Endurance training

[dxhall]

I’m a guitar person who started playing trombone last summer. I rarely miss a day of practice, and was making steady progress for months. I’ve now hit a plateau, and don’t know what to do.

I’ve been measuring my progress by playing a particular Arban exercise after finishing the Micheal Davis warmup routine. For the last few months, I haven’t been able to get past a measure that has some high Fs. If I rest for a minute or two, and then play that measure, I can hit the Fs - but I can’t if I start from the beginning of the exercise.

Have I just found the limit of my ability, or is there some strengthening routine that would get me through this?

[Burgerbob]

Probably not so much strength as ease. Trombone is not like sports or weightlifting, where an easier way to move forward is to try harder. Basically, you need to be doing as little work as possible to get the most result on trombone.

[SaigonSlide]

Yes to the above. Also, try practicing something new: Exercises that bring your chops to near fatigue, rest, then repeat. Like interval training in running.

[baileyman]

Finding new and increasingly ridiculous exercises as things improve is a decent strategy.

[timothy42b]

You may be doing something incorrectly, in which case this suggestion is worthless. (you may be unable to hit those Fs because your setting at that moment is wrong, etc.)

However, in doing your test, you are playing to exhaustion. Don't stop at that measure; stop a measure before. Probably 4 bars before. Judge by how easily you play there rather than tire yourself out and wear yourself down. You are better off "getting up from the table a little hungry." It sounds to me like you need to rest more while playing.

[Slideorama]

Take some lessons.

[hyperbolica]

Yes to lessons, even if it's just once a month.

For range you might try freebuzzing a couple minutes a day.

[Namibiantrombone]

Though I may not be an expert/teacher. I'm teaching myself due to teacher availability/costs. I use quite a number of different sources studies. Playing a bit long and regular helps. Shorter at starts with breaks, but as you grew strength you will be fine just playing longer at a time say 40min. It helps if you play a bit of trumpet like I do to understand the technique to reach high notes. Being relaxed faster air (from bottom), keeping lip tissue together (round), etc helps. Hen I want to make a high note part of my range I would play a scale with the next higher note e.g a scale starting and ending on a G above the F. I would play it 3 times when fresh at start, but at first I would only play that for few days to find and get use to the sound and how I achieve it. As time goes I would play that scale at beginning and end of practice session to assess how far I got regarding its availability and consistency. Thereafter I play a lot of songs with that note (F). What I realized was also that things comes with time and persistence. This is what works for me.

[VJOFan]

The replies that infer high range is a technique rather than a test of strength are, to me, on the right track. Having said that, playing high does take a certain amount of muscle development. Muscle development takes time, so don't be too impatient to get over this barrier.

The development is also about coordination and precision. If you want to develop higher and higher notes you should practice that in a focused and careful way. (If you follow the advice of those who recommended lessons a good teacher would have some high range development ideas for you.) Practice your approach to high register before etudes. Take yourself up to and just past where you can make a clear, full sound. If you have a good approach, you should get thin squeals above your usable range. Those squeals will develop, over time, into fuller notes with patient practice.

Personally, I don't use etudes or repertoire to improve my range (or other parts of my playing). I use them to enjoy the music or test the functionality of what I have developed in direct practice. The information of how I play some music gives me ideas of what to do the next time I work on a particular aspect of my playing.

[dxhall]

Thanks for all of the replies. I think lessons would be a good next step. The problem is that, for those of us who are not in academia, or not involved in professional music in our areas, locating qualified instructors for an instrument like the trombone is not that easy. While anyone can google “trombone lessons [insert your area],” there’s no way for an outsider to make an informed choice between the many persons who names are produced by the search.

I'll take the suggestions and keep practicing.

[afugate]

Thanks for all of the replies. I think lessons would be a good next step. The problem is that, for those of us who are not in academia, or not involved in professional music in our areas, locating qualified instructors for an instrument like the trombone is not that easy. While anyone can google “trombone lessons [insert your area],” there’s no way for an outsider to make an informed choice between the many persons who names are produced by the search.

I'll take the suggestions and keep practicing.

Contact any of the local colleges/universities in the area. They will give you leads on a good teacher who can help you at your current level of playing.

Or post your location and members will chime in with suggestions for your area.

--Andy in OKC

[dxhall]

I’m in Denver, Colorado.

[harrisonreed]

I’m in Denver, Colorado.

If I wasn't about to move I'd give you a few lessons. I still might be able to give you a lesson. Contact the Air Force Band down at Peterson, or the universities in Denver, Boulder, and Ft. Collins -- lots of good trombonists in the area.

[harrisonreed]

Also, you can get a $10 lesson in the form of a Masterclass from Christian Lindberg on the 15th in Colorado Springs. Probably worth it.

[Doug Elliott]

I do lessons by Skype, and just one will take you a long way. Several people here on the forum have done that.

[dxhall]

I’ve got tickets to Lindberg’s concert with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. I’ve never attended a master class, though. Any idea what' involved?

[harrisonreed]

You would just be auditing. There might be a group warmup, but probably not. You'll see a couple people, likely college kids, go up on stage and play a bit of their solo or some excerpts (it's Lindberg, so probably only solos) and the person giving the class will critique it and work through the solo with the student. Lindberg is pretty good about playing the piece to demonstrate what he's talking about.

You learn a lot more than you might think. Even to hear someone who is in front if an orchestra most of the year say "no, THIS is a forte, that was piano, what you just played", and then play a forte -- you can learn a lot. I went to masterclass once that kind of broke down with a different teacher who got hung up on intonation. The student couldn't "hear" in tune, so their whole time on stage was spent fixing intervals. I felt bad, it was like the school hiring Einstein to teach a college kid that 2+2=4. But that teacher had a good point -- if you can't play in tune, there's no point in working on any of the music until you can.

[timothy42b]

I do lessons by Skype, and just one will take you a long way. Several people here on the forum have done that.

OP, do it. Then you'll know you're working on the right stuff, the right way. The longer you sit on a plateau, potentially the more firmly you ingrain something you're doing wrong.