[Trombone-l] pitch

[Roger Hecht]

I may be repeating things already said, but over the years, I've 
found that several things affect a basic tuning of the horn. Some of 
these you've  eliminated as possibilities in your particular case. 
They include changes in mouthpiece (not just how far it goes into the 
leadpipe, but also differences in throat, cup depth, etc.), leadpipe, 
and approaches to air, articulation, etc.

Someone mentioned conception of sound changing your approach, 
resulting in a change that carries over through different equipment. 
That's a possibility.

Another may be misusing the Schlossberg exercises. I've used them on 
and off for years. Obviously, I have no conception as to how you play 
them or which ones you're doing, but I can offer a few thoughts. 
While the Schlossberg exercises include some long tones and slow lip 
slurs, they lean more to lip drills, up and down chordal exercises, 
etc. In my mind anyway, the emphasis of these later drills is on 
increasing range, technique, and flexibility, as opposed to working 
on breathing, breath support, etc. That's no problem if you do them 
correctly and use them correctly. That said, if you're overfocusing 
on the flexibility, range, and technical stuff, it's conceivable in 
over to accomodate your ambitions in these areas and make the 
exercises easier, you've been tightening your embouchere, speeding up 
your air flow, backing off on the support, or a combination of the 
three. You may also be attacking notes on the high side of the pitch 
in order to make the lip drills easier, faster, etc.

If you're not doing so, spend more time on long tones, slow slurs, 
lower range playing, and breath support and capacity. The Remington 
drills are a good supplement to things like the Schlossberg, as are 
any set of exercises that work with the aspects of playing, mentioned 
in the previous sentence. You might also concentrate on centering 
your air flow and pitch as you play slow upward arpeggios, i.e., 
don't tighten as you go up the arpeggio. The Schlossbergs are great, 
but if you're cheating on air and support in order to progress 
through them more quickly than you should, they can do more harm than good.




>Here's something to break the doldrums...
>
>I recently switched over from an Edwards T-350 to a
>Greenhoe Bach 42.  I'm using the same mouthpiece, a
>Greg Black 4.5G/5GS, but since I've settled into the
>horn, I'm having to pull the main tuning slide out
>almost double where it was on the Edwards.  I would
>chalk it up to a different horn, but I went back to
>the Edwards and I had to pull it out more, too.  I
>even went to a buddy's horn and I had to pull that
>tuning slide out, too.
>
>I've always been taught to not fish with the face, but
>to adjust the slide to as close as I can and work from
>there.
>
>I don't really see it as a problem, but should I?  Is
>it the start of something bigger?  I've been working
>out of the Scholossberg book lately...it's pretty much
>the only new playing that I'm doing.
>
>
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Roger Hecht