TromboneChat

Hello all,

I am having a difficult time centering the 2nd partial on my greenhoe with a laskey 93d. Every other partial is fine. The 2nd partial is really shaky and have a hard time transitioning from valve notes back to the 2nd partial. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

b and below? Or and below?

Valve notes above pedal Bb are all 2nd partial too.

How's your buzz in that range?

Bb2 to Gb2. I'd say it's okay, I don't buzz too much in that register because I feel like sometimes I might be making something different with my embouchure to make the sound come out.

I find that range to be one of the most difficult, if only because it is so easy to manipulate with the face.

I have started playing that partial pretty differently by playing tenor a lot and realizing how badly I was approaching that exact range. Slurs from Bb3 to maintain focus really helped me out in this regard.

If you want to play a 93D and Shires, you'll have to do a lot of work... I had a student start with me who was struggling to play for more than half an hour with a woofy sound on a similar setup. Just recently he got high praise from Ian Bousfield for his playing and he is working with pro orchestras whilst still at college. Some thungs changed....
Chris

The 93D is a great mouthpiece, but it is not forgiving at all. If you can comfortably play something smaller, I would recommend it, and I would also recommend something with a bit more mass. There are a lot of good options.

But that's not the complete answer, and for the rest of the answer you need to examine closely how you're producing sound in that register and how you're getting in and out of that register from both directions. Take a look in a mirror as you do simple slurs from 3rd partial F down to 2nd partial Bb. What are the corners doing? What's the chin doing? Put your F valve down and play from F up to C and back. Same questions.

I don't have answers for you now, only questions for you to ask and observe for yourself. I could probably help you more in person.