TromboneChat

I've been having this issue the semester and a half or so, in which I essentially woke up one day and my low register was gone. Specifically, notes that are below the staff but above the pedals I could no longer play. I've been fighting with this for this entire time and have not been able to find any good remedies or explanations, and that register is still almost untouchable. As a bass trombonist, you can understand why this has given me a lot of trouble.

It feels as if my embouchure just doesn't know what to do down there anymore, like I'm blindfolded throwing a dart if I attempt to play a note in that register. If I'm able to work down there (such as down a scale), I can generally produce the pitch, but the sound is very anemic and often times I can't hold it for very long.

There are a lot of things I've discussed with multiple teachers to attempt to ready this, but nothing has worked. Here are a few of the issues I've talked about:

• Aperture too open.
  Aperture too loose.
  Tongue blocking the air.
  Not enough air.
  Mentality/psyching out.

I used to have a very powerful low register, and took pride in it but it's very frustrating having just lost it over night. If you have any clues or have also experienced something similar, please give me a shout!

I have zero teaching experience and am not a bass trombonist.

Since you say that you are able to work down there using a scale I have contrived an exercise:
Try doing intervals from a comfortable note to an uncomfortable note (e.g. 3rd partial C to 2nd partial Bb) and increase the intervals (e.g. 3rd partial Db to 2nd partial Bb, to 3rd partial D to 2nd partial Bb, to 3rd partial Eb ETC.) once an interval becomes comfortable. My theory behind this is that you can experience the difference between the embouchures needed. Work downward as you get more comfortable. At some point the intervals get so large that it is like throwing a dart blindfolded.

I can probably help you by Skype or Zoom.

Is it any trombone? Dumb question but (....covid....) have your teachers been able to play on that register on your horn? Have you tried a different horn and same problem?

I hit a gig one day and thought the resistance on my 3BF was completely wrong. I was like, what the heck? Suddenly I can't play.

Later in the gig suddenly my horn was fine but the F attachment would not play at all -- no low register to speak of.

Turns out my slide crook bumper had come off the peg and traveled into the slide in the case. After a note or two with the F attachment it blew into there and rendered that useless.

Just random thoughts

On the Physical end, I had my bass trombone play very badly for a whole weekend. It was a clarinet reed stuck in the main tuning slide. FYI

I played a whole concert series of Symphonie Fantastique a couple years ago. I felt awful the whole time, nothing would center, I couldn't play loud, I couldn't play low. I found out putting my horn away after the last concert that my spit valve cork had disappeared completely.

Eliminate the easy problems, and if they aren't the issue, get a Doug lesson stat.

Take a lesson with Doug as soon as possible!

Definitely worth checking out the horn first for any clarinet reeds where they don't belong.

That's not something I'm used to diagnosing by Skype......

"I used to have a very powerful low register, and took pride in it but it's very frustrating having just lost it over night."

Thats strange? From one day to next day ? Did something else change in your daily life? As a bass trombone player I had periods where I dont care about the low register and take it for granted. Then I have to make some lip slurs down. Also try blow really strong long notes from the comfortable range down to low. Try lot of things an if nothing helps take the skype lesson with Doug.

Leif

Get with Doug. But in the back of your mind if he doesn't find a solution that starts to help (and all your corks and bumpers are accounted for), consider the weird effects that small nerve damage can produce. Had Covid? It is showing some strange brain level damage in a low number of cases (even when original symptoms were very mild) that are appearing months after primary symptoms resolve. If mechanical issues and DE recommendations are not doing it, consider a neurologist consult (after your primary care).

No I am not a physician, nor did I stay at a H.I.Express last night. Just a retired veterinary surgeon who only had to deal with horses and dogs that lost their voice, (they were crap on the trombone; pretty good on Kazoo) and keeps up with the literature.

When I was in my twenties, I had a series of gigs that required me to play very loud in the trigger register below the bass clef on my .547 bore tenor. I had to do a lot of experimentation and practice in order to survive those gigs, but the ease and power of playing those notes has stuck with me (now over 30 years later).

For many years, I struggled to describe the sensation of how I play those notes to my tenor/bass trombone students. The best I could do was demonstrate how those notes should sound and show them the dynamic spectrum that is possible in that range.

About 6 or 7 years ago, I read a review in the ITA Journal about a new book by Jeff Reynolds (retired bass trombonist, Los Angeles Philharmonic). It is simply titled “A Comprehensive Workbook” and it is published by Cherry Classics. Somewhere in the first 15-20 pages (I don’t have the book with me right now), Reynolds describes the three different embouchures that he uses, each for a specific range and the ranges overlap. When I first read his description of the “F-attachment range” just below the bass clef, I though “That’s it! That’s exactly what I do!”

Reynolds description was much clearer than I could describe to my students up to that point. One of the key ingredients that Reynolds describes is that he places slightly more mouthpiece pressure on the upper lip. The “other embouchures” that are used above and below this range place slightly more pressure on the lower lip. The pressure point was something that I did not consider for many years when describing “the feel” to my students.

Whenever my students are struggling in that register, I now pull out that book and read Reynolds description of the different embouchures. It is a decent book if you are looking for exercises to develop the mid and low registers of the trombone/bass trombone.

Another thing that I teach my students is that the embouchure must actually be firmer for the trigger 1st F down through trigger + 5th D. At about D-flat a little relaxation can happen.

For a full, resonant sound on low B-flat (2nd line bass clef) down through E in 7th, a certain amount of relaxation is necessary. However, if you play with that same relaxation in the trigger notes just below that, the notes will lack focus. I find this concept applicable for both tenor and bass trombone, but much more pronounced on tenor.

I once had a new arrival 8H that had a fuzzy, anemic blow that I couldn't figure out. Then I put a cleaning snake through the slide crook and pulled out a lollipop stick. Problem solved.

The low register section of David Vining's Range Songs has always helped me to reestablish my low register when things aren't working well below the staff.

+1 on the Reynolds/Cherry book.