TromboneChat

Hi Everyone,
I would like to take a little survey or get some ideas about playing from a mid range note to a low note.
Specifically the tilt of the head or trombone if any. For years I have tipped the horn up slightly for low notes, but lately I have found just the opposite works. ?
Nothing extreme....say G on the staff to low G on the staff.

Thanks for any ideas on the subject.

It depends on if you're an upstream or downstream player. Basically, for the mid range, your tongue is in the same position as if you were whistling those notes. Try whistling a very high note -- your tongue will move up and arch towards your teeth. For a very low notes, your tongue moves back towards your throat and down. Note that when you're whistling, your tongue will not let air around the sides of it, and there is a relatively narrow channel that the air moves over.

When you play, you do not make the same embouchure as whistling, obviously, but the tongue is pretty much exactly the same. Your corners and jaw position will change the shape and direction of the aperture of your lips. For very low notes, the air will be directed nearly straight into the mouthpiece, near the throat. For the mid range, it will be directed in towards the middle curve of the cup. For the upper register the air stream will be nearly perpendicular to the face, directed very close to the edge of the rim. Don't believe me? Make an embouchure, and blow as if you were playing in those registers -- don't free buzz. That will cause tension. As you blow into the "upper register" you will notice that the air is not going out straight from your lips. More likely it will be either going straight down or straight up (into your nose). For me, my air goes very fast straight down over my chin.

This is why mouthpieces with shallow cups help you in the upper register more than a smaller rim does -- there's a bigger target to aim your air at.

Don't tilt your head -- the jaw might move a bit to accommodate your tongue position.

Thank you Harrison. Some good observations. I am a downstream player and by bringing my corners down and lower jaw slightly forward the air is directed toward the throat.

Thanks

I'm not sure this is related, but have you checked out the Carmine Caruso Methods?

It's a little difficult to explain on the forum (in text), but if you're looking to improve the amount of shifting you do some of those exercises might help. Full disclosure, I haven't checked out all the videos on youtube, I've just worked through a few of the exercises.

But if I have it correct, the general idea is allowing yourself to play low on a "high range embouchure" and high on a "low range embouchure." What I got out of the exercises I did, was minimal shifting and being able to play all throughout the horn on the same embouchure. I'm not perfect with it, and it's not easy, but helpful.

The best Caruso course I found online was with Julie Landsman on horn.

Sam Burtis (Sabutin) is another Caruso disciple. You may need to take a lesson or three with him -- I haven't seen any of his Caruso method online.

Caruso doesn't address the question at all.

The fact is there are two entirely different downstream embouchures that are opposite in some ways It sounds like the OP has finally figured out the correct one.

Having solved 4th partial G to 2nd partial G, solve 8th partial G to 4th, and then 16th to 8th and find the path that also gets all the way to 2nd from there. Chances are really good the set that does that is lots different from most that can do 4th to 2nd well.