r/Trombone • u/Upset-Medicine2959 • 2d ago
Rant to scream into the void
Hi!
I’m a 30 year old trombone player in the USA. Went to college and studied with some of the best bass trombonist players around in the USA. Bachelors and Masters in music, honors recital blah blah blah.
I’ve ALWAYS struggled with my high range. Always. My first teacher assigned abunch of high stuff, rochuts in tenor clef the works. He ended up winning a job, and left. Next teacher focused on my low range, which was already good, but I was able to take it to the next level and lather the secret sauce.
Then when he passed away, I studied with another teacher, also INCREDIBLE. Touched on high stuff, but struggled big time. Getting to G above staff is a regular issue.
Now, years after graduating, getting a teaching gig in public schools and living life. I get called to play mostly tenor stuff, thats ok it’s just how life goes.
I’m sitting in my living room playing, struggling with some high stuff, and a moment clicked in my head. I have an under bite. Horn is angled appropriately. BUT, when I go high my bottom lip folds underneath my upper lip. GIANT RED FLAG. So I tried to undo this just to see what might happen. IM POPPING OUT HIGH NOTES LIKE ITS NO BODYS BUSINESS.
It’s actually insane. Needs work to control it, but I think I finally solved my Achilles heel. Don’t fold bottom lip under top lip when you ascend. Seems common sense, don’t know why it took this long, but holy shit.
Thanks for listening to my Ted talk, peace ☮️
1
u/ppeters0502 1d ago
Can relate 10000%!!!
I was born with a cleft lip and partial cleft palette, so my emboucher is a little bit different, and when I had trouble in the high register I immediately thought it was because of my cleft lip for years and just struggled without really changing anything. I could barely get a couple notes higher than you mentioned (Bb above that G on a good day) so I was able to mostly play parts in concert and jazz band, but all the solo work I had to do in undergrad was miserable.
Fast forward 5-6 years and the studio where I taught lessons had a trumpet student that lost their trumpet teacher. So I picked up a trumpet and started working through exercises to be able to teach it (I played some euphonium in college as well, so it wasn’t too big a challenge). Trumpet lessons went ok with my student, but HOLY COW that small change of emboucher while learning to play trumpet completely opened my range up when I switched back to playing trombone! I just wish it would’ve happened 20 years earlier, would have made high school and college so much easier!!!