[Trombone-l] Pedal Note Articulation

[Doug Rowe]

Hello all,

A quick question.  I've been spending a lot of time trying to get a 
fuller, quicker responding pedal range on the bass trombone (my primary 
horn).  I'm playing more big band now than I used to and have found that 
the short hard hitting low notes (about low Db on down) don't speak as 
loudly nor as quickly as I need/would like them to.  Phil Teele style 
exercises, lip slurs in the low range, and articulation exercises are 
the meat and potatoes of my practice sessions now.

I have noticed that starting around low Eb or D, when I have to 
articulate something hard, I "naturally" (meaning without thinking about 
it) articulate with my tongue between my teeth--as a matter of fact, 
when I get down to Ab or even lower my tongue actually slots itself in 
between my lips (I removed the mouthpiece mid-articulation and was able 
to observe this).  I would like to know if this is normal, wrong, or a 
"do whatever works down there" way of articulating the low notes.  Of 
course, I'm not happy with my current articulation down low, so I'm 
guessing that it's NOT working.  Do most folks articulate "normally" in 
their low registers?  Are there any tricks, so to speak, for getting a 
nice hard pedal note articulation? 

Of course, I do not tongue between the teeth anywhere else in my 
playing, and tend not to when articulating softly in the pedal range.

While folks are at it, if you have any other good low range developing 
exercise suggestions beyond what I mentioned above, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks in advance.

Doug