Trombone lesson: Flexibility “against the grain”

This exercise results from being bored with some of the standard flexibility patterns. The solution was to change position for every note but still follow the pattern of the exercise. The output sounds really strange, but it´s fun to play! These are the original patterns that I transformed:

The first of the modified exercises is relatively easy, but as the pattern involves more and more notes it takes longer and longer to resolve it and come back “home” again. And it sounds stranger and stranger… Try to play it both as natural legato and staccato, and don´t forget the intonation.

I played around with these exercises a few years ago and tried playing all the notes from pattern number eight as a chord on the piano. It actually inspired me to write a piece of music that ended up as the title track on my cd Unborn for jazz quartet and string quartet. Listen to the first chord in the strings, it actually consists of the notes form this pattern (then transposed a few times). At the end of the tune, it is back again with full power and the whole band.

Enough said, now have some fun with the exercises!

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You will find this exercise and many others in the book Flexibility for Trombone – 38 pages in print-friendly pdf format.

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