Slide Cordination Exercises

[toneovertune]

I have seen exercises and books for all sorts of things high range, low range, lip slurs, articulations, but is there any specifically for slide coordination, smoothness, and or speed? I have recorded myself playing and realized my slide sounds a little slow and I would like to have better technique.

[noahmareztrb]

Advanced Slide Technique by Marsteller might interest you. It normalizes many alternate positions and focuses on the erratic motion of the slide.

[BrooklynDad]

I have some that I do, and show my students. Will try and post a little video tomorrow and link to it here as well.

[GGJazz]

Hi folks.

I think that , to have a good slide coordination , it is very important to have first a good body posture , and a correct way to handle and move the slide also .

I would like to add a couple of basics exercises , which I think could help this topic .

1) play a descending chromatic sequence , as medium F , E , Eb , D , etc , or a scale , at 66 BPM or so ; play a quarter note , followed by a quarter rest , and so on . At the end of each played note , so at the beginning of the rest , immediatly put your slide in the position for the next note , so that when it starts you will already being in the requested slide position .
This , to me , can help the " feeling" of already being in in a slide position just before a note begins .

2) put the metronome at 200 BPM , thinking the played clicks are 16th notes ; so every 4 clicks you have a quarter note , as a full beat at 50 BPM .
Listening carefully to the clicks , play a quarter notes descending chromatic sequence as F , E , Eb , D, etc , or a scale , with NO rest in between notes , being aware of moving the slide exactly between the LAST 16th of a group of four 16th ( a full beat note ) and the FIRST 16th of the next group of four 16th ( another full beat note ) , an so on . Your blow have to be steady , as for a very long tone .
This exercise can help accuracy , in my opinion .

Your arm movement should be very fast , but with no tension at all.

Furthermore , playing very very fast is a different thing ; to me , you do not have to stop at all the slide movement between lines' notes .


Regards
Giancarlo

[timothy42b]

There was a fair amount of discussion on the old Online Trombone Journal, and those articles are searchable.

Also it's worth watching James Markey's ATW video where he talks about shoulder rotation.

[GabrielRice]

A few thoughts:

First of all, there was actually quite a bit of slide coordination/timing in the classic Remington routines. The longer I play and teach trombone, the more I realize Emory Remington had it pretty much all figured out.

Now, to the heart of the question: the key is timing. Move the slide in rhythm. Keep it in place while you are playing a note; move it when it's time to play the next note. It's actually that simple. If you do that, you actually don't need to think about the speed of your arm any more than you need to think about how fast you're moving your legs to walk or run at different speeds.

Of course, with years of doing something other than that, it's easier said than done.

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Here's an exercise I came up with for awareness of where your slide is and when you're moving it relative to the rhythm.

Start tapping your foot in a relatively slow pulse, say 68-72 beats per minute. Use a metronome if you must, but tap your foot along with it anyway. Play a scale - C Major is good - of full-length quarter notes with quarter rests in between. Play the scale three times as follows:

1. Play the first note and then move the slide immediately to the next position and wait there until it's time to play that note. Play the rest of the scale the same way.

2. Play the first note and then keep the slide in place until it's time for the next note. Move the slide to the next note exactly in rhythm, i.e. at the last possible millisecond. You might be surprised at how late you can move the slide and still have a clean articulation. Continue the scale the same way.

3. Play the first note and then move the slide gradually and evenly to the next note, using the entire quarter rest to do it. Not too slow, not too fast. Aim to arrive at the second note exactly in time. This will mean you are moving the slide at different speeds depending on how far you have to go. THAT'S EXACTLY THE POINT. We do this all the time without even thinking about it.

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Variation 2 above is actually a great way to play all the time. It's the key to great, clear legato, for one thing. But this exercises is about awareness first and foremost. Where is your slide when? And exactly when are you moving it? If you can increase your awareness of these things, speed will take care of itself.

[tbdana]

Slide ahead.