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Re: Playing trombone

Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2014-09-23 03:31

The most helpful embouchure hint/concept I got several years ago from a trumpeter friend is that you need to develop a symmetrical ring of muscles, which corresponds wih a symmetrical mouthpiece. You've got to feel this and get confortable making those muscles doing what you want.

A trumpeter I knew during college kept an instrument out so that he could pick it up cold to play high C's, something I found useful decades later to be able to hit a particular stratospheric entrance cold. While this may not be at your level of exectations (yet), having the horn out to be able to pick it up at any time to play some pre-arranged sequence will help develop needed ear-to-lip connections, which are sure not part of your saxophone experience.

Range and endurance issues will not be resolved by working harder - they both take lots of time. While you already have all that good reed experience, at several levels you are little different from anyone else just starting out. It will take time to get the wiring built up so that you can feel secure. There was a story in Clarinet magazine about a doubler who taught himself flute, and it was 4 years before he allowed himself to perform. While you are much younger, and he played at the highest level, this should still give some indication that success will come but perhaps not tomorrow.

Keep at it!

Post Edited (2014-09-23 03:32)

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