Guys, i know you prob all heard it before, but how do i get a concept of the sound i want when i play trombone?

My tone at the moment is Horrible, and I need desperate help.

Thanks,

Tuba_chick

Im no pro but i know something about a good tone.Make sure when youre blowing open your teeth and much as you can.Closed teeth makes a bad sound.Also support your notes with air.If you use weak air the notes will sound ugly and out of tune.And like we learned the first week of beginner band,dont puff your cheeks.Blow your air straight,this will help too.If theres anything else im sure the other guys will cover it.

Hope this helped
-Adam(TromboneKid)

Open your throat. I know this feels weird at first, but it becomes natural with time. My band teacher made us stick a piece of PVC pipe in our mouths and just take deep breaths with it for a few minutes. It worked quite well.

Question(s)- are you changing mouthpieces when you go from tuba to trombone? That can have a temporary affect.

Your teeth should be far enough apart to put your finger in between them. Also (and this controversial but it is what I teach) Your top lip and your bottom lip should be vibrating on the air stream not against each other and at the same frequency.

Try buzzing without your mouthpiece and see if you can insert a tip of a pencil between your lips. This will tell you how far apart your lips are.

Then using the tip of the pencil move it down to stop your lower lip from buzzing, listen to the pitch of the upper lip. now move the pencil so both lips are vibrating again and this time stop the upper lip. What pitch is the upper lip at? The goal is to get them at the same pitch.

Just to add something to what was already said...
You have to remember that like many things in music, the concept of ''good tone'' is in your head. Listen to good trombonists, have a clear idea of what you want to sound like. Of course you won't get a perfect tone just by hearing it in your head, you still have to apply all the technical details that were already mentioned, but hearing how you want to sound oubviously can't be wrong.


JOhnlovemusic, I understand the goal of your exercise, but I'd like to say that one should never buzz without a mouthpiece (or rim). Early in my learning process I found out that it did not help me at all, whathever my teacher could say. And I more recently found a confirmation of what I thought watching this video of Arnold Jacobs :

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nqTUwX0OVpM

Im no pro but i know something about a good tone.Make sure when youre blowing open your teeth and much as you can.Closed teeth makes a bad sound.Also support your notes with air.If you use weak air the notes will sound ugly and out of tune.And like we learned the first week of beginner band,dont puff your cheeks.Blow your air straight,this will help too.If theres anything else im sure the other guys will cover it. Hope this helped -Adam(TromboneKid)

Ok, I've got to call you out on a few issues here. First of all.. I have a hundred percent overbite. If I played with my jaw open enough to make my teeth seem apart, I'd never get any notes out of my horn. You can't see this person play. Be careful about telling someone to open their teeth. You'd be surprised how often this is the WRONG thing to do. As a matter of fact, I was told a few years ago by a very well known and respected teacher/player/embouchure expert to actually CLOSE my teeth more.
Also..
most players will blow air either in an upstream or downstream manner. There is nothing wrong with this. Very often, telling someone to try to blow the air straight into the center of the mouthpiece will do more harm than good.
You are giving blanket advice based upon your own personal (and limited) experience. I can appreciate that you want to help, but you have to make sure you don't do any harm in the process.
Honestly folks, I think there is a lot of overthinking going on here. First things first..
You need to do a lot of listening to really get the concept in your head of what you want to sound like.
Trombone playing really is quite simple when you think about it.
1.. breathe right
2... get the slide in the right place
3... buzz the right pitch
usually most problems come down to one of these three things.
Just have the sound you want in your head, put the horn up to your lips, take a big relaxed deep breath, and play.
the help of a good teacher, preferably one who doubles a lot is the best way to go.

Listen to what Steve says. He seems to be a very experienced player.

Thanks guys,

Yes i change mouthpieces when i play the tuba, trombone and trumpet. ONCE AGAIN Thanks!!

What I teach for most of my brass students is basically three simple concepts.

1. Keep your teeth as open as possible WITHOUT pulling the lips apart.

2. Blow fast focused air PASSED the lips not just at them.

3. TRY not to "smile" or pull the corners of the mouth straight back (this stretches the lips flat agains the teeth and reduces flexibility.)

Try more of a frown than a smile and keep the aperture relaxed.

As you play higher the embouchure becomes firmer and the aperture becomes smaller and more focused.