Here are the first three “Chapters” in my Free Trombone book. I encourage you to read them, copy and share them with other interested parties. If you feel so inclined perhaps think about donating to help support my efforts. All the best and keep playing,
Brad Rollans
How To Use This Book- Chapter 1
Feel free to email with questions, comments, or to request the three chapters in a single file.
In response to an inquiring email I have decided to clarify the open versus closed wrap descriptions on buying a horn. I hope this article helps some of you make a more informed decision when purchasing your new horn.
Open vs Closed Wrap
The only part of the horn we are talking about when discussing open vs closed wrap is the bell section. The slide is the same. First and foremost no matter what horn you buy or who’s opinion you take purchase something you like and sound good on. Try to purchase as “professional” a horn as possible and you will have much to grow into.
Traditionally open wrap horns have fewer bends and it is thought that this allows a more smoother airflow with less resistance. The closed wrap with its more twists and turns adds a bit more resistance. Many years ago these differences where much more pronounced but builders have worked hard to design horns that work well both ways.
For a more visual picture simply Google, Open wrap and Closed Wrap Trombone in Google Images. The open wrap is the “longer” looking horn.
After the open and closed wrap (which refers to the tubes) we have valve choices! The two most common valves on the market are ,axial flow, and regular rotor valves. The differences are easy to spot. One looks like a cylinder that is perpendicular to the tubes, the other type of valve looks like a cone (pointing down).
The cone shaped valves are more expensive but are said to play with less resistance, ( when you push the trigger down the airflow changes). The cone valve allows a smoother airflow and the notes are supposed to “speak ” more easily. The rotor valves are far from inferior and both do the same job. The price premium is your choice, as with the open or closed wrap many professionals play both. If I was purchasing a new horn I would consider an axial flow valve but only if the rest of the horn “fit” me.
As I stated in the other post buying a horn is a very personal decision and you should try to play the horn for at least 20 minutes and preferably on more than one day. If the music store does not understand why you need to come back and try the horn again, go somewhere else. Also check into used horns. Sadly, many new horns will lose much of their value very quickly. This is great for buyers looking for a good used horn but not to good for people buying a new horn or selling them. The reason is that the manufacturers are always coming out with new “better” horns and the instrument market is not much different than the car market (as always this depends on the model, think limited edition Ferrari vs Honda Civic).
I hope this helps you in your decision and if you have any other questions feel free to send me another email.
This is a short article I wrote about protecting one’s hearing. For musicians and music fans.
Hearing Loss and Musicians
Recently I have been training for a triathlon that I plan to complete on Memorial Day 2006. As part of my training program I have started swimming regularly with a group. The coaches at this group all mean well but I have found that the way they teach swimming is completely incorrect. These coaches subscribe to the school of “more laps” and putting in the time. If you just keep swimming you will eventually get the hang of it and things will “click”. This is an entirely true statement, it might eventually “click” after months or years of struggling. Personally this seems ludicrous to me. What if there was another easier way?
There IS!
For years we have been taught that practice makes perfect. This well meant statement overlooks one very important fact. If you practice incorrectly you will not succeed very quickly. Correct practice makes perfect.
Don’t be one of the people struggling in the pool. Make things easier for yourself and practice things correctly. Practice breeds habits and we don’t want to learn bad habits. Swimming , Trombone playing, learning a new skill etc ,this mantra applies to many things. Practice good habits and things will happen much more quickly.
How to practice:
Practice to technical failure. If you can do lips slurs at 133bpm but can only do them correctly at 110bpm stick with the 110 and push yourself slowly. Don’t feel bad that you are not at 133 yet it will come much quicker then if you always push yourself too far.
This article was written to give you a clear and concise overview of what it takes to use material that is copyright by someone else in your podcast. I found many resources on the internet but very few of them where well researched or written. I hope my article can be of use to you. Share it if you want but please give credit where it is due. I encourage everyone to carefully evaluate their situation and be wary of using material that you don’t have the right to use.
Click here for thePodcasting Article
This is taken from a letter I wrote to the parent of one of my students. I hope it can be of use to some of you.
Dear Mr….
There are many manufacturers that make quality instruments but even within the same manufacturer quality and craftsmanship can vary widely even between trombones of the same model name. One would expect that if you spent upwards of $1500 on anything short of a car you would get a piece of quality and durability. Unfortunately this is not the case. Almost all manufactures with the exception of a few custom houses and hire priced lines (starting at $2800 out of the question even for me) consistently build quality instruments. The other major manufacturers, Yamaha, Bach, Conn, Holton, Jupiter, and many others choose quantity over quality (in all but their top of the line horns). The metal their horns are made of are machine stretched and in many cases machine assembled.
The horns are put together very rapidly and in many cases the metal has not completely cured and cooled. This tends to be prevalent in trombone slides on newer instruments. The manufacturer will insert the inner slide into the outer slide while one, or both are still warm or when the slides have not been perfectly trued and are straight. The basic mechanical concepts of a trombone slide are simple. All four tubes must be perfectly straight and round.When a factory rushes this step it usually means that when the purchaser begins to play the instrument he/she starts to ruin the slide , which is not perfectly straight. This will eventually lead to a “sprung” slide.
I don’t want you to be afraid of purchasing an instrument from any of these manufacturers, I just want to tell you of some issues so that you can make an informed decision. The salesman is last person who will tell you all of this.. I myself have a Bach 42 “trigger” trombone. I unfortunately received a bad one and have had the slide spring on me 4 times over 7 years , each costing approx $100 to fix. Having said that it plays well and has served me through my college career and professionally. Currently I am playing on a 1948 King 2b (more of a “jazz horn” with no trigger).
I would encourage you to purchase a “professional” level horn for a few reasons. Quality control is better, the horns themselves tend to play much better than a student line horn and the resale value tends to be higher. Your price range fits within the confines of some professional level horns.
Horns that I will recommend are:
Bach Stradivarius- 36
42
Bach’s Stradivarius line is their “professional line”
Conn 88H (these tend to be very pricey but check around)
Yamaha -Y620
The trigger or valve is usually in F (there are numerous valve designs but generally the standard rotor or even a Thayer valve is fine).
The “open vs closed” wrap is a matter of preference but generally speaking an OPEN wrap horn (a horn with one long piece of tubing with one bend extending from the rotor) usually has better response when playing the trigger. A closed wrap horn is more compact and does not have the long length of tubing extending from the rotor, instead it spirals around the main horn). Once you see the two types you will immediately recognize the difference.
In the end I suggest getting the horn that he sounds best playing. If possible don’t purchase a horn the first time you audition it. Have him play it for at least 30 minutes the first day, and come back twice maybe more to audition it and another horn. This is important, because many times we fall in love with the color or shape of a horn and are not paying attention to how it plays. Be in the room with him, even if you don’t have a musical background you can usually tell which sounds better. If a sales person tries to pressure you into a sale go somewhere else. These people are musicians and should know that you have to test drive a horn before you buy it.
*
A word on options.*
Options abound on trombones. Everything from gold bells, rose brass bells, light weight slides ,silver plating, thayer valves, greenhoe valves, silver plating, custom bell etching and almost anything else you can think of. All of these of these serve a purpose, except maybe the bell etching, and all of them drive up the price.Light weight slides reduce fatigue when playing long passages and some say allow you to move the slide faster. Bell material can change the overall color of the horns sound. Some make it darker some make it brighter, most if it depends on the player. Any standard horn with a trigger even without tons of options will be more than adequate for (the student). It will take him years to reach the full potential, if ever of a pro-level horn.
*New vs Used:*
For me this is a personal decision as I previously mentioned I currently play a 1948 King trombone. It was hand built because the technology did not exist at that time for it to be assembled like a car. The metals and makeup of the brass recipe have changed over the years (due to environmental controls and R&D) and to many it sounds much better than many many new horns. Vintage Conn88H’s from the 70’s and earlier especially the 1960’s sell for upwards of $2000 , new ones cost $1800. Used horns abound, many people sell them and many are in good shape, many are not. If a horn has not been played for an extended period of time, more importantly if it has not been cleaned and lubricated, it needs to go to a repair shop for a professional cleaning. Just like used cars , used trombones can be a toss-up though there are deals out there. All of the trombones I listed are quite prevalent and available used. You just have to find them.
New Trombone Lust
I remember receiving my first new trombone and it was an exciting time. When we are younger it is hard to understand that the “used” horn even if it does not look as cool might be better in the long run (especially if like me you bought your own instrument). A new horn can be one of the biggest incentives to practice and improve on the trombone. It is really a personal and sometimes financial choice
*Resale value: *Sometimes for whatever reason horns need to be sold, my sister used to play saxophone in high school and now has a new instrument $2800 that can only be sold for $800-$1000. New technologies and advancements are made every year and the hot horn of the season probably wont be a trombone that everyone has (like my bach 42 or the others I mentioned) having said that they are usually a good bet. Instruments tend to depreciate very rapidly in value until you reach a certain point (usually a low one) where they hold their price. Just like toyota camry’s if there are millions available they probably won’t hold their value as well as a ferrrai.
*
If I had to do it over again. *If I purchased a new horn today the first thing I would do after auditioning it and taking it home would be to put it in a repair shop.
*A repair shop where someone works on and plays trombone* ! I put my horn in a shop to get the slide fixed , they ruined it and a rebuilt slide will cost me $500 or a new one $900. It does not help that they didnt charge me the $100 repair fee and that they were sorry.
Have the repair man take the horn completely apart. Unsolder everything and remove all the tension that the horn was built with. Have him check to make sure ever tube is round and every tube is straight. After this is done and the horn is put back together BY HAND (the way it should be done at the factory) the horn will be better than new. You won’t have to worry about slides becoming sprung, or trigger mounts flying off during a performance (both of which have happened to me)
I know it sounds crazy to put a new horn in the shop but sadly manufacturers have dropped the ball and it will save you lots of money in the long run. This should run around $150-200 so factor this into the price of the new horn, it is very important step. I wish I had known about this step when I was younger and received my horn.
If you have any more questions or would like me to accompany you to any music stores please just let me know.
All the best,
Brad Rollans
brad@bradrollans.com
If anyone of you need help financing your private lessons please check out the Music Foundation of San Antonio. They give scholarships to financially needy students to help cover or defer the cost of private lessons.
Their address is:
Robin Abraham, Pres
Music Foundation of San Antonio Inc.
11918 Vance Jackson Rd.
San Antonio, Tx 78230
Many of you, my students included, have been working diligently on your All-Region music which by now should be getting good. I am sure many of you have also come to hate the music that you are continually asked to improve week by week. I will tell you a little secret; your band directors and teachers are probably just as sick of it as you are and all involved would most like to be done with the process so we can move on to teaching other things. Having said that, there are many techniques which you can work on to improve your general musicianship while practicing your region music.
Secret #1: All you have to do is practice better and harder than the other guys/girls. You have all had this music for months and the judges expect something close to, if not perfection. But most of all they expect you to play MUSIC (ahhh that thing we all enjoy doing). The Judges do not want to hear someone play an etude out of a book, but a musical piece that just happens to come from a book.
Do a mental check list on yourself and answer these questions.
-Ask yourself, do you really not like the music or do you just not like the fact that your band director, who you may or may not like, keeps asking you to play this piece.
-Have you ever really listened to the pieces? Do you like anything about them, even one little thing?
-Are you afraid of the process of auditioning in front of people/judges you don’t know?
-Do you enjoy playing your instrument? Why do you play? For whom?
Consult your teacher, a trusted friend or email me and we will discuss your answers. Sometimes all it takes is realizing why you are doing this to make things easier. If you can’t find one thing that you like about the pieces talk to me and we will go through them together. I want all of you to do well in your auditions and feel like you have done the best you could have at the time. I won’t forget the times I went through the audition process and came out feeling like I did not give a true representation of myself. It is a horrible feeling and none of you should have to go through it…if you do some preparation before hand. Check back soon for the next installment in the series!
Good consistent practice is the key to performing well at the All-Region Tryouts. The players who have done the most work generally will be the one’s chosen for the region and state bands. What follows are some general practice guidelines which you can use anywhere.
1. Always use a metronome. I know many of you hate the things but they are an invaluable resource for learning a tune. They cost very little, under $10 , and I require that all of my students have them.
2. Tap your foot with the metronome. You might not have to tap your foot during your audition but generally speaking tapping one’s foot helps you internalize the tempo as you play through the tune.
3. Start slowly! If you can play the piece slowly it is only a matter of speeding things up to play it quickly (obvious right!). Your brain and muscles need time to internalize where each fingering or position is in your music and the only way to do that is to go through the piece slowly. Allow yourself time for correct muscle memory to occur. Now is a good time to make sure that you are playing all of the correct notes.
4. Break the piece into small chunks. An etude or piece that looks extremely difficult becomes much more manageable when you are only working with one line. If you can’t get through the line break the piece down into measures working one or two at a time.
5. Since you have broken the piece into small chunks and are using your metronome to figure out the correct rhythms and tempos I encourage you to perfect each section before moving on. Ever so slowly the piece will come together and before you know it you will be able to move onto the next one.
In a little over three weeks you will all be participating in your All-region auditions. I would like to offer you a few tips to make your audition process easier.
1. Practice auditioning in front of your friends and family. By playing in front of people who make you nervous you can confront any nerves or stage fright issues that you might have. Realize that it is ok to get nervous and that you can use your nerves to help you perform better. Try to find a way to channel your fear into your performance.
2. Take part in any mock auditions that might be offered to you. For my students ours will be held August 15th in the morning starting at 8am.
3. Don’t arrive at the audition site to early or too late. Generally you want to allow yourself to get in a good warm-up and then go play. I don’t suggest hanging around talking to your friends or listening to other people play. There will always be someone better and someone worse than you and the WORST thing that you can try to do is to change your performance or playing because of something you heard during your warm-up.
4. Warm-up in a quite place away from other people and concentrate on making music. Now is not the time to go over passages you have trouble with, you should have done that two weeks ago.
5. Make sure that you are practicing ALL of your region music, even if your instructor or teacher only assigns one assignment. Work on ALL of your music.
Stay tuned for the next update.