Trombone Essentials

Trombone Essentials

Prepared for
Beginner Trombone Players
By Kevin Rivera
University of North Texas
May 2015

Authors note

I would like to thank my family, friends, and girlfriend for all of the support and
encouragement in making this book a reality. Their support helped me to get through the
countless nights writing this book. I would like to dedicate this book to Paul Elder, my
high school band director and mentor. Thank you for all of the long hours and
rehearsals that made me the musician I am today. By teaching me the fundamentals of
latin, jazz, funk, marching, and concert music, you increased my appreciation for music.
Whether it be 18th century classical music, 20th century ragtime, or 21st century funk,
my musical taste would not be the same without you. Past music, you were always
there for me in the good, the bad, and the ugly times. I will never forget the countless
times you came into the commons area to discover what mystery soup my table made,
or the terrible music blasting through the area. Those were good times. It goes without
saying, you made a big impact in my life.

Table of Contents

Slide Position Chart

Trombone Assembly

How to Select Your Mouthpiece

Buzzing

Playing a Concert Pitch

Tuning
Basic Music Reading

10
11-13

Slide Positions

14

Long Tones

15

Lip Slurs
Long Tones/Lip Slurs Summary

16-17
18

Scales

19-21

Sight Reading

21-23

Next Steps

24

Index

25

Trombone assembly
On this page, you will learn how to assemble a trombone in the most efficient manner.
The trombone consists of three main parts: the bell, the slide, and the mouthpiece.

Step 1
Lay all three pieces on the floor.

Step 2
Put the bell and slide pieces together.
The slide piece will have a small thumbscrew on one of the two openings. Use that end
to connect the slide piece to the small opening of the bell piece. Do not tighten the
thumbscrew.

Step 3
Put the mouthpiece on the, now, bell-and-slide piece.
The mouthpiece will go on the slide piece that has the small opening without the small
thumbscrew.

Step 4
Grasp the trombone in the following two places: the slide and the bell.
Rotate the slide so that it is parallel to the ground. Then rotate the bell so that there is
an angle slightly greater than 90 degrees between the slide and the bell.

Step 5
Tighten the thumbscrew.

Step 6
Make sure that the tuning slides, located on the back end of the bell, are in.
These should only be moved to adjust your tuning, which we will go into more detail
later in the book.

Step 7
When you bring your trombone up to playing position the back of the trombone should
either sit on your left shoulder if you are right handed, or on your right shoulder if you
are left handed.

How to select your mouthpiece

Selecting what mouthpiece to use depends on what style of music you would like to
play. For example, a mouthpiece for concert and marching music is bigger than a
mouthpiece for jazz music. Sizes are sorted by numbers, letters, and shank size.
Different mouthpieces affect the tone of your instrument. However, you should stay with
the same mouthpiece for about a year. If you change mouthpiece sizes frequently then
your embouchure, which we will go into more detail later, will suffer. In other words,
apart from the transition between a beginner and concert/marching mouthpiece, do not
change your mouthpiece within a year.

Step 1
Determine your shank size.
Shank size refers to the width of the stem of the mouthpiece. If you are playing a bass
trombone, you will need a large shank. Most trigger trombones require a large shank
although there are some that require a small shank. Therefore if you have a trigger
trombone, you should refer to your individual manual that came with the instrument.
Inversely, most tenor trombones require a small shank although there are some that
require a large shank. Again, please refer to your individual manual that came with the
instrument.

Step 2
Use the letter and numbers system to determine your mouthpiece.
For letters, the later in the alphabet it is, the deeper your cup size. For numbers, the
higher the number, the bigger the diameter of the mouthpiece.

Recommendations
For a beginner I would strongly suggest starting out with a 12C. Once you have 2-3
years of experience, move on to the 5G if you are playing in concert band. If you are a
jazz player, keep the same 12C mouthpiece. If you are in a position where you must
play jazz music and concert or marching music, ask your director what sound they are
looking for. The best mouthpiece with the middle ground between jazz music and
concert or marching music is a 6 1/2 AL. If you use a tenor trombone for jazz and a
trigger or bass trombone for either concert or marching music, purchase two 6 1/2 AL
mouthpieces. Furthermore, one mouthpiece should have a small shank while the other
mouthpiece has a large shank.

Buzzing
In order to buzz properly you must set a correct posture, inhale a full breath of air, set
your embouchure, and buzz the mouthpiece.

Step 1
Set a correct posture.
When you sit on a chair it is easy to slouch. Prevent this by making your back straight
so that your back and the chair are parallel. This should feel natural, without tension.
Make sure your feet are flat on the floor. This posture allows you to take full advantage
of your breathing capacity, a very important concept for a wind player.

Step 2
Inhale a full breath of air.
Make sure that you do not feel tension in your chest. The feeling of inhalation should be
relaxed and normal. Your stomach should either stay in the same position or even be
sucked in as this process happens. If your stomach expands when you inhale, you are
not taking advantage of your full breathing capacity.

Step 3
Set your embouchure.
Below are subsets designed to guide you on how to set your embouchure.
A. Lick your lips so that they are moist, but not dripping.
B. Bring your lips together without tension.
C. Pull the corners of your lips back to an almost smirk-like manner.

Step 4
Buzz the mouthpiece.
Exhale through your lips while making them vibrate. This will produce a sound similar to
a buzz. Musicians will always refer to this as a buzz.
Important information
Throughout these three steps the word tension was used in a negative way. As a
musician, tension is always bad.
Buzzing is not natural. It may take practice to produce that noise. However, once you
are able to produce that noise try holding it out; try to buzz for 5, then 10, then 20
seconds if possible. The longer the better. This will be very important once we start to
produce an excellent sound through the trombone.

Playing a concert pitch

All instruments have a concert pitch. This concert pitch is commonly used when tuning
within the section or the rest of the band. The concert pitch for trombones is F, which is
in first position if you refer to the previous section that has a trombone slide position
chart. Below is how to play a concert pitch.

Step 1
Make sure the instrument is assembled properly.

Step 2
Bring your lips to the mouthpiece. Your lips should touch the mouthpiece, but they
shouldn't feel jammed onto your lips.

Step 3
Buzz by initiating the start with a flick of your tongue onto the mouthpiece while exhaling
into the mouthpiece.
Important information
First of all, congratulations. You have just played through your trombone. To improve
your concert pitch do the following:
Invest in a good tuner. These are used to tune your instrument, which we will talk in
more detail on the next page. A decent tuner should not exceed $20.
Listen to a recording of a trombone concert pitch online. Listen to the crisp, clean
sound the professional trombone player makes. Try to imitate their sound clarity.
Make sure that you practice this every day until you get it. Taking a day or two off as a
beginner can take its toll by increasing the amount of time required to sound clear.

Tuning
Tuning an instrument is one of the most important factors to become a great musician.
All professionals tune before any performance, and even before the start of rehearsal.
Tuning correctly allows you to sound similar to other players and to not stick out in the
band. Whether you are about to play for 10 hours or 10 minutes, always tune before
playing. This page will show you how to tune a tenor trombone with a tuner.

Step 1
Locate the tuning slide behind the part of the trombone that sits on your shoulder.

Step 2
Push the tuning slide all the way in. Most trombones will come like that already.

Step 3
Pull the tuning slide about 1 inch out. If you are at room temperature, your tuning slide
will always sit around that position.

Step 4
Turn the tuner on. A display with possible lights will show up, depending on the tuner
you got.

Step 5
Place the tuner close to your bell. You could also place the tuner on a stand, if possible,
and aim your bell towards the tuner.

Step 6
Play your concert pitch.

Step 7
Your instrument will show as either sharp or flat. Sharp means your pitch is higher than
it is supposed to be and flat means your pitch is lower than it is supposed to be.

Step 8
Adjust your tuning slide accordingly. If your instrument is sharp, pull the tuning slide out.
If your instrument is flat, push the tuning slide in.

Step 9
Repeat the process of tuning until you are in tune. Tuners with lights will show the color
green and tuners without lights will have the line pointing straight up.
Important information
All tuners should be set to 442 Hertz.

10

Basic music reading

Reading music is another important factor in becoming a great musician. This is a big
section that will be divided into the following subsections:
- (A) Rhythm
- (B) Time signatures and bass clef
- (C) Sharps, flats, and accidentals

(A) Rhythm
There is a world of notes out there such as whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, and
more. There is also a world of silence out there better known as rests. Like notes, there
are whole rests, half rests, quarter rests, and more. Below is a list of common rhythm
notations you will see throughout your music career.
Count(s)
Name
Picture
4

Whole note

Whole rest

Half note

Half rest

Quarter note

Quarter rest

Half

Eighth note

Half

Eighth rest
11

In the examples on the last page, new vocabulary was introduced. All of the examples
were based on 4/4 time, the most common time signature, which we will talk about later.
Count is how many beats a note or rest lasts in a measure. Notes are what you play. In
the example above all of the notes are F. Rests are where you do not play. When you
are going through rests, especially long ones, it is a good idea to look at what notes you
must play next. This is called reading ahead. Below is a very common misinterpretation
of rests:
Whole rests and half rests look very similar. However, notice how the whole rest is
below the line it is attached to. The half rest is above the line it is attached to.

(B) Time signatures and bass clef

A time signature is as shown to the right:
The numerator, or number at the top, is how many beats there are in one measure.
The denominator, or number at the bottom, is how many beats a whole note in that
measure gets. Below are common time signatures you will see as a beginner.
Time signature

Explanation

4/4

This means there are 4 beats in a measure with 4 beats for

each whole note. This is the most common time signature.

3/4

This means there are 3 beats in a measure with 4 beats for

each whole note.

6/8

This means there are 6 beats in a measure with 8 beats for

each whole note. This is commonly said to have a feel of 2
because if you tap your foot to the music, you would be
tapping on 1 and 4.

Clefs are simply the notation of music for an instrument. Beginner trombonists, like all
low brass instruments, will always read in bass clef. There are two other common clefs
for wind instruments: treble clef and tenor clef. Treble clef is used for woodwind
instruments which require reeds to play, instead of a mouthpiece. Tenor clef can be
used when there are notes that are very high above the staff. The tenor clef takes the
same high notes and puts it much closer to the staff, making music easier to read.
However, this common notation is typically used for higher level players so this notation
will only be used in a more advanced book. Below is what a bass clef looks like:

12

(C) Sharps, flats, and naturals

In order to read music, you must have a basic understanding of subsections A and B.
Then, combine both concepts to read rhythms in music. The last piece of the puzzle to
reading music is reading different notes. You may notice that some notes have a
hashtag symbol a letter b, or a weird halfway hashtag sign. These are called
accidentals.
Accidentals are sharps, flats, and naturals that are written in the middle of a piece of
music. However, first we must learn about half steps and full steps. A full step is when
you move a note up or down the staff in one of two of the following ways:
1. Going from a black line to another black line up or down.
2. Going from a white space to another white space up or down.
A half step is just that, half of a full step. You can also move up and down but this time
you will go from a white space to a black line or from a black line to a white space.
With that information we can talk about sharps, flats, and naturals. Sharps and flats
move a note by a half step. A sharp raises a note by a half step and a flat lowers a note
by a half step. A natural means that where a note is supposed to be noted as flat or
sharp, is now natural.
When there is a sharp or flat by the bass clef and time signature, that means that all
notes for the line the sharp or flat was written, should be assumed as sharp or flat. The
only exception to this rule is when an accidental is written on the piece of music.
All of the notes that you will read as a beginner are shown in the beginning of this book
on the trombone slide position chart. We will talk about what the numbers below the
whole notes on the trombone slide position chart mean in the next section.

13

14

15

16

Slide Positions
The tenor trombone has 7 slide positions. To help explain where all of the positions are,
below is a table with all slide positions with explanations:
Slide position Explanation
1

Position closest to your lips; all the way in

About an inch in front of 1st position

Half an inch behind the bell

Quarter of an inch past the bell

Half an inch past 4th position

Half an inch past 5th position

3/4 of an inch past 6th position

The measurements above, with the exception of first position, should be used as an
approximation. The more you practice, the more comfortable you will become with these
positions. Eventually it will all be muscle memory, so dont be discouraged by the
precise measurements. You may have noticed that some notes are in the same
position. These are called overtones. You can control which notes to play by buzzing
and focusing the air that goes into the mouthpiece. The best way to try this is to take the
mouthpiece out of the instrument and only focus on buzzing through he mouthpiece by
itself for two to three days. Once said practice time has passed, put the mouthpiece
back on the trombone. Then with the slide position chart, explore the instrument and get
comfortable with how certain notes sound. Next we will play some exercises that are
common in the world of music such as long tones and lip slurs. Below is the visual
difference between the 3rd and 4th slide positions.

17

Long Tones/Lip Slurs Summary

The exercises over the past three pages should be taken slowly at first, not to the tempo
mark at the top of the page. This is because it is imperative that you perform these
exercises well. Once you are comfortable with the exercise, slowly increase the tempo
until you reach the tempo marked at the top of the exercises. This rule should always be
followed when practicing exercises or music.
You may have noticed that in between notes in the lip slurs there are curved lines.
These are called slur marks or ties, both mean the same thing. A slur mark or tie can
mean 1 of 2 things (here you can assume 4/4 time):
1) If the slur mark/tie is between two notes that are the same, hold the note out for the
value of both notes. For example, if you have a quarter note F tied to a quarter note
F you should hold the F for 2 beats as if it was a half note. Another example would
be, if you have a half note F tied to a quarter note F the note should be held for 3
beats.
2) If the slur mark/tie is between two different notes, this means that when you change
notes you should not use your tongue. Instead, simply blow more air into the
instrument and if it is an overtone you may have to slightly move your lips to
accommodate for the next note.
It is imperative that as a brass player, you do these exercises at least every other day. If
you want to see fast improvement, you must do these exercises every day. Below is
some basic science behind why you should practice every day:
Your lips are muscles. When you blow air into the instrument, it makes your lips vibrate.
It is not the other way around. Our lips are doing an unnatural action by vibrating in
response to the change in the volume of the air in the instrument. In short, our lips are
trying to learn something unnatural. Lifting, running, and abdominal work are natural.
This is why going to the gym 2-3 times a week is okay, and you will see improvement
because the muscles that pertain to those exercises were made to do those motions.
Our lips were not made to vibrate in response to the change in volume of air in an
instrument. Therefore, practicing 2-3 times a week is unacceptable; your lip muscles will
deteriorate.
You must fit long tones and lip slurs into your practice time. These two types of
exercises are important to fast improvement and once you become an intermediate
player it is essential to increasing your range and flexibility.

18

Scales
Scales come in many tempos and types. Some are as fast as 210 BPM and some are
as slow as 60 BPM. Some are major, minor, blues, the list could keep going. In this
book we will only focus on major scales at 120 BPM.
You will notice that by the bass clef there may be some sharps or some flats. For
example, a common flat you will see is B flat, noted as Bb. When there is a flat on the
same line that the B note is located, that means that the B will always be read as a flat
until the key changes or there is a natural.
We will practice 6 flat major scales, 2 sharp major scales, and 1 natural major scale.
The reason why we will focus on flat scales more than sharp or natural scales is
because flat scales are more common for a trombonist to read than sharp or natural
scales. Below are some scales for you to practice. They are in the following order: flats,
sharps, and natural major scales.

19

20

Sight Reading
Sight reading is the action of playing a musical piece after looking at it for a very short
period of time. Typically, you will only have approximately 30 seconds to look at the
piece and then perform it. When you sight read you cannot play any part of the piece,
you can only see and mentally play the piece. As a professional player, I have had
people come up to me and ask me to play a certain piece. I had to learn it in less than
30 seconds. There is no magic associated with learning a song that fast, it just has to do
with how much you practice sight reading. Below are steps on how to sight read in the
most efficient manner:

Step 1
Look at the tempo and key of the piece.
This will tell you how fast to read the piece in your head. This will also tell you which
notes are automatically sharp or flat, if any.

Step 2
Look for any accidentals.
This step ensures that you will be ready for accidentals, rather than seeing them at the
last second which increases the risk of missing that note.

Step 3
Look for any changes in an ostenato.
An ostenato is a repeating pattern. For 7 measures in a row you may have a quarter
note F. That is an ostenato. However, in the 8th measure you may have a quarter note
Ab. Changes in an ostenato are a common mistake.

Step 4
Look for any advanced patterns or hard parts.
This may be a weird rhythm or many 8th notes in a row. This is the only step that is
open to interpretation. Find whatever is hard for you, and play it in your head.
At first this process may take a while, but with more practice you will be able to look at
music in less than 30 seconds and perform it well. In the next couple of pages there will
be a few sight-reading exercises to practice.

21

22

23

Next steps
Once you master all of the skills in this book you can move forward in multiple ways
depending on your interest. Usually most beginner trombone players move forward by
performing in concert band and marching band. However, you may also move forward
by learning jazz music. It is highly recommended that at some point you participate in all
3 of those bands to get a good perspective of music.

24

Index
Word

Pages appeared

Beat

11, 17

Bell

5, 9, 13

Exercise

13, 17, 20

Flat

7, 9, 10, 12, 18, 20

Half note

10, 17

Mouthpiece

3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13

Natural

7, 12, 17, 18

Quarter note

10, 17, 20

Rest

8, 10, 11, 23

Sharp

9, 10, 12, 18, 20

Slide

3, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13

Slide position

3, 4, 8, 12, 13

Tempo

17, 18, 20

Tuner

8, 9

Tuning

3, 5, 8, 9

Tuning slide

5, 9

Whole note

10, 11, 12

25