Picking it up again

[xcslider]

I played trombone for many years when I was younger. From 4th grade all the way through a couple of years of college and beyond. Stopped playing about 20 years ago and decided to pick it up again. So, as an old guy, what advice do you have for starting again? How do I get my embouchure, at my age, able to play with decent tone? Thank you. This is my first post on Trombone Chat.

[AtomicClock]

Play every day. Don't overdo it. My first day back, I played 3 minutes, and was done. I wanted to leapfrog the sounding-really-bad bit, so I stuck to fundamentals. No melodies. I based my comeback on Micha Everett's maintenance routine and maybe his scales routine (one per day, though I usually skipped it). https://olemiss.edu/lowbrass/studio.html

For the first month, I rarely rose above tuning Bb. Then a few weeks limited to 6th partial F. Now I'm exploring the rest of the range.

My goal was to get playing with other people as soon as possible. Fortunately, I landed in a community orchestra playing 3rd trombone (on a lightweight program), which matched my "tuning Bb" limit. In my opinion, there is no point in playing trombone if you never play with anyone else.

[tbdana]

Yeah, I, too, took a few decades off. In fact, when I picked it up again I couldn't even get a note out of the horn and had to ask the guy selling the trombone to me to play it for me so I could hear what the horn sounded like.

I agree you should play every day and not overdo it. I'll add to be very patient. It will start to come back pretty fast, but soon enough you'll reach a point where the progress starts to slow, and you'll think you should be progressing faster. That's the point it can get frustrating. Just be patient, be consistent, and most of all play long tones, long tones, long tones, and more long tones. That's what will help with your sound, your embouchure, and your endurance.

And make sure to play things that are fun. That's the point at this age, isn't it? Don't spend all your time on scales and exercises. Get some fun things to play, and as soon as you can handle it, find someplace to play with others. There are community bands everywhere.

Welcome back to the horn! There are lots like you here.

[AtomicClock]

I forgot to mention...step 1 was a professional chem clean. Who knows what was growing in there all those years!

[ghmerrill]

... there is no point in playing trombone if you never play with anyone else.

I can't agree with this -- but different strokes for different folks. I do enjoy playing with others (so long as the others are playing at a certain level). But I also entirely enjoy playing by myself, setting goals, and pursuing them. So in certain ways, I enjoy playing by myself more than playing in a group. But those are different feelings.