TromboneChat

I was just curious on how y'all improve tone!

Quote from: seanschramm on Dec 30, 2017, 05:29PMI was just curious on how y'all improve tone!

You need to know what you want your sound to be like. That is the straight simple answer. If you do then you will strive towards that ideal. There are ways to practice too. Long tones and the overtone singing method that Sabutin talks about could help to find and improve a better tone, but for that to work you need a lot of skills to begin with. You need to know what to listen to and how to control the resonance. You need to experiment with your mouth cavaty and before that you need a working emboushure. It is not easy to describe how to improve your sound. It needs serious work. Listen to tromboneplayers you like and try to imitate the sound you hear. You could also record yourself and listen. The sound consists of so many things. Sound is articulation, dynamics as well as vibrato, the whole lot. Personally I try to play as musically as I possibly can. I record myself and imagine someone else is playing. This way I take a step back when I'm listening so I can listen more objective.

/Tom

An ideal sound is a great start. 

So, practically speaking, every day do something exactly the same, and concentrate on it.  I mean, observe what's happening and listen to what comes out.  As you keep going what happens will change and move around an incredible amount, more than words can say. 

For my own self, it's long tones and variations first thing in the morning.  For others maybe it's scales, tongued or not.  Whatever you choose, it does seem important to hit all your available notes.  Simplicity also seems important, which makes it easy to repeat tomorrow. 

Check back next year, and you'll probably say, sound happened. 

One elementary thing that sends beginner players down the wrong path for tone is tonguing with tu, too, du, doo... if you are doing that, don't.

Tongue with "tah" or "dah" (American pronunciation). "Ah" like you do at the doctor's so he can see down your throat.

You want your airway doing the "ah" shape so it is open, not closed with "oo"

After you get that mechanical "oo" disaster out of the way, then you need a good conception of the sound as the previous respondents discussed.

Quote from: robcat2075 on Dec 31, 2017, 04:36PMOne elementary thing that sends beginner players down the wrong path for tone is tonguing with tu, too, du, doo... if you are doing that, don't.

Tongue with "tah" or "dah" (American pronunciation). "Ah" like you do at the doctor's so he can see down your throat.

You want your airway doing the "ah" shape so it is open, not closed with "oo"

After you get that mechanical "oo" disaster out of the way, then you need a good conception of the sound as the previous respondents discussed.

Yep, 100% this!
I was playing in high school for over a year using the ooo style mouthing, and during a band camp, my tutor picked up on this, and we had it changed very quickly. It's amazing the change that comes over your playing once you have this corrected!

Quote from: Zandit75 on Dec 31, 2017, 06:40PMYep, 100% this!
I was playing in high school for over a year using the ooo style mouthing, and during a band camp, my tutor picked up on this, and we had it changed very quickly. It's amazing the change that comes over your playing once you have this corrected!

I wish I had gone to that band camp instead of German camp. 

For me 20 minutes a day of slow lip slurs between the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th partials, combined with metronome, singing with piano, and looking at the tuner is the best way to work on tone.

For me 20 minutes a day of slow lip slurs between the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th partials, combined with metronome, singing with piano, and looking at the tuner is the best way to work on tone.