Brass Playing Articles
For Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced Students
Mike Herriott – November 2005
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 from the beginning all over again. For this reason, it is important to make sure that you build a solid foundation on which to base your day's work. This idea can be applied to all brass instruments.
Increase Your Practice Efficiency by Making a Practice Binder
Brad Howland - July 2005
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!
How to Loosen a Tight Tuning Slide
Marcus Hissen – October 2004
Is your tuning slide too tight? Do you have to apply Vise-Grips whenever you want to tune your horn? Here is one method of loosening it up.
Symphonic Play-Along Practicing
Jerry Fallenberg – September 2004
Listening to an orchestral 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. Play-along practicing can be especially helpful to the musician who has limited available practice time or who is not able to play regularly in high-quality ensembles.
Kevin Thompson – December 2003
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. The warm up routine presented here is an excellent workout for intermediate or advanced level brass players.
Introducing the Slide – Trombone Slide Technique for Beginners
Brad Howland – October 2003
Advise on how to hold the slide, move it fast, find the positions, and play in tune.
James Scott – January 2003
There has been a lot written about how to take an audition successfully, and it's a daunting task to try to add something new to the mix. Most people in "the know" will tell you that the things that eliminate players at auditions are sound, pitch and time. These elements are the foundation of good playing in any musical situation. A great performance, whether at an audition or some other venue, will connect on an emotional level with what the composer is saying and communicate that to the audience.
Gabriel Langfur – November 2002
Make your playing easier and more relaxed with this set of daily breathing exercises from bass trombonist Gabriel Langfur.
Sage New Words from a Trombone Master
Brad Howland – July 2002
In 1963, midway through a distinguished career as Bass Trombonist of the Chicago Symphony, Edward Kleinhammer wrote one of the most important treatises on brass playing we have: "The Art of Trombone Playing." It's now the year 2000 and Mr. Kleinhammer has done it again. His book Mastering The Trombone (co-written with Douglas Yeo of the Boston Symphony) is another monumental work that revisits all aspects of playing the trombone. But it's not just a rehashing of old material–almost all of it is new and relevant for today's musicians.
Circular Breathing: When and How to Use It
Kevin Thompson – May 2002
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! Work to implement circular breathing in your own playing and you will undoubtedly find many practical uses for it.
Brad Howland – March 2002
Many brass players at some point experience those funny little throat noises that seem to arise in periods of excess tension. In the absence of a better name, I call them "kitches," because that's what they sound like. Throat noises don't add anything to your technique and probably detract from it. You can eliminate them by keeping the tongue, palate, jaw, and neck relaxed.
Gordon Cherry – February 2002
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. Whether you are a sculptor, a painter, a ballerina or a trombonist, you have to apply discipline in order to progress. The art of practicing is something you adhere to for a very, very long time, and you must master it to become a great performer.
Mike Herriott – December 2001
The process of sound production on the trumpet (or any wind instrument for that matter) is dependent on three fundamental points, thus the "tripod of sound." These three points are (1) the air source, (2) the air passageway and (3) the embouchure. If one of these is not working properly, the sound collapses.
The Pyramid of Trombone Playing
Jim Tempest – January 2001
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 support and stability. This model is the one I suggest we think of in our approach to developing the basic skills needed to play the trombone and to make the "sonic engine" run efficiently.
Brad Howland – June 2000
Becoming aware of how you use your body and adopting a relaxed, unforced approach to playing can help you achieve your goals.
Legato and Slurs: The Three Aspects of Great Legato Playing
Brad Howland – June 2000
Proper legato playing on trombone comes from a combination of three things: steady air flow, quick slide action, and simultaneous tonguing.
The Orchestra Audition: How to Win Your First Job
Brad Howland – June 2000
The competition these days to get into an orchestra is fierce. It is not unusual to have 50 players try out for a single position in an average orchestra, something paying in the range of $25-30,000/year. A prestigious orchestra in the United States can draw up to 300 people. Faced with these numbers, audition committees try to eliminate as many as possible in the opening rounds. Here's how improve your chances of winning that first job.
Notes from a Joseph Alessi Seminar
Dave Tall – September 1999
Joseph Alessi holds the Principal Trombone chair with the New York Philharmonic. Dave took these notes at the Alessi Seminar held Aug 8–15, 1999 in Nyack, NY. Many thanks to both Joe and Dave for giving us permission to reproduce these notes here.
Breathing and the Valsalva Maneuver
Brad Howland – August 1999
It is possible to play trombone well without any knowledge of the breathing process. 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 all. However, for those musicians who are having certain problems, an understanding of the breathing process can help a great deal.
Brad Howland – August 1999
As a former fellow student once said to me, "Your mental attitude is everything!" We were both doing post-graduate study at Northwestern University and he was discovering what most students learned when they went to study with the great brass players of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra: that what you think determines what you play.