Question from me

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DominicaSanchez
Posts: 24
Joined: Sep 22, 2021

by DominicaSanchez »

Hello! I'm sorry for bothering you but what tricks can Ш use to play the trombone to sound better? I'm a beginner trombonist and I need you advices. :clever:
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Elow
Posts: 1924
Joined: Mar 02, 2020

by Elow »

practicing with a goal in mind and listening to james market tenor album if you play tenor or bass album is you play bass
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Bach5G
Posts: 2874
Joined: Apr 07, 2018

by Bach5G »

[quote="Elow"]practicing with a goal in mind and listening to james market tenor album if you play tenor or bass album is you play bass[/quote]

I’m guessing you mean “James Markey” and you’re referring to his Youtube videos. Excellent idea!

Here is one such video:

<YOUTUBE id="B1OX7-_80eI">https://youtu.be/B1OX7-_80eI</YOUTUBE>

Otherwise, long tones.
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Elow
Posts: 1924
Joined: Mar 02, 2020

by Elow »

Yes, Markey. Those videos are great too, i was just talking about these <SPOTIFY id="album/1oVi6n6n3fX2snRgPWlU01"><LINK_TEXT text="https://open.spotify.com/album/1oVi6n6n ... l_branch=1">https://open.spotify.com/album/1oVi6n6n3fX2snRgPWlU01?si=V0-OeietScSo_1xUly2AIA&dl_branch=1</LINK_TEXT></SPOTIFY>
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BGuttman
Posts: 7368
Joined: Mar 22, 2018

by BGuttman »

First, there are no "tricks" to play trombone. You need to learn how to play it properly. You will need the help of a teacher to make sure you do it properly. Then you have to practice to build your technique.

by all means check out the many YouTube videos of how to do things, but take them with a grain of salt. Anybody who offers a miracle shortcut is full of beans. Believe me, if there was any shortcut to virtuosity we'd all be doing it.
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Kdanielsen
Posts: 609
Joined: Jul 28, 2019

by Kdanielsen »

Markey’s solo tenor album was a huge inspiration for me too. It’s as good as it gets.
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robcat2075
Posts: 1867
Joined: Sep 03, 2018

by robcat2075 »

[quote="DominicaSanchez"]what tricks can Ш use to play the trombone to sound better?[/quote]

Tongue with "tah", not "tu" or "too" or "toe" or "tuh"...

That doesn't sound like much of a trick but no trick sounds like much of a trick once you hear the trick.

"Tah" would have saved me from four years of rotten trombone sounds... if only any of my teachers had told me.

If you sound like I sounded in sixth grade, "tah" is the first thing I would investigate.
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robcat2075
Posts: 1867
Joined: Sep 03, 2018

by robcat2075 »

And I'll second the previous advice to find and listen to recordings of strong players, to have as mental models of what you want to sound like.

As a beginner, the only trombone players I ever heard were the other rotten trombone players in my grade. :idk:

[quote="Elow"]practicing with a goal in mind...[/quote]

There is a loop to this.

Every time you play is going to sound a bit different than the last time you played, either by intention or by accident.

The player who gets better is the one who notices this and can ascertain what he did differently. Keep doing what made for better and ditch what made for worse.

Repeat.
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Bach5G
Posts: 2874
Joined: Apr 07, 2018

by Bach5G »

I spent an hour yesterday listening to one of the city’s top players try out trombones. That prompted a few thoughts.

It’s a bit like Inner Game of Tennis: learn by observing and copying. You need to know, consciously or unconsciously, your goal. And to do that you need to observe those who have already accomplished that goal and emulate them. Recordings are only part of that.
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Vegasbound
Posts: 1328
Joined: Jul 06, 2019

by Vegasbound »

Get a good teacher

Establish a good practice regime

Repeat
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timothy42b
Posts: 1812
Joined: Mar 27, 2018

by timothy42b »

[quote="Vegasbound"]Get a good teacher

Establish a good practice regime

Repeat[/quote]

Nobody mentioned that, but establishing a good daily routine is a first step.

You'll change it over time as your needs change, or your theories of playing change, but it's probably essential for a beginner to start with a stable daily routine that covers basic fundamentals.
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afugate
Posts: 671
Joined: Mar 23, 2018

by afugate »

[quote="robcat2075"]Every time you play is going to sound a bit different than the last time you played, either by intention or by accident.[/quote]

The hard part is minimizing the difference.

One time I was performing in the pit for a production of Annie. What was supposed to be a lightning quick scene change turned into a 5 minute ordeal. :horror:

The problem? The scene change vamp was a 2 bar phrase. Bone 1 plays a sustained low F whole note in the second bar. This became comical as the scene change dragged on mercilessly. My daughter was sitting in pit right next to me and was thoroughly enjoying watching me sweat as I tried to make each iteration sound just like the previous one... :lol:

--Andy in OKC
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DominicaSanchez
Posts: 24
Joined: Sep 22, 2021

by DominicaSanchez »

Thank you All!!!!!! It is very usefull and important for me!!!!!

I'm already did my profile in musescore (https://musescore.com/user/40148473) and I will upload my works there. If you want you can see them there
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harrisonreed
Posts: 6479
Joined: Aug 17, 2018

by harrisonreed »

Hmmmmmm
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HenrikStromberg
Posts: 8
Joined: Aug 11, 2021

by HenrikStromberg »

Yes. You can use scores web sites for learning too (including https://musescore.com/sheetmusic?page=2&text=trombone and <LINK_TEXT text="https://www.musicnotes.com/search/go?w= ... rom=header">https://www.musicnotes.com/search/go?w=trombone&from=header</LINK_TEXT>) but the most importatnt thing is- practice pratice practice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!