When you are first learing to play the trombone are you more dependent on muscle memory than ear training?

oh yea.



your more concerned with the way it feels than the way it sounds. so you get caught up in that mumbo jumbo and its not good for the long run.

i try to ween my students off that slowly and teach them what it soudns like by singing and buzzing.

i totally agree with mas. tho i am a student not a teacher, my teacher has reinforced in no uncertain terms that she wants me to have a beautiful tone, then worry about rythms and getting range. get the starting pitch of a passage and then use only your mouthpiece to buzz the phrase, if you get this going well then put the mouthpiece back in and use the same amount of air to play the passage. this will result in good tone. do this regularly along with singing and voila!
have fun
MicMac

for whatever it`s worth i agree.

however, drills that reinforce the muscle memory are good. i have a beginning student who frequently slides right past the correct position but has such a good ear that she "lips" the note up or down to get it kind of in tune. she can`t really cause sometimes she`s like an inch and a half away.

i really like to get the ear and the correct position in sinc with buzzing and singing and then showing the student how the horn plays best when the buzz and the postion is lined up.