Gordon Cherry
The Art of Practicing
Practicing is an art, not a skill. A skill is something you can be taught in a certain number of lessons, while an art is something you learn slowly and gradually over your entire life. The art of practicing is something must master to become a great performer.
James Scott
Auditioning 101
There has been a lot written about how to take an audition, and it's a daunting task to try to add something new. A great performance, whether at an audition or some other venue, will connect on an emotional level with the audience.
Gabriel Langfur
Breathing Exercises for
Brass Players
Make your playing easier and more relaxed with this set of daily breathing exercises from bass trombonist Gabriel Langfur, first written for the Online Trombone Journal.
Brad Howland
Breathing and the
Valsalva Maneuver
Efficient, relaxed breathing is best done without thinking about it too much, and the best teachers are those who reduce it to simple concepts. For example, Emory Remington referred to the "conversational breath," and that was it.
Kevin Thompson
Circular Breathing
When and How to Use It
Circular breathing is a technique that wind players use to avoid putting breaks in the music. This can be handy in certain situations, and anyone can learn to do it!
Mike Herriott
Daily Warm Up
Maurice André once said that playing the trumpet is like building a sand castle on the beach; every morning the tide has washed away the previous day's work and you have to start all over again.
Barry McCommon
Educate or Train
Brass teachers need to educate their students to put their own personal interpretation on the music, rather than training them to be a carbon copy of the teacher. Barry tries to give his students the tools and freedom to make a musical statement uniquely their own.
Marcus Hissen
How to Loosen a
Tight Tuning Slide
Is your tuning slide too tight? Do you have to apply Vise-Grips whenever you want to tune your horn? Here is one simple yet effective method of loosening it up.
Kevin Thompson
The Kevin Thompson Warm Up
Warming up every day is essential. Consistency in my playing only started to come when I started being consistent and thorough about warming up every day.
Chase Sanborn
Lessons Learned from the Slide Trumpet
While the trombone slide is often considered somewhat of an impediment compared to valves, I've recently been experimenting with an instrument that has caused me to reconsider the possibilities inherent in the slide. Maybe it's not such an impediment after all!
Brad Howland
Make a Practice Binder
A practice binder can help you to set goals and focus your time on what is really important. My friends call me a trombone-nerd, but I find that organizing my materials in a practice binder really helps my playing!
Brad Howland
Method Books for Trombone
Here are some key method books that every serious trombone student should have in his/her library.
Dave Tall
Notes from a
Joseph Alessi Seminar
Joseph Alessi holds the Principal Trombone chair with the New York Philharmonic. Dave took these notes at an Alessi Seminar held in Nyack, NY. Many thanks to Joe for giving us permission to reproduce them here.
Jerry Fallenburg
Play-Along Practicing
for Trombonists
Listening to a recording while following one's part is an important method for learning orchestral style. You can take this one step further by playing along with the recording.
Brad Howland
Play Without Pain
Brass players can suffer wrist and arm pain, tendinitis, shoulder problems, neck strain, and chronic upper and lower back pain. We need to examine all aspects of our lives, and try to make the small gradual changes that lead to success.
Jerry Fallenburg
Professional Trombone Opportunities
One of my former trombone teachers told me that when he retired from the San Francisco Symphony, there were about 200 trombonists who sought to fill his position. You won't find that many competing for every gig - just for the choice jobs that pay well.
Jim Tempest
The Pyramid of
Trombone Playing
A pyramid is a strong structure, built from the bottom up. Each layer sits on top of the one below and relies on it to provide stability. This model is the one I suggest we think of in our approach to developing the basic skills needed to play the trombone.
Brad Howland
Sage Words from a Trombone Master
Edward Kleinhammer's book Mastering The Trombone (co-written with Douglas Yeo of the Boston Symphony) is a monumental work that revisits all aspects of playing the trombone.
David Leisner
Six Golden Rules for
Conquering Performance Anxiety
Performance anxiety affects almost everyone, from the beginner to the most seasoned professional. It is truly remarkable what paranoid ingenuity most of us generate during performance in order to defeat ourselves.
Heather Walker
From Symptoms
to Solutions
The Alexander Technique is a method for changing cultivated habits of tension, established through hundreds of hours of practice, with conscious awareness and re-education.
Brad Howland
The Three Aspects of
Great Legato Playing
Proper legato playing on trombone comes from a combination of three things: steady air flow, quick slide action, and simultaneous tonguing.
Mike Herriott
The Tripod of Sound
The process of sound production on the trumpet (or any wind instrument) is dependent on three fundamental points: (1) the air source, (2) the air passageway and (3) the embouchure. If one of these is not working properly, the sound collapses.
Brad Howland
Trombone Slide Technique
Some thoughts on holding the slide, moving it fast, finding the positions, and playing in tune.
Brad Howland
The Valsalva Maneuver in Brass Playing
The Valsalva Maneuver is an automated response by the body to certain stimuli. The brass player takes a breath, but before playing there is a hesitation and situation where opposing sets of muscles work against each other.