How do you do, fellow kids?

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Chicken
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed May 17, 2023 4:30 pm

How do you do, fellow kids?

Post by Chicken »

Hello, first post. Beginner to Trombone, many years of flute. Currently in a small town brass band without a teacher so winging it. It’s hella fun!
Chicken
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed May 17, 2023 4:30 pm

Re: How do you do, fellow kids?

Post by Chicken »

And here’s my follow up. Struggling with embouchure at low end, sound is very fbfbfbfbfbfbfb-y.
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BGuttman
Posts: 5897
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:19 am
Location: Cow Hampshire

Re: How do you do, fellow kids?

Post by BGuttman »

Chicken wrote: Wed May 17, 2023 4:41 pm And here’s my follow up. Struggling with embouchure at low end, sound is very fbfbfbfbfbfbfb-y.
This is a question to be posted in Teaching and Learning. Also, what the **** is fbfbfbfbfbfbfb-y? That's not something I can understand (and potentially help to fix).
Bruce Guttman
Merrimack Valley Philharmonic Orchestra
"Almost Professional"
jthomas105
Posts: 122
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2018 12:53 pm
Location: DFW-Texas

Re: How do you do, fellow kids?

Post by jthomas105 »

fb...
fartblat...
TomWest
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Apr 04, 2023 2:43 pm

Re: How do you do, fellow kids?

Post by TomWest »

I’m new to the trombone, playing about six months, and I remember very well the “Dying Moose” sound I made when I started. Now if I could just learn how to tongue properly! I’ll get it, just keep working on it…
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BGuttman
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Location: Cow Hampshire

Re: How do you do, fellow kids?

Post by BGuttman »

TomWest wrote: Tue May 23, 2023 7:36 pm I’m new to the trombone, playing about six months, and I remember very well the “Dying Moose” sound I made when I started. Now if I could just learn how to tongue properly! I’ll get it, just keep working on it…
A lesson with a good teacher can do wonders.
Bruce Guttman
Merrimack Valley Philharmonic Orchestra
"Almost Professional"
Kbiggs
Posts: 1125
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2018 11:46 am
Location: Vancouver WA

Re: How do you do, fellow kids?

Post by Kbiggs »

1. What Bruce said: get a good teacher.

2. Flute and trombone embouchures have some similarities, but are different enough to confuse some people. (It's like what my wife told me about learning new languages: She speaks Danish, but when she tried learning German, she got confused due to the overlap in the languages.)

Remember to keep the embouchure muscles surrounding the mouth firm, especially the area right below the corners of the mouth. Don't let the lips go flabby in the lower register--that's what makes the "dying moose" sound.

3. What are you doing with the tongue when you play? Why do you think you're not tonguing "properly"?

In general, let the sound be your guide. If it doesn't sound good, then maybe there's something in the mechanics to adjust. That's where a good teacher helps. See no. 1.
Kenneth Biggs
I have known a great many troubles, but most of them have never happened.
—Mark Twain (attributed)
Macbone1
Posts: 339
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2019 1:17 pm
Location: Massachusetts

Re: How do you do, fellow kids?

Post by Macbone1 »

Trombone is too hard to "self-teach" from scratch; find an instructor. If your town is too small and all you can find is a music educator who plays a brass instrument (that's how I started), still way better than nothing.
King Jiggs 2BL
Olds Opera
Besson Sovereign Bb/F bass
Holton bass trumpet
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