Athletes talk about hand-eye (or vice versa) coordination. It is vital that a trombonist’s slide arm is guided by and coordinated with their ear (and a little “muscle memory“). This exercise can help with that. Download and print the pdf or memorize it; it is pretty simple. Listen to the patterns of whole and half steps; stop the slide when you hear the right pitch – let your EAR guide the slide.

Use the play-along track to stay on pitch. It best to play the tracks through speakers rather than headphones or earbuds. It’s easier to hear pitch, beats, and sonority, in the air around you than it is inside your head. Again . . . you can feel intonation in the instrument in addition to hearing – but only if the air around you is activated.