| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
mouthpiece against your lips, at the center of your mouth. Put
one-half of the mouthpiece against your upper lip and one-half
against your lower lip. This is a good position for many players,
but if it doesn't seem right for you, move the mouthpiece either
up or down a little until you find the position that suits you
best.
Put your lips lightly together and draw back the corners of
your mouth, leaving a small opening at the center of the mouth
for your tongue, which moves forward and backward when you
are playing. Hold the mouthpiece against your lips and take a
deep breath, drawing the air in through the corners of your
mouth. Never breathe in through the mouthpiece.
Now blow gently into the mouthpiece, at the same time pro-
nouncing the letter "T\ This throws your tongue forward as
required. The tone is made by this tongue action, plus your
breathing into the mouthpiece, plus the vibration of your
tightened lips. You use the tongue and the pronouncing of "T"
to divide one tone from the next or, put another way, to make
each separate tone.
When you make the low tones, the tongue should go forward
a little further between the teeth and lips. For high tones, you
pronounce "T" a little more forcibly. Also, for high tones, the
lips are drawn a little tighter by drawing back the corners of
the mouth.
Never puif out your cheeks. Your face is to be kept motion-
less. Only the tongue is to move.
Making the Notes
The trombone most generally used is the one pitched in B
flat. This means that when you read the note C in written
music and play it on your trombone, you produce the tone B
flat, one whole tone lower.
You make the different notes on a trombone by moving
the slide in or out with your right hand. There are no marks
to tell you just how far to move the slide, but every player soon
learns the different slide positions that form the notes.
126