TromboneChat

I find a little self-evaluation from time to time important for different reasons. It's good to look back every now and then and see the results of the way you've already gone. But it also helps to visualize where you can still improve and what you actually want to improve.

So, what are everyone's strengths and weaknesses related to trombone playing? Could be a technical thing, could be a performance thing, could be a mindset thing or a musical thing.

I, personally, think that my strengths are to adapt very quickly to various musical settings, to different instruments (aka doubling) and I am pretty strong with sight-reading and improvising. I would consider one of my current main weaknesses that I'm not as clean as I want to be or as I feel some of my colleagues are, eg. cracking more notes or having a note not sounding dead-centered. Also my extreme ranges aren't the best in both directions, high range tends to be a little better tho. Although both are already a lot better than a few years ago and still working on both to slowly get more in the direction where I want to be.

Looking forward to hear your thoughts about yourself

My strengths:

I can play four kinds of trombone to a relatively high level - large and small tenor, bass, and alto. For example, last night's concert was with me mostly on bass bone, including on tuba parts for our BQ feature, the 3B for some Chicago tunes (that "Free" lick, loool), back on bass for the armed forces medley, and then alto on first bone for Stars and Stripes so I could cover the piccolo solo.

I can play "legit" (what I learned in school), and have learned to play lead bone and NOLO style on the job with some very good jazz musicians over the last 12 years or so.

I have good pitch that I learned from my mother, a singer. This includes good melodic or "linear" intonation. Pythagorean tuning is the one music theory topic I know a lot about. "Stop lowering the major third when you are playing a melody."

I believe I have a clear sound, clear articulations, and a very wide dynamic range.

I have a high technical ability and good endurance to play even 2+ hour concerts of heavy brass playing (thanks in part to my mouthpieces)

My weaknesses:

I'm lacking on the intellectual and knowledge side of the house. I know how to tune pitches in a chord but would have to look up the theory as to why I have someone raise or lower a pitch.

I only have a middling ability to sight read difficult repertoire, such as complex big band rhythms or "academic" brass quintet music. If it's in mixed 6/8, 5/8, 7/8 (lots of changing mixed meter), forget about it. I will need to practice it. Some dudes in my BQ can straight up sight read a very difficult modern mixed meter piece (like 3 American Portraits). I felt super dumb that day.

Going along with theory, I am not a good improviser in big band or jazz groups. I write up my solos and memorize, which is severely limiting.

Interesting question and great to hear from you two guys!
I would be really interested what other pros could add here.

Considering myself in a kind of semi-pro situation, I definitely have things to improve.

But first what I consider to be my strengths:
- I have learnt to play alto, small and large tenor and bass on a good level that makes me comfortable to play also in most professional situations. This has been a journey, having focused on bass and contra during my studies and for a long time sort of struggling with my high register
- I feel I can play most styles that I come across in a convincing way. Originally classically trained, I feel very secure in all orchestral styles and also the typical brass/trombone ensemble stuff. However as I have very regularly also played with very good bigbands and have in the last years also invested in lessons, I also feel pretty comfortable playing in jazz and bigband settings - as long as I don't have to improvise
- I would generally say I can technically play all music that I could potentially come across/that someone would realistically ask me to play
- I am still pretty good at sight-reading - practiced that quite a bit 20 years ago
- I only need very minimal warm-up to feel comfortable
- I am usually happy with my overall sound and have very much improved phrasing and generally "playing musically"
- Low range and extreme low range on bass have always been very easy and comfortable for me and I manage to play with only very little shift. However still I like doing long tones to further improve and stabilize that range.
- I would consider myself overall stylistically flexible and also curious to learn.

Now on my weaknesses:
- I do not feel comfortable improvising (yet). If I had a chance to prepare, I think I would be able to play a good semi-improvised solo, but if I cannot prepare, I am kind of useless. Working on it, but I dont find the time.
- I am NOT a totally natural player. I would love if it it wasn't this way. But I have to practice to maintain my chops and my doubling capabilities. I am kind of also mentally dependent on a stable amount of practice. I have put a lot of work in developing my high range and have reached a good level, but need to continuously put work into it.
- There are a few notes in the mid range (around G and Gb) that sometimes lose focus/don't speak well/create a double-buzz. I kind of know what to do/what not to do. But sometimes, e.g. in a stressful playing situation, when not warmed up, when being exhausted, I cannot completely control it.
- I feel I don't have the best feel for what my tongue is doing. I do not really struggle with tongueing and articulations, but it's often a bit difficult for me to really know what I am actually doing.
- I can be a bit dominant with my playing. Especially when I have a strong musical idea and maybe I feel others should follow that idea as well, I might overdo it.
- There are still a few orchestral excerpts that are kind of a mental block to me. I have overcome one major example and played 1st in Rhenish this year. I prepared intensely and it went really well. However there are some more left that could make me sweat if I knew I had to play them, e.g. Bolero. I know that these are more mental than technical challenges and would potentially take the challenge if it comes up

The good thing is:
I more ore less know my limitations - and I can decide for myself if I want to overcome them or just accept how it is.

Great idea for self-evaluation, and nice to know that others might have similar struggles. As for me, I compare myself to how I played before my 30-year layoff:

STRENGTHS

- Versatility. I can play many genres and styles really well.
- Technical ability. I can play very fast and have good flexibility.
- Mouthpiece set, in the sense that I can play from pedal Bb to double Bb without set adjustment and can move between low and high registers at will, with little effort.
- Tone. I have a very nice sound, though it's just something that came naturally and not something I worked to achieve.
- High range. I have a pretty good high range, with a completely dependable high F, and a double Bb that's usable.
- Lead playing. I'm an excellent lead/principal player. I'm good at interpreting music, and I'm a confident lead player who is rock solid, consistent, and easy to follow. I consider that my biggest strength.
- Alternate positions. Sounds weird, but one thing I'm really good at is playing notes in "alternate" positions on the fly, as I'm super fluent on them everywhere they lie on the horn and don't have a "default" position I tend to favor. I actually bridle at the concept that they are "alternate" or secondary positions.

WEAKNESSES (This list could be a very long list if I really got into it!)

- Jazz. Everyone in the region thinks I'm a jazz player, but I'm really not very good at it. I guess I just fake it well. My improvisation is fairly elementary and my knowledge is shallow. I tend to stick to licks/patterns I've memorized and practiced. I copy licks from other players. If I'm uncertain I'll go with flash to cover up my inability to play proper bebop.
- Low range. I'm very plodding in the low range below low E. I have poor flexibility between partials in the pedal/low range and sound stupidly tubby when I have to play a fast passage below low E. I consider this my biggest weakness. Otherwise, I'm pretty even all over the rest of the horn.
- Sight reading. I'm just an okay sight reader, and nowhere near as good as I used to be. Part of that is age-related eyesight failure, and part of it is just not having developed strong enough skills in the 1 year since I started playing again.
- Lung volume. Mostly age and health related. When I played for a living I felt like I could play forever on a single breath. These days I'm lucky if I can make it four bars in a slow tempo. I've been compensating for it by being as efficient as possible and using circular breathing where I can, but it's not the same.
- Switching instruments. I'm terrible at comfortably switching between small bore tenor, large bore tenor, and bass trombone. The more comfortable I feel on one horn, the more uncomfortable I feel on the others.
- Endurance. Mostly age-related and the fact that I haven't been playing very long, when I'm very busy and don't get enough rest I feel like I never get fully recovered between gigs, and I start to get the same kind of overuse fatigue that I used to when I was running too many marathons.
- Lack of personal style. My strength in chameleon-like versatility is a weakness in that I lack an identifiable go-to style such that there's a real "me" there.

tbdana wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2024 10:53 am STRENGTHS
- Alternate positions. Sounds weird, but one thing I'm really good at is playing notes in "alternate" positions on the fly, as I'm super fluent on them everywhere they lie on the horn and don't have a "default" position I tend to favor. I actually bridle at the concept that they are "alternate" or secondary positions.

WEAKNESSES (This list could be a very long list if I really got into it!)
- Low range. I'm very plodding in the low range below low E. I have poor flexibility between partials in the pedal/low range and sound stupidly tubby when I have to play a fast passage below low E. I consider this my biggest weakness. Otherwise, I'm pretty even all over the rest of the horn.

That's two things I can relate to. Regarding alternate positions, I am pretty fluent, but still don't bring them in too often.

On low range: As I said on bass that's a very clear strenght for me. I have a very reliable, solid low and extreme low range and can very well connect it to mid and upper range. On large tenor that's not really the case. I do however know that if I would practice it just a little bit - which I practically never do - and would allow myself just a little adjustment of the embouchure, this would work as well. I just hardly ever have the need to play anything lower than maybe a low Eb on large tenor.

The 4th position awesomeness (F, G, A) combined with 3rd position awesomeness (Gb, Ab, Bb) are the alternate positions I seem to use the most. Good strength to have, gang! I always want to be more fluid out on the end of my slide, so I don't think it's a strength for me yet.

Strengths? I can only think of a decent high range as a strength. Others are mentioning alternate positions, I guess I'd count that as a strength.
Strengths I've lost over the years might be a longer list. I used to have rock solid chops for hours. Up high, down low. Loud, soft.

Weaknesses: Concentration can be a weakness, and that leads to other things. I've lost a fair bit of air capacity over the years. I've never been a great reader, but I think that goes back to the concentration bit, and the same with time. I always work on sound and intonation, not that those are weaknesses, but they could easily become weaknesses if I didn't work on them.

Listening can be counted as either. When I need to follow someone else, its a strength. But when I'm playing with someone who is utterly lost and I need to lead, the habitual kind of listening I've learned over the years is a downright curse. I play in a college band where I'm supposed to be a mentor. That's easy when the kids can play reasonably well. But when they are a step off pitch and 3/4 of a beat behind, I tend to follow my ears rather than the conductor. So that's clearly a weakness, although I'm not sure what you'd call it.

Rather than building, at this point, I'm mostly just trying to not lose more ground. The big thing for me is that I enjoy playing. I pick where, when and with whom I play, so it's my own fault if I get a bad gig. In the past I enjoyed the bragging rights that came with capability. I think I'm happier with music now than I was, though.

hyperbolica wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2024 11:13 am Weaknesses: Concentration can be a weakness, and that leads to other things.

Oh, yeah. I could have listed that too, but I guess my mind wandered and I forgot.

I tend to follow my ears rather than the conductor. So that's clearly a weakness

No, no. Never follow the conductor. Look up, f*** up.

I’m looking at this relative to other keen amateur musicians I’ve played alongside in groups or as a guest.

Strengths:
- Doubling between two or more of alto, small tenor, large tenor, bass, euphonium, tenorhorn or bass trumpet is no problem, even switching multiple times in same concert
- Solid sight reading for positions/fingering in any clef which I’m likely to encounter on the above instruments
- Playing when cold (useful when switching instruments or after long pauses also!)
- Intonation around 4th/5th/6th positions
- Upper range, solid Bb-Eb when in good practice, usable F-G
- Access to wide sound palette, from super dark to zingy lead
- Large dynamic range, up to a point (see weakness also)
- In a good group, my own playing drifts up towards the standard of the group
- Very observant of conductor, coachable
- Usually on time and reliable, team player
- Endurance (used to be severe weakness) improving, despite slight reduction in lung capacity

Weaknesses (only the main ones, there are many more!):
- Lack of control at extreme volumes
- Concentration (brain farts…), partly due to nerves
- Double-tonguing
- Low (single trigger) range on tenor, don’t know why, no issues on bass, same on any tenor I’ve tried
- Double trigger range on bass
- Improvisation is pretty rudimentary
- Not a natural soloist, especially on trombone, need to be heavily guided by teacher/conductor
- In a not so good group, my own playing drifts down towards the standard of the group
- Takes a while to regain composure after I mess something up, very harsh on myself