60, 1st position and down chromatically, returning to Do

  • Never want puffing cheeks or air bubbles around lips

  • Firm upper lip and corners (all the way around)...say "mmm"

  • Aperture is round

  • Finger on the valley of their chin, retain that valley

  • High notes

    • Focused air, fast

    • Blow air slightly down toward chin (pivot method)

    • Send the air farther for higher notes (Clothes line analogy)

• How to encourage Students to play Trombone 

  • Gliss! 

  • All Musical Styles

  • Articulation

  • Alternate positions

• Maintenance

  • Get a trombone stand so students don't ding them up

  • Use a trombone cleaning rod for regular cleaning with toilet paper and valve oil (3 squares)

  • Cleaning Slides

    • Inner slide 1:  Clean top side (with lock), twisting all the way, push it through so it doesn't get stuck on the lead pipe

    • Inner slide 2:  Clean bottom side (no lead pipe)

    • Inner slide 3:  Use valve oil on a toilet paper to clean outer side 

    • Use a snake when you are able to submerge the instrument

  • Cream and Mist for slide

    • Cream on the indentation

    • Bring each side of the slide up and down before putting it back together

    • Spray with mist of water

  • Tuning Slides 

    • Vaseline is cheap

• Tone

• Sitting

  • Move stand to the right so they blow to the left

• Accessible Method books

  • Edwards- Lip Slur Melodies

  • Bordogni- Melodious Etudes,

• Inviting and not off-putting. 

  • Walk a Student through Arbans to ease the potential anxiety

• Tools

  • Mouthpiece Buzzing

  • Use a cheap funnel to amplify the buzz

  • Mouthpiece Visualizers

  • b.e.r.p.

  • Breathing Bag

  • Inspirometer

  • Metronome

  • Tuner (and how to use them...)

  • Practice Mutes

• Compensating is better

• Models for trombone

  • Beginner  

  • Intermediate with F attachment trigger 

    • Getsen 725, Shire Instruments Q series, Yamaha, Conn 88H

• Models for euphonium

  • Beginner

  • Intermediate

• Trombone mouthpiece

  • Bach 12C (small mouthpiece, sounds tight, small shank)

  • Upgrade to larger back bore:

    • Bach 5G (symphonic/large bore, long shank)

    • Bach 5 for small bore

    • Dennis Wick also

• Euphonium mouthpiece

  • ?

• Tuning slides for trombone and euphonium - always out a little?

• Venting euphoniums - something that should always be done?

• Snaking the euphonium?

• Give instruments a bath with water keys getting wet?

• Videos of performers and videos of maintenance

• Baritone versus euphonium 

  • Historical tradition between British bands and American military ensembles

  • Euphonium larger form of baritone

    • Larger bore

    • Generally has compensating valves

    • Has 4th valve

• General Concepts for Brass

  • Solid Bricks of Sound, Cloning our sounds of notes to Match each other throughout range,

  • Play Full-Length notes, especially in rhythmically challenging passages.

  • World class sound is our goal

  • Singing, Buzzing, Playing

  • Buzz 5 note scale segments at piano

  • Air-Trombone, air Euphonium

  • Harmonic Series- Pitch tendencies

  • Idea of sharing videos or cd’s of Great music, examples of Amazing brass playing- get

  • students excited for a deeper musical experience. Maybe it starts with live performance. The

  • Influence of Music on the deeper musical soul, to a healthier self. Teaching the Whole Student

  • The Art of Practicing- on Improvement...

    • 1. Pre-set the Mood for a Mindset of Practice. Listen to music, Listen to recordings of your Instrument.

    • 2. Can be Baby-Steps... at least more gaining than losing

    • 3. Focus on only one weakness at a time, address it, then move on to strengths

    • 4. Full length notes, particularly in Classical Style, so a half note followed by quarter rest is off on 3,

    • 5. Practice in small highly focused chunks, Recording yourself

    • 6. Resting with focus on listening to back to recording- keep the greatest sounds in your head.

    • 7. Practice for tomorrow, Prioritize practice- passages with greatest urgency

    • 8. Organize our thoughts regarding practicing- “what would I LIKE to accomplish?”, “what do I HAVE to accomplish?” Long term goals vs Short term needs.

    • 9. Be kind to ourselves, and on days we’re not feeling good- not a “Drill Sargent”.

    • 10. When we don’t feel like practicing, I make a deal with myself that I’ll only play through my Long Tones and First Lip Slurs and a Couple of Scales. By that point I usually feel like continuing to more music- ie. Melodious Etudes. Sometimes, I’m only in the mood to practice Melodious Etudes, but that usually blossoms to other pieces.

    • 11. Stop playing if we get overly frustrated in any practice session, or jump to playing a piece that makes us feel good!

• Encourage group singing, Buzzing, pitch matching, Warmness of sounds, Turning Air into Golden Sounds!

• To Begin a Rehearsal, Ask student for a group rhythm to play the Common Long Tone Pattern, have each instrument play any first position or open (concert Bb) note, through a tri-tone, then pick a different set of rhythms to play- effect is a Bb Major chord descending as an even, ever-increasing interval/chord.

• Music Students tend to be involved in many activities, taking the toughest classes, very busy indeed. It’s a good busy!