Hi, I've been playing trombone in my school orchestra for 1.5 years, and I don't think I have any improvements on my range since the beginning.

I can only hit the high F with a quality sound until now although I had a lot of practices. My range doesnt seem to extend after more than a year in the orchestra.

I can hit the high G but I know that it is not a good sound myself, I've tried to play Eb on the 6th position and slowly slide up to get the Ab overtone but it just stuck at high F (4th position) and turns back to the high Eb when I slide it up.

I need some advices on how to hit high notes, I did google some info and I tried not to put pressure on the mouthpiece and blow out the air faster but it does not seem to work. I'm suspecting that it's my embouchure, how do I do that?

Hi my name is Will and I may be able to help you with extending your range.
I am in year 7 have been playing the trombone for two years and I can hit up to the F on top of the treble clef, two octaves above the F in the staff.
Some exercises I use are harmonic slurs. This is where you start on Bb and jump to the F then to the next Bb. Continue this down the slide. Then, slur up to the D above Bb and continue through all of the positions. Then slur up to F then skip flat Ab and slur straight up to high Bb.

Another thing I do is play high notes on the trumpet. This helps develop the inner ring of muscles, but leaves you with a pinched embouchure. to counteract this effect, practice playing long pedal tones and if you can, double pedals.

Another exercise that is useful is playing scales in high octaves, spending whole notes on each. If you end up with sore cheeks and lips, Great.

Some things you can try and do is arc the back of the tongue, as it will help produce a faster airstream, rollin the bottom lip slightly and sometimes move the embouchure down on the mouthpiece.

I hope this helps,
Will

Thanks for the reply.

I'm still stuck here where I can't slur up to neither Ab or Bb with open note Ab (F on position 4) or open note Bb (F on position 6) perfectly. It just does not work all the time, but I can slur up to F# on either position 3 or 5.

It won't happen overnight. I have 2 points of advice:

1. Remember, it all comes from fast air. Keep in your mind that the air has to move faster to create higher tones. Use your own mind to think of ways to increase the airspeed.

2. Don't try to play everything with the same mouth. Your diaphragm can only push the air so fast; not fast enough. Remember that if you want to achieve high notes, you HAVE to change your embouchure. Think of it like a water hose. You can turn up the water all the way, but it doesn't shoot very far. To get it to, you put your thumb over the end. So make the gap between your lips progressively smaller the faster the air should be and the higher the note is, just like your thumb to the hose.

Some techniques:

I generally try to shoot the air downwards when playing high. I also move my embouchure down,as previously mentioned.