PLAY TRUMPET FOR FUN. Learn the trupet notes, and it will greatly improve your trombone range. If you like, play tuba too. In 5th grade, I switched from trumpet to tuba, and it was quite a switch. It took me a couple of weeks to learn the really low notes and how to play them. Then, in 10th grade, I had to learn trombone so I could play in the Jazz band. It was a hard change also. After playing tuba for 5 years, i had to learn to play high all over again. Now I couldnt play trumpet again if my life depended on it, but i am learning how to play trombone higher every day. Trumpet stregthens your cheeks so that you can tighten them. It is a lot easier to go lower than higher.

the trick i used to get my muscles use to the work, is kinda smile while hitting the high notes, keep your mouth nice and tight, and do long tones, a million hours of long tones, get on like the high B flat, or D or the highest you go without losing it, then just5 hold it out until your feel like you`re going to die, then keep going, then when your mouth and cheeks hurt try a high note, its easy to do, but that jump you talked about from low c to high E flat, those are all about having like `memory` in your cheeks, you`ll get it

Just use lots of air,I mean waste it.Also do lip slurs and practice your scales.Try to get 3 octaves on each scale,4 if you can get,and each day work towrds your concept,play higher and lower.It works,I used to have problems with 2 octaves,and after 1 year of working on my bass trombone,I`m doing decent with 4-octave scales.(I`m also a freshman.)

Just do a lot of lip slurs, and try to hit five or six noted in each position. I`ve been playing since my Sixth Grade year (Eighth Grade Now), and I can get B Flat Pedal tone, and I can reach up to the C that is above the Fourth Ledger Line above the staff. Just keep practicing!

increasing range is really just a matter of one thing, practice.. practice... practice... getting to a high Eb after three years of playing is actually not all that bad... just keep playing in the high register and you should start to be able to play higher and higher

A guy told me one time the key to high notes is work on low range. His exercise was to play "fake tones". He`d start on low Bb (second line of bass clef from bottom) and play a chromatic scale down to pedal Bb, without using an F rotor. When you get down to low E, you just start lipping down to get the "impossible" notes. You can experiment with slide positions, they don`t really matter. They sound pretty terrible, but he claimed he could get decent tone on them after a while.

I don`t do it all the time, but it`s a super relaxing warmup. My range is decent--I play high D pretty easily and consistently.

Speaking of range, I got this really old, really small bore trombone from ebay (no brand name or model). The slide is terrible. I had a hard time finding a tbone mp that would fit it. Just for fun, I put a 7C trumpet mouthpiece in which fit perfectly. What a wild sound! You could hit high notes like nothing. I wish the slide worked.

You should also find a mouth piece that you enjoy...with any instrument its all about the mouth piece...becuase if you dont like it and you cant hit your lower notes as well as your higher notes you have a problem...I play on an 11c and I`m very familiar with playing in the extremley high range, and i dont even like my mouth piece so I think im going for a 12 c

One thing don`t smile and like a few people have been saying there is no secret its just practice. you might want to invest in the remington book or some other high range book. PRactice is the key im in 9th grade and the beginning of this year my highest note that i could get with a pretty consistent tone was the first Eb above the staff now after much practice most days i can hit the first G above the staff right when i pick up my horn and after warm up i can hit the first Ab above the staff. but practice everyday. I do this by using to instruments one at school one at home. I built most of my range on a large bore Bach 42b but at school i play a .500 bore E.M. winston straight tenor. but like i said its all practice

Also remember,do not just practice increasing your high range,but your lower range as well.I,being a bas trombone,find it important for all trombones to increase their range on each side off the playing field.At this point I can play a
pedal C or double-pedal Bb up to a high Bb in first(the one above F and D.)

This allows me to play a full 4-octave range scale,and I have been doing it for a month,and nearly play the High B and double-pedal Bb on command.

E-mail me if you need anything help,I`d like to help you in anyway I can.

Alright to start it off i`ve played trombone since 5th grade i am now a sophmore in HS. I live in NJ and go to Allentown high school you may have heard of it. We have a very good band, 3rd place at Berklee Jazz fest. and 1st at allstates championship in allentown Penn. Our scream trumpet players have always been really good, in jazz band we play maynard and chase. I love scream and have recently taken up trumpet my high note on trumpet is a double high G. And on trombone it is an F two octaves above the tuning note. I would recommend lots of lip slurs(try to get trills) and longtones in the extreme register also try to play low it relaxes your chops if you are serious about playing high get a Bach 14D mouthpiece(I played Being Green 2 octaves up for our concert on it)
Hope that helps,
Chris

Well I`ve been playing for 3 years since 6th grade. I`m ending my 8th grade year. Although you probably don`t want to get advice from someone younger than you, I usually start off playing a low Bb, then up to F, Bb, D, then F. I always start off playing more low notes before i even do that. When you`ve warmed enough, start playing higher notes. As I understand, a lot of professionals spend about a half hour to an hour warming up before they begin playing anything. Just warm up to the point where you feel best. You aren`t going to get higher range by only playing low notes. But be sure not to use too much pressure on the mouthpiece and practice playing higher notes a lot, but not too much or you`ll wear yourself out. It might take some time, but keep on practicing. Maybe it`ll help to tell you that I have range from low G (3½ lines below the staff) all the way up to high D/E (5 to 5½ lines above the staff). I could play up to high G last year, but only after I started listening to other people`s suggestions did i increase my range further.

-Skott

hey it really helps if you dont make air balls inside of your cheek and if you let your eye brows go up it kinda helps. i have been playing for 4 years now and have made it into the honor band for my coumminnity. so if you have ne questions you can ask me.
azngrlishere@yahoo.com

well i have been playing for five years but jsut this year i started playing up in the upper register...(i started in 4th grade so you may understand why i didnt play high till 8th grade) but ive managed getting high like up to the high c and almost the high d flat, but my lesson dude said that i needed to start playing pedal tones for scale. man am i having trouble getting those to come out. i have a large bore horn but i still cant get them out. if you have any sugestions that would be great. thanks *
hil

Well,being a bass trombone,pedal notes is where I get down to business.Just play with a open throat,and play low.Do lip slurs,nd play to your lowest point everyday.E-mail,I`d like to help you.Can you t least hit pedal Bb?

I`ve been playing for 16 years now, just recently getting my performance degree from SJSU. The high range is always a tricky thing on trombone, it doesn`t come naturaly for many of us. There are several things you can think when practicing the upper register. Some are simple, long warm ups with lots of long tones, then lip slurs. Lots of work in the pedal register, if you have a trigger, add this to your warm up. Start on low Bb, go down chromatically the entire length of the instrument, all the way down through the trigger pedal range, all in long tones. Most improvement will come with simple but long and detailed warm up routines.

There are also some methods that I have used outside of warming up. Aside from the work in the pedal register, the most important thing is air support. When you go up into the upper register, think of yourself playing for someone standing 15 or 20 yards further away. It`s all about projection. In order to do this, you must have as much air support as you can, and then some. As soon as that air support dies away, the notes die away. It`s that simple.

Therre are several others, but for each person it will be alittle different. The only things that remain the same for everyone are long tones, lip slurs, and pedal excersises. Outside of that, you have to do some expirementation. One of the things I did while increasing my range up to double Bb, (2 octaves above tuning Bb) is this. Once you are confident with the high Bb 1 octave above tuning Bb, try this. Start with F above tuning Bb, slur up to the G in sharp second, then the A in 2rd, and back down. Start slow, then get faster going up and down without the use of the tongue. Then go F in 1st, G in #2nd, A in 2nd, Bb in 3rd, C in flat 3rd. Do this over and over starting slow and getting faster, still with no tongue. Then start there and gliss up to the F from C in flat 3rd to F in first. So in the end you are glissing up from F in 1st to high C in flat 3rd, then back to first for the F in 1st. Once this is confortable, do the whole thing in long tones, and just start to go higher. It takes time, but if you really stick with it, you`ll get it.