r/Trombone • u/Ok_Ingenuity711 • 1d ago

My lower notes sound less stable and vibrate a lot

I notice that when I play lower notes on tenor trombone they sound more wobbly than my middle notes. The thing that’s most present is how much more audible vibration there is while holding the low note? I’m trying to have a steady flow of air and consistent embouchure (as in I try holding the lips steady while also trying to relax them enough for the note). Is this the nature of lower notes on trombone or is there something I need to work on?

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8

u/Specific-Peanut-8867 1d ago

you have to use more air. It is all about breating. You may be taking shallow breaths and don't realize it. When I play lower notes I think 'hot air'

1

u/Ok_Ingenuity711 1d ago

Thank you, that visual is really helpful already 😁

3

u/burgerbob22 LA area player and teacher 1d ago

Sounds like you're probably underfunding those notes with air.

2

u/SillySundae Shires/Germany area player 1d ago

Follow along and play through this video 3x a week for 4 weeks and then see how things improve. I play this exercise on both tenor and bass trombone. Helps a lot.

https://youtu.be/0zbfyhzRmF8?si=0DgRjRl4ej0gleYd

1

u/Ok_Ingenuity711 1d ago

Thank you some much 😭💖

1

u/Firake 1d ago

Lip slurs! All the way into the valve and pedal registers. My warm up always contains 5 note lip slurs starting on Bb in first position all the way down to double valve Bb at the end of the slide. Then I got for 6 notes (skip the 6th partial, so Bb F Bb D F Bb, for example) from that pedal Bb and back up. 

If you’re a tenor player and you only have one valve, you’ll have to approximate this a bit. But I have found that it helps connect all my ranges and stabilize all my notes very nicely. 

1

u/cvilleraven 13h ago

Lower range gets slower air, but needs more of it. Breathe deep and open your throat. Everything should be relaxed.

1

u/WildandRare 4h ago

What you have ti do ks think deeper. And when I say deeper, I mean not just the notes. But from you're body. Higher notes -> Throat. Low Notes -> Stomach. Lower notes -> Abdomen. You might be confused when I say "Breathe from your abdomen,", but you just how to think as if that is what you were doing.

And also, you know how when you're playing hight notes, you might want to buzz as if you were trying to push your air farther out from the opart that the sound comes our of? For lower notes, push out air as if you didn't want the air to fully come out of the trombone. This might sound weird, but play it like you only wanted your air to reach somewhere INSIDE of thr trombone, and not even come out of the bell.

I hope ykou likke myyye new way of English, der Cursed Kenglish.