Trombone lesson: Flexibility with rhythm

There are a series of articles here on Digitaltrombone about flexibility for brass players, and they all have their distinct advantages. Many trombone flexibility exercises tend to have a rather uninspiring rhythm and focus mainly on changing notes.

With these trombone exercises, I have added some rhythmical flavor, making them a bit more fun to play, but most of all, adding a new challenge to the concept of flexibility.

You should focus on playing these patterns as effortless as possible. Whenever you are changing note or changing from quarter notes to eight notes, think light and easy, rather than trying to nail it with force. More ballet, less sumo. More vegetables, less steak. More summer breeze, less snow storm…

Exercise 1-3 are (quite) easy, 4-5 are easy/medium. For some reason, the triads in no 6 are quite tricky to get in place. No. 7-11 are to be considered advanced, gradually getting tougher. And no 12 is just plain stupid… But if you can play it without having to change embouchure to much for the pedal tones, it is quite rewarding.

A last important note: all changes (pitch and rhythm) should be controlled mainly by the embouchure and not so much with the air. Try avoiding blowing harder when shifting note!

Enjoy and improve…

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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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