Performance Preparation: We’ll discuss Rhythm, Arban Studies, "Scordatura Trombone”, Musical Musings, Legato on Slide Trombone, Air Control, Sound
My favorite rule: "Never play the same music or phrase the same way twice"; in other words, if you have a repeated section, ALWAYS change something on the repeat. Choices for change include dynamics, articulations, ornaments (if stylistically pertinent), octave displacement, etc. I love to repeat a phrase with piano crescendo.
Rhythms - 4 Kinds
1. Personal - subdivisions, consistency...
2. Group - playing Together (Ensemble), accurate rhythms within a group...
3. Visual - interpreting rhythms from conductor as perceived by a group...
4. Distance - how rhythms fit together out in hall.
Practice Developing your own sense of pulse: tap your big toe, feel the big pulse while clapping triplet subdivisions, then duplet subdivisions.
Tempo - How to arrive at a specific tempo (for example, What's 100bpm?) Find 60 (once each second), then double it, which gives you 120 (Stars and Stripes Forever tempo), then back off the tempo slightly.
Arban Exercises:
When playing many successive octaves, choose the longer slide positions that will accomodate the lower notes first - the upper ones can always be played in the long positions.
My favorite Arbans: (numbers vary according to Arbans Book Edition)
- Basic Scales, Keys, p. 20-23 #11, 28,46,47
- Syncopation p. 33 #14
- Slurring p. 45 #1, 2, 15, p.51 #27-30, p. 60 #68,69
- Intervals p. 139 (new edition), p. 126 (old edition) - play in different rhythms, articulations, and dynamics; p. 146 (new edition) - #7 is my goal!
- Chromatics
- Multiple Tonguing- begin with Double Tonguing, then on to Triple Tonguing
- Themes/Variations - Carnival of Venice, Fantasie Brillante, Variations of a Tyrolienne
- Delicate Attacks - practice upper range attacks with high tongue position in the mouth
Breath Attacks - Basis for all articulation!
Develop Multiple Tonguing (so that there is an over-lap between your single-tongue and your double-tongue) so that you can shift easily between both. Make your single-tongue capable of faster sixteenths than your double-tongue sixteenths.
More Ideas… “Scordatura Trombone"
Re-tuning the F-tuning slide, pull almost all the way out, to E; allows for playing pedal B-natural in an almost true fashion. This affects the remainder of positions for notes above the B - second space B is now Valve-First position.
Try this: WITHOUT Tuning Slide!
Also try taking off the main tuning slide and playing your most difficult passages - it will come out a 4th (or so) higher, but the effect will be for you to hear the shape and breadth of your sound, as well as the cleanliness of your articulation - right at your ear level.
Further Musical Musings...
What follows is my discussion of issues I’ve ruminated over for many years of performing and teaching. I hope these ideas provoke a discussion within and among students and musicians for years to come.
- It takes more air to play at mf with a beautiful full sound than to play at ff with a lousy sound.
- Give your sound the highest octane of air for the most resonant sounds.
- The relationship between lip buzz and slide placement - be able to “dis-connect” and “re-connect” through the use of a “berp” or cut-away mouthpiece.
- Your embouchure must account for every pitch in a phrase: if an interval is a leap, make the appropriate adjustment within the rim of the mouthpiece; if an interval is a half step, think neighbors, and account for the half-step in the right direction - ascending or descending.
- Base all of your tone production on the “Golden Sounds” of your Long Tones: everything you play is some part of a long tone, of varying duration.
- Your lips and moving airstream are the dictators of pitch, NOT the tongue.
- Connect your ear with your buzzing and to the output of your horn. The horn will amplify what ingredients go in, relating to pitch and sound quality.
- Breath attacks are a great way of isolating your sound within an articulation; notice the shape of your sound - be sure you have a solid front and think of “bricks” of sound.
Legato on a Slide Trombone
“Can a trombone slur?” YES, of Course! but…
Let’s understand the problem: slurpy slurs in legato that don’t match the legato of other valved instruments.
“Legato”- definition: a smooth kind of articulation whereby there is a connection between two or more notes in a passage - opposite of staccato
2 Types of Slurs:
- Natural Slur, includes “lip slurs”, which contain a subdued “pop” that, when properly blown through, becomes our model of smoothness for the second type of slur:
- Glissed Slur, which occurs when blowing through two successive notes on the slide, and not involving a lip slur; effect when producing an even connection with second pitch.
The Master Trombonist learns how to smooth out and equalize articulations, no matter which kind of slur they are playing, and through practice will happen automatically.
Natural Slurs occur when:
- Pitch goes up and slide goes out
- Pitch goes down and slide goes in
- Interval between pitches is greater than 2 slide positions apart
- If two notes are part of the Harmonic Series
To fix “Glisses” of Glissed Slurs...
- Move slide quickly (not to be confused with changing the tempo) between notes
- Use “du” legato tongue on the arrival note to “break up” the gliss
- Use alternate position to create a Natural Slur
In either case, in legato the combination of the airstream and the buzz will/should ALWAYS be set to “Gliss”. This means that within the mouthpiece, the lip’s buzz shouldn’t change whether you are (“du”) tonguing or (natural) slurring, but instead always gliss between the notes.
Air Control
Ability to move air (wind) at constant speeds, at range-appropriate air pressures, no matter where you are in your air tank.
And to be able to re-fill without upsetting any fundamental playing parameters, all within as little time as possible.
For Audition/ Performance preparation, try walking up a flight of stairs, then play your most difficult piece. Get used to this uncomfortable feeling while trying to slow your heart-rate. Performances will be easier!
Think About
- Role of Performance Space(s): Acoustically speaking, is it a large hall? Is it Resonant or Dry?
- Role of Repertoire played in these spaces - is the piece accompanimental (as in accompanying a soloist or singer or chorus?) or is the piece “a big tune” for brass? (i.e.. Mahler, Shostakovich, Richard Strauss…)
- Find our Natural Sonic Tendencies with embouchure alone, with mouthpiece... lip contour/size, aperture size
Practice Ideas, Consider this Wisdom:
1. “Lightning never strikes in the same place twice”… see if you can buck the trend in applying to your instrument: pitch accuracy, rhythmic accuracy, consistency overall.
2. “Easier to play solos at tempo, or faster, with poor ears on than it is to really put your good ears on and play under tempo”… ie practice at half speed (pulse = eighth notes), or if in 6/8 time, pulse = eighth notes at one-third-tempo.
3. Recording our practice always brings about both new ears as well as new awareness as we play. Recording with the metronome informs us of our adherence to the beat. (ie not ahead or behind…"oh this bar is where I tend to rush”)
4. Put your playing under a microscope! Be willing to take your music apart to its lowest elements - physical movements, sound production, particular scale passage, rhythm figure, etc… Videotape yourself playing, and review while imagining the most efficient robotic player.
5. However, once you improve a piece, don’t “undo” what you’ve already accomplished - a real time saver. Always maintain what you have accomplished.
6. Practicing vs. Maintenance vs. Playing
7. Isolate and Conquer! Seek out the problem spots in a given piece… use of a technique (ie. Chunking, Rhythmic Simplification, Melodic Simplification, Buzzing) to fix…
8. Where’s the loudest part of the piece? Softest? How do you want to end the piece? The more dynamic colors you have, the better!
9. Sound pictures - as nature scene, graphic images, or sine-waves… colors!
10. High quality intention in, even higher quality out!
11. Rhythm = Language; think about it the next time you hear a speech by someone with poor annunciation.
12. In Legato, "To DU or not To DU"… develop your "smoothness" skills!
13. Thoughts on Tuning: When using a tuner, or tuning to a fixed sound, always tune with your best sound!
Allow your pitch to adjust in the direction you intend with your lip setting - too often I hear players move their tuning slide, but fight to keep their tone where they had started, to the detriment of their tone!
Start a bit above pitch and bend your tone downward toward the "tone-shelf's" bottom. This will add richness to your sound. Next, be sure to use this new-found richness in your playing so that it becomes a natural part of your "sonic being”.
14. Picture an Iceberg - your tone is this large floating ice chunk, whereby the visible portion is supported by the massive weight underwater. Consider your sound as having an "undertone" that adds weight and richness to your above water tone.
Consider Our Sounds
- Up Close vs. Last Row
- Changeability of Sound: “on the fly” adjust air speed (relative warmth of air), relative relaxation of lips; Think Colors/Shades; Change equipment - mouthpiece/horn for added effects.
Be An Artist in Sound
Envision how your sound eminates from your bell in 3-D! What shape is your overall sound? Can you change it at will? What sound colors can you make? Can you change them at will?
Always Presume High Level of Musicianship on each piece of equipment (instrument), high quality equipment and Most Importantly, display a…
As with any activity for which you are trying to improve, demonstrate a willingness to Improve your Fundamentals!