Learning Out Loud: Trombone Work

Last week was a good one for steady, intentional practice.

Scale of the Week: Bb.
Bb is one of the friendliest keys for trombone players, and often the first one we learn. I used it as my playground for scale practice—working through Major, Mixolydian, Pentatonic, Major Blues, Minor Blues, and Melodic Minor. All of it, always with the Metronome.

To keep it musical, I took familiar tunes I’ve memorized—Careless Love, Bill Bailey, and Margie—and played them in Bb. I’ve found iReal Pro to be a really handy tool here, since it lets me move those tunes into whatever key I’m working on.

Embouchure Work:
I kept chipping away slowly at embouchure development, focusing on resonance and a tension-free tone. My main tools were two-note slip slurs and extended lip slurs, both with the metronome.

Gig with Rivercities Jazz Band:
I had the chance to play 2nd Trombone on a gig with the Rivercities Jazz Band. I made sure to put in a solid warmup and practice session earlier that day, then warmed up again before the downbeat. The first set felt great—I had good control and my new embouchure work was showing up in the sound. The second set, though, told a different story. My endurance faded quickly and I had to make compromises just to make it through. Not every growth story is a straight line, and this was a reminder that endurance has to be rebuilt along with everything else. I’m hopeful that, as I stay consistent, my stamina will catch up with the progress in tone and control.

This Week’s Focus

• Scale of the Week: F. I’m moving up a fourth, keeping myself in the “friendly keys” for now while I settle into this process.
  
  

• Warmups: Longtones from Trombone Legato Style by Fritz Velke. Starting on middle F, moving down to E, up to F#, down to Eb, and so on. Slowly and deliberately, to focus entirely on tone production.
  
  

• Embouchure: Continuing the extended lip slur exercises from the same book.
  
  

Tunes: None picked yet—going to let inspiration guide me this week.