Trombone Diagnostics: A Teaching Perspective
(or Why Does It Sound That Way and How Can I Fix It?)

James Michael Bicigo, DMA

Reprinted with permission form Michigan Music Educators, Winter 2000,
Caroline Ferrell, editor

Some students naturally do the correct physical actions to produce a characteristic sound on the trombone. They sound good immediately and their tone grows naturally with practice. Other students make some common mistakes and produce sounds that are less than pleasing to the ear. These sounds have specific qualities that are symptoms of certain physical barriers to good tone. I have found that by playing around and learning to produce those uncharacteristic sounds combined with studying the pedagogical work of master brass teachers such as Philip Farkas, Arnold Jacobs, Ed Kleinhammer, and Vincent Cicowicz, I have figured out what students are doing incorrectly and some ways to correct the problems.

I suggest that readers take out a trombone and begin by practicing the physical actions described below that are required to produce a characteristic trombone sound. Then using the symptoms, possible causes, and possible solutions, try to produce the offending tones and correct them. This will help the reader to feel and experience the correct action, the incorrect action, and the solution.

All instrumentalists rely on good posture and instrument grip to produce good tone. We often tell students to sit up straight at the front of the chair. This posture can add tension to a player’s sound. Trombone players need to sit as though they are standing. Sometimes the back of the chair is needed for support. (This is why we need good straight chairs.) Most of the torso must be relaxed so a full breath can be taken. If the weight of the body is balanced over the hip bones while sitting, or the feet while standing, the player can remain balanced and flexible. The spine maintains its natural spring shape and the muscles of the torso are not needed to support the weight of the body.
From this position, a trombone player can produce a beautiful sonorous tone.

To produce the characteristic trombone sound, one must start with a full and relaxed breath. Most adults have between 3.5 and 6 liters of air capacity. For normal breathing, we use less than a liter. Most young adolescents have between 2 and 4 liters of air capacity and use less than a liter for normal breathing. In order to produce a good characteristic tone on the trombone, one must take in close to their full air capacity with each breath. This action must be done in a relaxed manner. A relaxed breath is silent (or close to it) and feels much like a yawn. This breath must turn around immediately. The body does not naturally hold air in. In natural breathing, we breathe in and immediately release the air. This must happen when playing the trombone as well.

Breathing exercise

Breathe in fully and in a relaxed manner until the lungs are full. Now without closing the nose, mouth, glottis, or adding tension anywhere in the shoulders, neck, or chest try to hold the breath in. When air tries to leak out, sip in some more. Do this for a short time and then release air.
Notice how much air it takes to fill the lungs. They hold much more air than we usually realize.

Notice that the air continually wanted to leak out. It was necessary to keep sipping it in to keep the lungs full. Now breathe in a full breath and release it quickly and silently. Notice that you do not need to blow hard and are not making much noise. The natural breathing process is relaxed!

The embouchure for trombone playing is very simple. The lips are together with the corners of the mouth held firm. When air is blown past the lips, they are set in motion by the air column flapping open and shut, creating a buzzing sound. The air makes the lips vibrate, the corners of the mouth hold the lips at the right tension to produce the desired pitch, and nothing more. The lip muscles do not create the buzzing sound; the lips must be held with the correct tension so that they vibrate the intended pitch in tune. If they vibrate out of tune it will have an adverse effect on the player’s tone.

The tongue remains at the bottom of the mouth and articulates the air stream at the back of the front teeth with the tip of the tongue. The tongue hits from the line where the top of the teeth meet the gum for the upper register to the tip of the top teeth for the extreme low register. For each tone symptom, begin with the characteristic tone then add each possible cause and listen to the effect on the sound. Do each one individually, then try combining them. A student may do several things to cause a problem at one time. When working with a student, concentrate on the correct actions and try to get the student to produce them as naturally as possible. However, sometimes a specific instruction (open the teeth a little) is needed to correct a problem.

A pinched or nasal tone can be caused by pressing the lips too tightly together, trying to make the lip muscles move to produce a buzzing sound resulting in the lips being pressed together in the center. To correct this, hold the corners of the mouth firm enough to produce the desired pitch and relax the center of the embouchure so that the air parts the lips naturally. Raising the tongue too high in the mouth, and/or blowing the air to hard or with resistance somewhere behind the lips (throat, chest, tongue, jaw, etc.) can also produce a pinched sound. To correct this think TOH to start notes and OH throughout their duration. Also practice yawning and fogging a mirror with the breath. Blow gently and breathe silently. Holding the embouchure so that the lips vibrate sharp, or having sharp slide positions will result in the horn not resonating fully and the sound will be stifled. This is corrected by buzzing on the mouthpiece with a piano or a tuner to play in tune. If a BERP is available, slide positions can be combined with this to train the ear, lips, and hand together. When the center of the player’s embouchure is held too far open, a fuzzy unfocused (dead) sound results. To correct this problem, keep the lips together and relaxed. Let the air part the lips to form the aperture. Keep the corners of the mouth firm. If a player doesn’t keep the corners of the mouth firm in the high range and/or buzzes flat, this dead sound can also occur. Keeping the corners firm (strengthen by buzzing) or closing the jaw slightly can help. If the sound is dead in the low range, but good in the high range, the player is usually opening the jaw too far in the low range. Practicing in a mirror and keeping movement in the embouchure to a minimum will help.

Buzzing flat or playing slide positions flat will deaden the sound in the same way as playing them sharp. Practice with a tuner is very effective for learning to hear, see, and feel playing in tune.

If a player blows too hard so the air stream moves faster than the embouchure can handle, or if the player blows with resistance, a bright piercing (hard) tone occurs. This can also happen when the player uses too much mouthpiece pressure against the embouchure. The solution lies in blowing gently and playing in a relaxed manner.

Ultimately achieving a good trombone sound is a matter of keeping the position of the body in as natural a position as possible and of playing in a relaxed and natural manner. If a player concentrates on these basic actions and has a good concept of sound, they can overcome any of the symptoms and barriers described in this article.