Practicing a routine every morning can be a precarious balancing act between a zen-like meditation on trombone fundamentals and a disturbed obsession that eventually leads to boredom. I joke, but I’ve been recently looking for ways to vary my routine (which you can read more about here and here). I came up with this variation a few days ago and even though it’s still relatively untested, I like it a lot so far. Here it is:
PDF:
pivot lip slurs
I like it for a few reasons. First, it shifts the emphasis from the bottom of the trombone’s range to the middle and upper registers. Second, I’m thinking it will be a more efficient use of my time in the practice room (although, like I mentioned before, I haven’t been practicing this way for very long). Third, it’s a combination of the really fundamental lip slur routine I’ve been doing for years and the partial skipping lip slurs I got into about a year ago.
As always, happy practicing!
Randy Pingrey: trombonist-at-large 