[Trombone-l] airy sound

[Gabriel Langfur]

Hi Julie, I have a few suggestions for you, in my suggested order of priority:

1. discuss the problem with your teacher, but you've probably already done that. 
 
2. take one or two lessons with a different teacher - somebody who knows you but not as well as your full-time teacher. Sometimes a fresh set of eyes and ears can be very helpful, and sometimes a different teacher saying essentially the same things in different ways can also be very helpful.

3. stop trying to fix a problem and instead focus on playing in a relaxed and natural manner. Take good breaths in good time, and blow gently into the instrument. Make sure your posture is good and your body is well aligned. If you are trying to support all of the sound with your lips and not giving enough breath behind them, you will run into problems.
 
4. look in a mirror a bit while you are playing - not to tell yourself what should be happening but just to see what IS happening.

5. play some of your simple warmup exercises along with a drone pitch. I find this to be a more organic way of correcting intonation than keeping my eye on a tuner. You might find that your general pitch level has changed in a way you haven't noticed.

6. practice some very simple material very carefully and deliberately. What follows is a suggestion from a good friend of mine who is a very fine trumpet player. He does this himself, and also recommends it to good students of his, particularly when they are getting confused by some change they are making in equipment or approach. Open your Arban's book to the first page, and play the etude numbers that corresponds to the date, until about page 40. Today is November 25th, so I would play numbers 5, 15, 25, 35, etc. Tomorrow I would play 6, 16, 26, etc. Some days I will transpose some of the etudes up or down a half step, and as a bass trombone player I uually play them in tenor clef 8vb. Pay attention to details of your body alignment, that you are taking good breaths in good time, that you are not playing with too much pressure at the chops, that you are moving your slide in a relaxed and efficient manner. Vary the dynamics and articulations from one to another, but maintain a basic relaxed approach and a consistent attention to beautiful sound. I think you might be surprised at how much this helps to settle your playing down. You can do this in 20-30 minutes, and this is a good time to apply suggestion number 3 above. 

7. I think the euphonium lessons are a big clue. Sam recommends no euphonium, and that's good advice, but maybe not possible in your school situation, at least until the end of the semester. You might be putting some sort of stress on your chops by the way you are holding the euph differently from your trombone. Take a look at both in the mirror to see that you are bringing both mouthpieces to you, rather than distorting your embouchure to play where the instrument wants to be. You may need to figure out a different way to hold the euphonium, so that the mouthpiece can come to your lips at the same angle as when you play trombone.

Good luck! This is important work to do now, while you are a student. The people who pay attention to these things and learn how to deal with them as students are much better equipped when they face problems later in their careers. Honestly, this is a great opportunity for you. You have gotten excellent advice so far, and I would like to reiterate the one that you rest as much as you play. It's possible you are practicing too much these days, and taking a day or two much lighter - say 2 or 3 half-hour sessions - will help quite a bit.

All the best,
Gabe

----- Original Message ----
From: julie harnois <super_toaster at hotmail.com>
To: trombone-l at server5.samford.edu
Sent: Friday, November 24, 2006 2:19:48 PM
Subject: [Trombone-l] airy sound


Hi!I'm kind of depress actuallysince 2 weeks i'm so confused by this problem and it seems of nobody can help me around maybe you have suggestion..I'm in 1st year of masteri practice a lot (4-5hrs a day) since some years i had reach a great soundbut since 2 weeks its the worst time of my lifei sound like when i was in high schoolnot able to do anything (range flex..)with a lot of air in my sound and tired after one hourI ha change my mouthpiece a month ago...the one I had before was giving me a to dark sound so I change it to get something brigther, It had work really well for 2 weeks... (I was playing on a laskey m47 and i switch for a rath 5L)I had stared euphonium lessons 2 month ago at school...I don't know why its like that but i am in trouble rigth now...and the only point I get from people around me is ...try to play less or try to play more..I had change nothing in my warm up technique or whateverhow coul this happens..thanks for your help!Julie
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