TromboneChat

Hi everyone,

I’m obviously new to this forum, but I’ve done a good deal of poking around and couldn’t find information on the problem I’m having.

I’m a trumpet player/conductor who teaches at the college level. As part of my load, I teach brass techniques, and as such I like to practice along with the students - noting any problems I’m having in the hope that their understanding of the instrument improves.

I would say my sound on trombone is decent. Range isn’t great, but it works for what I’m doing. I’m playing a Bach 6 1/2 AL.

Whenever I play above mf on a 4th line G, I get a crazy double buzz. It almost feels like my lips are blowing out. G# is fine, as is F#.

I’ve tried everything - more tension, less tension, high/medium/low placement, tongue position, more/less pucker, firm corners, stable corners, relaxed corners. Nothing works long term.

I’m thinking that I might be tensing the sides of my aperture too much (I.e. a trumpet embouchure), but I’m not sure.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

A double buzz happens when part of a lip is vibrating at a different speed than the rest. There can be lots of causes, but the solution is to get control of it so it doesn't happen. It's not uncommon when going to a larger rim size, like trumpet to trombone or trombone to bass or tuba. You're used to having the smaller rim control what area vibrates, and now you have to do it yourself.

I can talk about this in general terms, but if you really want to fix it fast it's better if I can actually see what you're doing, and I can do that in a lesson by Skype. Gaining a better understanding of chops will make you a better teacher too.

The middle range is the most common place, and it's when your lips are trying to change air direction up or down, because what you're doing isn't sufficiently defining which lip will predominate, and it's trying to switch right at that point.

Thanks, Doug. When you say “I have to control it myself,” what exactly do you mean?

Buzzing with a controlled wider aperture to match the mouthpiece size. You don't yet know what that feels like, you lose control of it - probably your bottom lip is flipping outward.

But really I'd have to see it to give specific valid advice.

I wonder if it could be as simple as having the slide in the "wrong" place, so your lip is trying to play the pitch that you're hearing, but it's not matching the tubing length?
That G can be played in 4th, just like the octaves below, but if you're trying to play it in 2nd you have to move the slide in a bit, toward 1st position.