Lesson with Franzman

Originally Posted by Franzman

Hello again. I need some advise on range improvement and support strengthening. I'm having serious trouble with my range above G4 ...

So a bit of solid tips from you would be gold worth.

Air. Lots of it...and FAST!!

Long tones are the key to unlocking the path to the mysterious land of lead trombone playing.

Take your time...don't rush this. If you do, it won't work.

Do you maintain a daily routine? Warm up? Do you own a metronome and a tuner?

Do this first, every day (with metronome and tuner): Warmup/Long tones + flexibility (lip slurs).

THEN, range-building. It's as basic as apreggios...hold the top note for as long as possible. It'll BURN, but embrace it. That's your muscles working out. Also, take breaks between exercises. Give your face a chance to rest.... and use a tuner.

ALWAYS maintain a good solid foundation to support higher notes. And, if the note won't speak keep trying, you're training your face so even a failed attempt is useful.

Playing scales into the upper register will help strengthen everything, aiding in tuning and precision...use a tuner. It's just a matter of conditioning yourself to get up there. With a bit of work, C's D's...F's. No problem.

Did I mention you should use a tuner?

My daily routine is worthless. I don't really know what to do. I get stuff from my teacher (slurring, tonguing exercises ect..) but I feel that I don't have enough dicipline at all to do anything with it, the teacher I had my first 5 years never adressed any of my embouchure issues, infact he never talked about anything that had anything to do with actually playing the instrument (except playing boring orchestral tunes) so I have to relearn my entire way of playing the darn thing.

Here's what I usually do: 2 times a week (!) at home

• Do some slurring exercises 5-10 minutes
  
• Do some tounging exercises 2-5 minutes
  
• Perhaps some long notes, but never too high (I usually stop at G4), as I can't go higher comfortably (I've hit a D5 once.. highest ever I think) because my embouchure sucks. My upperlip starts pressing on the mouthpiece and my throat gets tense. This is possibly my biggest issue, aside from the lack of air & support.
  
• and then finally I put on the Aebersold Bb Blues track and just improvise for a few mintues...

This self-revelation has been really tough for me, and my self-esteem is going up and down. I don't really know what to do to fix it..

More work on long tones in the low/mid register will be a big help. To strengthen the embouchure and give your upper-register something solid to work from.

Focus on getting a good, centered sound and playing in tune. Building upwards as your middle-register extends higher.

You can't play every day? It's tough when you can't devote yourself to playing more... 5-10, 2-5 minutes.... it'll take a little more time than that. You're working on an anaerobic exercise, which will take time for the muscles to adapt to what you're making them do. I try and spend about a half hour just on the first exercise for a warm-up.