TromboneChat

Hi everyone,

I have been playing for 2 years now and lip slurs are the one thing I have not improved on at all. It doesn't matter if they're in one position or different positions across partials, I cannot play them at all. On the very rare chance I do, the second note is very 'blatty'.

I don't understand why I can't play the lip slurs. I can buzz them and play them as a gliss just fine. For example, for the slur between the 'higher' Bb (on top of bass clef) to the D the next partial above that, I can buzz that gliss on the mouthpiece. I can also play that gliss from 5th position to 1st confidently, but when it comes to lip slurring those notes in 1st, the D just does not want to come out. What normally happens is the Bb just increases in volume and ends up sounding brassy and horrible.

I can sort of lip slur in lower partials, like low Bb to F or sometimes F to the Bb above, but not consistently and they sound quite bad and are unpredictable.

Hope someone can provide insight on this!

I can show you over Skype much better than I can write out instructions.
But try some different approaches:

1. Start on D and go down to Bb, in 1st position. Practice that a lot, then add going back up to D where you started.

2. Do the same but gliss 1st to 5th.

Slurring up does not require "more air" or more volume. It's really the same action as whistling those two notes. Try that, and play it the same way. I'm not going to give you any more detail, you should figure it out yourself so you really learn it.

Hi Doug - I'd love to have a lesson with you. How do I contact you to set one up?

I sent you an email.

What I have always had trouble with is when I have to skip partials. I almost always clip the partials in between so it sounds messy. When the partials are next to each other it's not much of an issue, but I am still working on connecting them more cleanly and finding the exact slot for each note.

I got some good advice from someone, that from slurring from a low partial to a higher one, think the syllables "AH-EEE". This will allow the back of the tongue to move higher in your mouth. I think doing this will help the air speed increase naturally without having to do anything else. It seems to work really well. This approach has also allowed me to improve my lip trills, which is just a really fast lip slur among the same two notes.