A piece I am rehearsing has a skip of a 7th from a on top of the bass clef staff to the g above it and I cannot play it consistently, namely I flub the attack on the g. Any approaches on how to clean it up?

A skip of a 7th is hard to get in your ear, so maybe practice singing 7ths?

And then, or maybe first, don’t start on the A. Start on the G, go down and back up.

There's a place for us...

Play that interval in every key and range. Get it in your ear (melodies like the above can help).

(that's from West Side Story, if you don't know)

Make sure you are using the right positions, A and G are not in the same place but I've seen people try to put them both in the same 2nd position. G needs to be practically halfway to 1st, find where it's in tune and remember it.

Try a bunch of different ways to practice A's and G's:

middle A - high A - high G in sharp 2 - middle G in 4th (repeat that pattern)

middle A in 6th, high G in sharp 2nd

middle A in 2nd, high G in 4th

middle A in 2nd, high G in 6th (rip up to it with an against-the-grain gliss)

High A - G in #2nd- middle A

High A - G in 4th - middle A

High A - middle A - high G

High A - middle A - middle G - high G (repeat that pattern)

Low A - middle G

Low A - low G - middle G

Low A - middle A - middle G

Low A - middle G - middle A - high G - high A - high G - middle A - middle G - low A (repeat)

ANYTIME you have a problem, use that kind of strategy to learn to hear and feel the interval from different directions.

If you only work on the music as it's on the page, you'll miss out on a lot of potential learning opportunities that you only get by experimenting.

Play Dom 7th chord arpeggios up and down slowly then faster, up and down the slide. Then start leaving out the 3rd or thr 5th, and eventually both. You won't be able to get the 7th out of your head by that point.

A C# E G, etc.

Could also be a chop issue, embouchure and/or tongue position or something else; you don't really know where the high range is in terms of how to get there from the middle. That's the exact kind of stuff I diagnose and work on in Skype lessons. I'd have to actually see you do it to make a valid recommendation.

Nielsen's The Inextinguishable (?) Symphony has that jump in the bass trombone part, I initially had a bit of trouble with it (I only got the part 2 days before the concert) until I started singing the first two notes of the original Star Trek theme. I never missed it after that.

Ross

I appreciate all the feedback!