Trombone Start up For beginners
By Rūdolfs Kulbergs
Table of Contents Introduction................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................... .................. 2 How to use the t he exercises? exercises? ............................................................... ............................................................................................................................. .............................................................. 3 Breathing exercises ............................................................................................... ....................................................................................................................................... ........................................ 4 Mouthpiece buzzing............................................................. ............................................................................................................................... ......................................................................... ....... 6 Long tones ................................................................ .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................... .................. 7 Scales ............................................................ .............................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................. ............................ 11 Arpeggios.............................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................................... ...... 29 Natural slurs ............................................................. ............................................................................................................................... ................................................................................... ................. 49 Harmonic Workout ..................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................... 57 Scale-canon exercise ..................................................................... ................................................................................................................................... .............................................................. 61 Songs........................................................................................................ Songs...................................... ..................................................................................................................... ................................................... 64
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Introduction Dear student, teacher, enthusiast- I happily introduce you to my new book. Its a system for beginner who just simply wants to learn how to play the trombone, therefore, I have collected most simple exercises, to make it easy and develop healthy playing. The exercises collected in this book are based on developement of simple principles- tone quality, good pitch, and correct slide technique. They can be used both- as warm warm up routines, and as daily practice material.
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How to use the exercises? The exercises collected in this book are the basics of western music- scales and arpeggios, and the simple exercises like long tones and natural trombone slurs. These are the basic things we should include in our daily practice, no matter- if you are a student or a professional. Playing simple things with the best quality every single time is an essential for succesful brass playing.
Tips on using this book: •
Practice in duets for student and teacher- student plays the exercise while teacher plays the second part. (These parts can also be swapped between the players)
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Practice with CD backing tracks which are provided with this book.
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When practicing week- to- week or day-to-day make sure you choose the same scale, an arpeggio from next section and a simple song from the songs section in the same key as exercises. This will make you learn the scales properly in much faster time! Have fun!
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Always select the exercises in the range that is playable.
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The trombone slide position numbers are provided on top of the notes.
Example of daily practice routine :
1. Breathing exercise 2. Long tones 3. Scale (C major- the scales are changed weekly, or when one exercise learned properly) 4. Arpeggio (the same key as in the scale practiced before) 5. Song (preferably in same key as the scales and arpeggios)
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Breathing exercises Breathing exercises are the essential in brass players daily routine. Make sure you always start your practice with these exercises. Tips: •
Breath with open throat cavity
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Use constant flow (same airspeed till the end of exercise)
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Think of syllable „o” when breathing
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Have a good, tall and relaxed posture when breathing
Here are some simple exercises for breathing:
1. Breathing exercise: Use metronome for this exercise- 1 beat equals 60bpm Inhale over 4 beats
Exhale over 4 beats
3 beats
4 beats
2 beats
4 beats
1 beat
4 beats
Variation of this exercise: Inhale over 4 beats
Exhale over 4 beats
4 beats
3 beats
4 beats
2 beats
4 beats
1 beat
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2. Breathing exercise with trombone: Exhale trough the horn, and take a full breath between each „note”. No buzzing, only constant air movement (constant airspeed)!!!
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Mouthpiece buzzing
Mouthpiece buzzing is also one of the essentials of simple and dilligent practice, it helps to develop better sense of pitch and connect the image of sound with the actual facial muscles used to produce the sound. Buzz the mouthpiece after breathing exercises and before playing anything on trombone. Use piano or drone as a reference for pitch. Tips: •
Whenever you practice this exercise, make sure to use lots of air and stay relaxed
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Form the lips in the shape of „o” inside the mouthpiece, but keep the corners fixed
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Buzz in tune and in the center of the pitch
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Produce great and vibrant sound
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Long tones
Long tones is the most simple exercise on trombone, but its also demanding in several aspects: you need to use a lot of air when playing them, be in tune and keep the same air speed till the end of the note. Long tones played on daily basis help to develop good breath control, stability of pitch on trombone, attacks of the notes and they help to develop a good , timbred sound on trombone. In this section are three exercises for long tones, they are accompanied by backing tracks, which will help you to stabilize the pitch and timing as well as help you to develop clear attacks in different registers. Always start with first exercise as the starting point. Develop your range trough Long tones 2 and 3 exercises later on. Trombone slide position numbers are provided on top of each note. Tips: •
Practice sound and pitch
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Good attacks and timing
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Use lots of air
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Play good sound, stop when it starts to sound bad or the notes are not reachable.
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Scales The scales are the essential of music language. We need to learn them in order to technically master the instrument and use the same kind of patterns in music. These exercises are good for developement of the range on trombone. Hereby are provided a simple exercises for major scales in all keys . These exercises can be used: •
In a duet with teacher (parts can be swapped around as well!)
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With a CD backing track (first two empty bars in the score are where the backing track intro beat starts)
The scales are organized in preferable order to be practiced daily by changing the the key time to time. Make sure to practice it good before proceeding to next key! Make sure you practice the scale which is within your range, if its not possible choose another version in the same key (for most of them there are high and low versions of the exercise). Tips: •
Practice good connections between the notes(fast and smooth sli de technique)
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Listen to pitch and timing (on backing track, or by yourself when playing it in a duet)
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Breath whenever needed, but do it regularly (each 1 bar, or each 2 bars)
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Have fun!
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Arpeggios Arpeggios will help you to learn the vertical of the harmony. These exercises consist of major arpeggios organized in the same order as the scales in previous section. Arpeggios can be practiced the same way like scales : •
In a duet (when teacher plays root in a drone)
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With CD backing track
Tips: •
Keep the quality of the sound the same always
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Use lots of air
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Stay collected in the embochoure
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Listen for pitch
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Natural slurs Natural slurs is an important aspect of every brass instrument. They need to be practiced daily to learn how to deal with the resistance of the instrument in different registers, how to build partials on natural harmonics. And these exercises help to develop efficient and collected embuchoure. There are 7 simple exercises for natural slurs written out. They can be practiced the same ways the scales and arpeggios: •
In a duet with teacher
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With a CD backing track
Tips: •
Use the air flow to connect and sling up to other partials
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Use the corners of your lips to fix the embochoure, while still having a good round opening for the air to enter the instrument
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The exercises can be practiced slurred, legato tongued or with accents (to learn different articulations on different partials) and using loud and soft dynamics.
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Harmonic Workout
This is an additional exercise, which drives the player trough tonics and dominants in different keys. There are two versions of the exercise: the light version which has less accidentals, and the full version which goes through all the keys. If you feel like challenging yourself- have a go on these exercises. There can be used varied varied articulations and dynamics for these exercises.
Tips: •
Use air trough the passages
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Make sure to have a light and fast slide technique
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Listen for tone and pitch
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Have fun!
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Scale-canon exercise The scale canonic exercise is to be played in duet, but more people can be involved with the rules of canon. Tips: •
Play it with metronome
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Start with legato cantabile and proceed to different articulations and rhythms
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Listen to each other (balance, intonation, articulati ons)
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Songs
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