TromboneChat

Hi all. 

The usual warning that I don't really have the vocabulary to ask this question applies.

When i practice i tend to first do warm up activities including playing long notes and slurs, then do a lesson from 'tune a day' and play through scales. After that i play melodies and tunes I enjoy playing (from sheet music - sometimes dueting with my 12 year old daughter on piano).  My question is:

How do I decide how to seperate the notes.  Sometimes I tongue, sometimes I gliss, i use natural slurs when possible and sometimes (i worry that this is a bad habit), I stop and start the airflow.

I have been playing for about 6 weeks and have a teacher that I meet about once a month.

Many thanks in advance
Andy

If you are sliding from one note to another that's usually bad form.  You should cover the slide movement by stopping the air somehow (although a percussive hard tongue is not a good idea either).  I use something called "legato tongue" to cover the movement.  You can also learn to just stop blowing while you move the slide and start again with a breath articulation.

Legato tongue has become such a habit that I even use it with natural slurs or while playing my euphonium.

Andy,

That's a question of style. Listen to famous trombonist, pay attention to how they do it, ask your teacher  

The question cannot be answer with one sentence. That's what I do - If it is jazz or popular music I look for trombone players that made a recording. If it is video I look and listen - listen to their articulation and vibrato, look for the positions they choose to use, then trying to imitate them.

If it is classic music, most of the things you need to do are already marked, if not, again listen to someone more skillful then try to do the same.

There are some videos of masterclasses of Jiggs Wigham and Bill Watrous that you can find on youtube. So far, they have been very helpful to me. And I hope someone more experienced will chime in to give some practical insides)

Andy,
I'm only a second year player, but I was told to play it as you would sing it....That is far from a technical answer, but it give you something to go by from an image stand point....I enjoy playing with my trumpet playing 11 yo grand daughter too.

Nanook

This depends on what kind of articulation is written on the page and the style of music you are playing.

In general, almost every note is articulated, and the start of the next note emds the note before it. But there are many exceptions to the rule.

This is something you need to ask a teacher about. Articulating is something that takes the longest to develop.

It's not the worst approach in the world to keep the air flowing while the tongue momentarily interrupts it to cause articulation.

...Geezer

Surely for the first while of learning you should be focusing on tonguing correctly,slide technique and the magic tongue/slide coordination?

When I started learning there was no mention of legato until I had good enough basic control (it wasn't within my first year) and I wouldn't expect any of my trombone pupils to learn that so soon. I find that many of the tutor books introduce legato far too soon when people aren't anywhere near ready for it.

One of my colleagues doesn't bother with legato tonguing until they're fairly advanced.

Personally I wouldn't be attempting the legato style just yet.

Quote from: andyincov on Dec 13, 2016, 05:52AMHi all. 

The usual warning that I don't really have the vocabulary to ask this question applies.

When i practice i tend to first do warm up activities including playing long notes and slurs, then do a lesson from 'tune a day' and play through scales. After that i play melodies and tunes I enjoy playing (from sheet music - sometimes dueting with my 12 year old daughter on piano).  My question is:

How do I decide how to seperate the notes.  Sometimes I tongue, sometimes I gliss, i use natural slurs when possible and sometimes (i worry that this is a bad habit), I stop and start the airflow.

I have been playing for about 6 weeks and have a teacher that I meet about once a month.

Many thanks in advance
Andy

What has your teacher said about your articulations? Have you asked your teacher? 6 weeks is not a lot of time on the horn so you are probably doing fine by your teacher's standards. If you notice that you have bad articulations then it may be possible that your teacher is not aware that you recognize them. Bring it up in your next lesson and see what happens.

Hi everyone. Thanks for the responses - very helpful

Hi everyone. Thanks for the responses - very helpful