SKILLS FOCUS
benny’s basics - part 1 BY Adrian Morris
Swift, smooth and uncomplicated • this is the optimum speed at which your slide should travel… In this Skills Focus section, I thought it might be useful to cover a very important part of our trombone playing; slide technique. Having a good slide technique is often overlooked when we start playing as we focus on making a good sound, looking after our embouchure and learning to read music etc etc, but as we progress as players our teachers hone in on it, and we realise what an important part of our playing it really is. It isn’t something to get “hung up” about, but a good and uncomplicated slide technique will obviously help with difficult technical passages (such as William Tell, Till Eulenspiegel), and will also help you produce a really beautiful and smooth legato for those luscious solos and slow melodies.
1
1A
1B
1c
My philosophy is that your slide technique should be swift, smooth and uncomplicated. You want to move between notes in different positions quickly, but without any jerkiness. My favourite way of teaching and practising this is based on something that Peter Gane showed me around 30 years ago. It’s simple, but it works for me. The snippets above will show you exactly what I mean, but the idea is as follows. Play an F (bass clef) in 1st position for two beats then shift to an F in 6th position, without breaking or having a gap in the note. (example 1)
Adrian Morris
I practice this on Fs, then Bbs in 1st and 5th positions, C in 1st on
the valve and 6th and low F in 1st with the valve and 6th. (examples 1A – 1C) The crucial thing is to try to do this while holding the note. Try to make it so that it is a constant tone while moving the slide, like playing these notes on a euph and putting down valves 1 and 3. No glissing or smearing! When you have worked at this for a while and you can play the two notes with minimal disruption to the sound and pitch, take a mental note of how slick your slide movement is. If you are doing it correctly, this is the optimum speed at which your slide should travel while playing normal music. Now try to apply this slickness to everyday playing. If you feel you are falling back in to your old ways just redo the exercises. It won’t take long for your muscular memory to adapt to this new slicker slide movement. I hope this has given you something to think about - try it out for yourself. 13 15