Hey! I'm new to trombone, I usually play flute, but for jazz band this year, I'm on trombone. I can't seem to get the pitch right. Slide positions are fine. Range is fine. But I can't play very loud, or seem to get the normal tuning note, b flat 2cd line. any ideas?

welcome to the trombone. It's a wwonderful instrument. there are several ways to approach this. Where is your state of residence? There should be many good teachers to help you. Another issue is air support and using the air to the best of your ability. Heck, air control is 90% of alleviating many problems. Ask your band director on how to breathe.


hope that littl ebit helps.

First, Try out the different sounds you can with your ambochure(Lips). And find a good sound that feels good and relaxing on your lips. Play long notes in the beginning so that u get used to stop thinking about the sound. Then, do simple lip slurs and practise scales.

The main thing is just to focus on good sound and figure out how u want to ekspress yourself. Play a lot(mainly balads in the beginning), and maybe listen to some good trombonist for inspiration.

yeah, so basically if i were you i'd do a good bit of buzzing on the mouthpiece, cause thats where the sound starts. try to get a good strong comfortable buzz, without too much air like escaping from the sides or any crazy !***! like that. buzz scales and farmiliar tunes to get yourself a good feel for the buzz, then do what these other guys said, they're all good suggestions too. word.

I've gotta put the plug in for a private teacher. If you're having trouble getting the second line Bb out (the "tuning" note is actually and octave above, by the way), there could be something fundamentally wrong with how you're forming your embouchure. You need someone knowledgeable watching you play. The trombone is going to pose problems for you that the saxophone never did. Your role in the big band will be very different.
All the previous replies were on point... air , relaxation, all that. However telling you that air is essential really doesn't tell you much, now does it? You need demonstration... an example to follow. Plus, you get all the intonation issues that playing with a slide will bring.
Get a teacher.. even if it's just a few lessons to get you started. Heck, if you're anywhere near Norfolk, VA, I'll help you out. (I know, that's quite a long shot )

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oops.. I thought you played sax... oh well, the same stuff applies. You'd think that since the fingerings for sax and flute are so similar, they would have you learn sax, not the trombone????

Well, Steve, it's possible that there's too many sax players and not enough trombones, so maybe that's why (s)he's on trombone. In my schools, there was always a shortage of trombone players, so they had a couple of vocalists come in and learn the trombone.

I figured as such... it really was just a side note, my main point being get a teacher if at all possible.
But not to hijack the thread necessarily, but does it bother anyone else when band teachers ask students to make switches like that? I mean, if the student really wants to do it , that's one thing. But I'd be really ticked off if my band director said "Steve, we need you to play flute!" Isn't learning your first instrument hard enough without such a drastic detour?

I agree with Steve. Why make students, such as myself, learn new instruments for something they want to do. Now if it was because of personal benfits such as being able to help out fellow students with fingering/slide positions, that can be understandable because thats what I did. I leaned how to play baritone for a number of reasons, but the main one was to just expand my bounries but then I started to help out students in the Middle school and now that i'm in high school, I've helped out juniors. But back on to the orginial topic, I as well agree that its a unreasonable way to have someone participate in it, like for flute, I've heard plenty of jazz music with flute and clarinet in them. Its not that hard to find that music. Thats my two cents on this

You know, they say the trombone is the closest instrument to the humans voice.
Just something a new player might seem interesting.