EMBOUCHURE: Are You Doing This? | Trombone Basics

Do you play trombone? Have you ever had issues with your mouth shape? Are you looking to experiment with your sound? Are you just curious about how trombone playing works? If you answered yes to any of those questions, this video is for you! I wax on at length about different issues a player might have and ways to go about changing their approach.

Mostly I just like talking. Haha.

00:00 Intro
02:15 Jaw opening
04:55 Mouthpiece pressure
07:25 Overall tightness
10:23 Demonstrating on the trombone
11:50 Outro

ALSO, if you are interested in trombone lessons online, feel free to check out the info below!

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[PortmanTone]

I was looking up a ton of trombone resources earlier today for some help (kinda frantically just coming to terms with the fact that I have a lot to fix in my technique--might have even discovered a little bit of focal dystonia), and whew I'm glad I stumbled across this. I didn't know about the jaw/air information, and I think it really helped my lungs and my embouchure out.

[pestsandclays]

You are a very good teacher who explained things well, very light hearted and funny with it too, which gets you the fifth star in my book 👍

[jazzbonept]

I especially like the in-depth info on how having your teeth/jaw more closed can negatively affect your tone. There are many aspects of playing that we take for granted that we are doing "right, " so it's good to get some more insight into these things, especially as an instructor. Thanks for spending a few hours putting this together and sharing it.

[twoshooz]

As a 50 something coming back after 30+ years away, I find your playful approach refreshing, fun and informative! I appreciate the content your are creating! Sub'd!

[jamieharris]

Thanks Allison: This was very helpful; especially the parts on jaw opening and pressure. I constantly fight agains too much pressure as I try to play higher notes. I'll look forward to some more videos from you.

[mccafferyfamily]

Some nice points, last year was conducting a musical and trumpet player donated me a trumpet, loved it so much, I've now ordered a trombone to try

[iloveaudiostuff]

So cool you did this video with simple explanations - I can use this when I give low brass clinics !!

[tjsogmc]

Excellent tutorial. I've been playing for many decades and it wasn't until fairly recently that I started to take my tone seriously. Everything you mentioned is 100% true. The main thing that I found that helped me was to relax.... relax.... relax and stop worrying about things too much. Play it loose, play it fun.

When I started with the 4 valve I had to really focus on air control and not tightening the throat too much. Again, relaxing and playing loose improved my tone immensely. That, and experimenting with different mouthpieces (mouthpiece selection is a very dimly understood concept) I can hear a clear difference from recordings I made 5 years ago compared to today.

The hardest lesson I had to learn was that if you aren't having fun, then you aren't doing right....:)

[jean-pierrechavanne]

Thank you for this video and your advice. As far as I'm concerned, I am always switching from a "natural" and flexible embouchure in legato, and a "tight " embouchure for staccato. Difficult to decide which embouchure I should stick to at all times, especially in the middle of the register.

[Chefs_Quest]

thanks, Mrs. martin I've been trying to improve my tone quality, so this helped a lot.

[Tech-xperiance]

You should have 10x more subscribers then you have, Beutiful video, I learn a lot!

[joseayala-zgfm]

I play tenor an baritone saxophone for 19 months every day I just pick up a bach mouth piece 6.5 al just useing the piece until my trombone arrives in 3 weeks I will try your methods.the you explain it looks pertty ez only Im getting a valve trombone .your thoughts

[ericgoldstein]

Thank you Allison....this is very affirming and helpful

[emmafierro]

thank you so much i am not the best with playing my trombone so thank you so much for helping me

[hollysmusicandmore]

Ah, I didn't realize until now that I was clenching my teeth. Thank you! 😊

[musicofnote]

I think you'd find the MRI photos of specific brass players head while playing to be very interesting. You'll see a very subtile correlation between range, dynamics, jaw position, oral cavity size. For all of these prolific brass players, these 4 playing aspects were in a continual proportional flux.

As to buzzing. I used to be a trumpet player. I experienced an embouchure collapse predicated by a dental accident. My teachers afterwards were "buzzers". The result of this buzzing, both free buzzing and with the mouthpiece was a chronically tight throat, an inability to breathe out because of that, an inability to EVER transfer the pitch from free buzzing to buzzing on mouthpiece to instrument (I was continually at least a fourth off) and this resulted in uneven performance quality which then led to confidence problems with an end inability to perform in public at all.

Which led to a 9 year break from playing, concentrating instead on conducting.

Then I took up the trombone, determined to make a totally fresh start and NOT to make any of the mistakes I did on the trumpet. That was in 1991. No more buzzing of any kind. Instead using the Chichowitz air flow exercises, starting on mid-low f and expanding range in both directions alternative. Only increasing range when I could get and hold good tone quality. In 1996 I got a performance/teaching degree in tenor t-bone nd immediately switching to bass trombone. Was then founded a local professional trombone 4-tett and got into a local orchestra on bass bone. Retired last year. In my current playing, mouth/jaw aperture combines with lateral jaw position to expand working range (high range=jaw back slightly closed, air moving downwards as if across my chin. Pedals=jaw thrust forward and slightly more open, air going directly into the mouthpiece throat - ie the bass trombone "shift")

And listen to what Christian Lindberg has to say about buzzing - you have to admit, his perspective works for him.  

At the end of the day, there is no one "correct" embouchure. Everyone has to see what position on the face, airflow direction, mouth cavity positions "work" best. And what works for one can be absolute poison for another.

[cheezepye]

Long time jazz trombonist, found this quite helpful :) looking forward to trying to implement some of these principles ^^

[williambroverman]

I liked Walking Dead... Cheers Allison!

[johndowson]

Hi, for me its less pressure the better, i have no teeth so my corners have to be extra tight, it starts to get difficult the higher i play and totally agree its like a constant battle but my attitude is it will not beat me, teeth they just got in the way

[Toddobvious]

You’re funny and this was very informative ✌️❤️