My band director says I have a bad tone but my private teacher says Im fine. Who should I listen to? What should I do?

hey
in my own oppinion you should ask each of your teachers to name you some good proffesinal trombone players. go online and try to fine recordings of them. pick one trombone player whos tone you like the best then try to sound like it. that way you know what a good tone sounds like and you can deturmen for yourself if yours good or bad.
this is a good site for learning how to play with a good tone
http://www.emich.edu/music/wpnew/trombonetone.html

It's hard when you get conflicting opinions from two teachers like that. Ask your band director to try to better explain what he wants you to change about your sound. It's good that you're taking private lessons. Find out what your director wants and then get your teacher to help you get it.
Tone issues can be the result of lots of things. Having a good sound concept in your head is great, but if there are mechanical issues, or tension issues holding you back, they need to be adressed, and that's what your teacher is there for.
as for some pros to listen to
Joe Alessi, Christian Lindberg, Alain Trudel, Mark Lawrence, (just to name a very few)
or on the jazzier side of things Andy Martin, Frank Rosolino, Carl Fontana, JJ Johnson, Conrad Herwig, Bill Watrous, Mike Davis, (again, just a few off the top of my head)
without seeing or hearing you play, I can't offer specific advice, but I will say that unnecessary tension is a very common killer of a beautiful sound.
good luck!

My asst. director says i have a "waah Waah" sound. He says I stop ny breathing each time I tongue. Any ideas on how to stop that bad habit?

Anyone?
b/c i have this auditon monday..which i was nervous abt to begin with...then..my director has to bust out with the "waah waah" tone thing. So, any ideas are helpful.

You might be unknowingly adding a slight crescenco to each note, which contributes to that annoying "waa waah" thing you're talking about. Make sure that the articulation at the beginning is the loudest part of the note, and then taper off the sound just a little.

OK..Ill try that.
But what if it doesnt work?
OMG!...should I just not do the audition. Am I freaking out a little too much?

waah wahhing is a big problem trombones have that other intruments don't. bob's right. make sure your tunging each note and not leting your slide tunge for you.

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you should still do the audition though good luck by the way

yea. Ok. thanx!

my horn teacher, Dr. Lee from Morehead state here in kentucky describes my articulation as a "brick sound" another wards think of starting the sound like this and ending the notes like the end of this..[=> so another words start out with a "T" tounge (which this can also be transfered to a "D" or "Thah" tounge" and then keep that the same from each pitch, or note to note. Basically, she told me that I was starting out the notes wit ha airy sound and then getting sound, not directly on it, possibly that helps. But with the issue, besides what i just wrote, She also helped me on tone as well. I was told by a tuba player who made it into GSA (governer school of the arts) and a air force band high school soloist (which he was selected nationwide to be in this) to keep about a space between your teeth about as wide as when you bite down on your tumb. Like if the nail was perpendicular to your teeth, that was it doesn't have the ZZZZ sound in your tone. Ever since I started that, I've only been complamented on my tone, but there was still a little things with it, and on to my orginial point, Dr. Lee told me to buzz on my mouthpiece alone, nothing else, my mouthpiece. More than likely you start out with a really airy sound. Play a note on a piano or on your horn, match the pitch with your mouthpiece and try to make it as clear as possible, I'm sure you don't even need a pitch, I'm just thinking that it would help out a lot, and thats what she made me do. She said a way to get the air out was NOT TO USE LESS AIR if anything, use the same amount of more, depending on the amount of air your using, but to put more lip into the mouthpiece, like I used my bottom lip, more of it, and I really like the result of it. Now this is what she told me, It can differ from person to person, but I would advice you to try this and the others that everyone else is saying to try out.

ok..what? sry but that went a little over my head. lol

the breathing device is going to give you some visual feed back on how consistent your airstream is. basically it's a tube with a ping pong ball in it that when you blow into it, the pingpong ball will rise. if the ball rises slowly, you're not getting the airstream going fast enough. basically, when you are striving for a good "block" sound (as my teacher would call it, anyway), you want a tone/volume level that is the same from the beginning to the end of the note. the breath builder device is one way to give you a visual idea of whether you are getting that, or swelling into the notes. unfortunately, once the ball has risen in the device, it takes surprisingly little to keep it there, so I recommend recording yourself in addition to this practice just for additional feedback.

Ok..thank you soo much. I will deff. try that. Thanks again.

I want to preface this by saying that I didn't read what musicman, carter6 or Steve wrote in their last posts, (it's getting late here) so...

First, madman is right on in his first post, but don't just try to emulate one, try to emulate them all. And try to emulate your professor's tone, too. All the players Steve recommended are great to listen to. Although, I'm not a fan of Mark Lawrences technical playing...but, you can decide for yourself if you like it or not...

And second, to adress your "waah wahh", try this (I didn't see anyone recommend it) Take a piece of music (what you're going to play for your audition should be great, or a Rochut etude would be good, too), and play a part of it without using your tongue at all, and DON'T try to use your air to articulate. The point is that you play the segment with a continuous and consistent flow of air. Do it more than once, and then, go back and add light articulations, but keep that feeling of one constant flow of air in mind. Then play the articulations like you're interpreting them. Do this to multiple sections (don't do the whole piece at once...that's tedious!) From what you describe, it sounds like this exercise will help your problem. And if it doesn't, it should help you as an all around player.

Good luck on the audition. What's it for, out of curiousity?

Hotz, that's an excelent peice of advice. I have my students play with no tongue all the time, as well as working like that myself. It really helps a lot with airflow and consistency, which is the perfect fix (hopefully) for the "wah wah" issue. Just make sure you are using a big, full amount of while doing so, working to really fill up the horn and putting out a good, full, rich, steady tone.

I actually add one more step sometimes as well, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, but it's worth a try. Before you play through the segment without tongue, play through it once like this: Play the first note, hold it out the entire length of the segment you are working on, all the while "thinking" or "imagining yourself" playing the part. (Kind of a mind game, it tricks you into using a good, steady, consistent steam of air.) Then, go back and play it a few times with no tongue, then add your articulations!

It might take several times, expecially if the "wah wah" sound is something that happens often. But be patient! It'll work!