A Few Words About Slide Technique
If it sounds good, it is good!
Hand Position
Many teachers have iron-clad commandments about how to hold the slide, but a quick survey of YouTube will reveal a marvelous variety of world-class players exhibiting a veritable smörgåsbord of hand positions. People are different; hands, fingers, arms, shoulders, etc. are different. In the words of Brad Edwards, “The slide doesn’t care how it’s held as much as how it’s moved.” I don’t disagree much on this with Jim Markey. There is an interesting paper here.
Slide Speed
It is just as possible to move the slide too fast as it is too slow. Many of my colleagues will disagree. Oh well . . . so it goes. Don’t jerk the slide! A jerky slide arm jerks the whole body, including air, embouchure, and tone. Just because somebody else can move the slide at light-speed without jerking, doesn’t mean you can! And it’s just not necessary. (See the survey.) My friend, Bob McChesney (who has amazing facility) has some advice. I don’t agree with all of it – particularly his explanation the “why” of his “trick” – but there’s a lot of truth there. There is an element of aural illusion (like optical illusion) – the brain’s a very funny thing! (But physics is involved – see Slide Positions.)
Some colleagues do agree with me. Bass trombonist and composer, David William Brubeck (jazz great, Dave Brubeck’s 3rd cousin) wrote an article for the International Trombone Journal titled Trombone Slide Motion, An Alternate Position, that addresses this. And see Jay Friedman’s article, Legato and the Arms Race. My friend, Kyle Mendiguchia, says, “as slow as possible, as fast as necessary.” International soloist and teacher, Abbie Conant, wrote in her Trombone Teaching Philosophy: “Yes, it is possible to move the slide too fast. Slide must be coordinated with air and tongue. Yes, it is possible to move the slide too slowly. Move the slide so as not to disturb the sound in any way.” Don’t jerk the slide!
Glide the Slide!
Edward Kleinhammer wrote in The Art of Trombone Playing, “Eventually, the tempo will become such that stopping [the slide] at each tone will become impossible. At this point keep the slide in motion, playing each tone as you go by its respective position. . . . there is a degree of ‘faking’ in this procedure.”
When?
Move the slide in rhythm – neither too soon nor too late. (There are many theories about this, too.) Ian Bousfield, in Teaching Talks, says, “Don’t go crazy about the speed of your slide. A lot of people talk about using a fast or a slow slide arm. It’s not about that, it’s about the timing. . . . We move the slide as we articulate.” Charlie Vernon says, “The slide moves in rhythm. It doesn’t move before the beat. It doesn’t move after the beat. It doesn’t move somewhere in the middle of the beat. It moves right with the rhythm.”
Interestingly, two world-class trombonists have provided apparently polar opposite (superficially similar but profoundly different) exercises/ideas for slide technique/timing: Ian Bousfield (right as you articulate) and Joe Alessi (immediately after you articulate – and notice: SLOW). Both are useful – Yin & Yang, methinks.
Coordination
Slide, air, lips, valves, and tongue must move together. Practicing with no tongue – just glissandos and slurs – can help. When we play legato, the tongue is the “glissando eraser” – it can also mask other things. When we set it aside, there is one less variable, and we can clearly hear the effect of the slide’s movement and it’s coordination with lips, air, et al. Make the glissandos concise, relaxed, accurate, rhythmic – and as musical as possible – like a great singer singing on one syllable (melisma). Move the slide at that speed – no faster – no slower – and add back the tongue as needed. Jim Markey demonstrates this nicely. This exercise can help.
In order to “play each tone as you go by,” slide speed will vary with the distance the slide is moving between pitches. Velocity is, after all, distance over time. 1st to 6th must move faster than 1st to 2nd. Again, glissandos can clarify appropriate slide speed.
Linearity
The slide is straight. The joints in your hand, wrist, arm, and shoulder, move in arcs. A single arc will move the slide sideways and jar the embouchure. One must utilize several joints/arcs to avoid this. Check out what David Vining has to say about Slide Technique (and the sternoclavicular joint). Additionally, torso rotation can facilitate linearity.
Davis Schuman designed an angled slide the patent for which provided: “The operation of the slide, is more natural and the fifth, sixth and seventh positions may be easily reached without awkwardness.” It didn’t catch on!
NOTE: Extendabone can help youngsters reach outer positions without stretching and straining – and jarring their chops!
Imitation
We can learn a lot by imitation. It is obvious we can model tone quality, intonation, and phrasing by imitation – just like speech (Steal ‘Em Blind). What may not be so obvious is breathing, relaxation, posture – and slide technique – can be improved by watching others play (survey). Perhaps surprisingly, people can learn motor skills by watching (also see Motor Learning by Observing).
We learn to talk and walk as we are taught and by imitating our parents and siblings. We learn to move the slide as we are taught and by modeling our trombone teachers and section-mates. We usually only see our teachers once a week, and they may not play in lessons. Our section-mates may or may not be “world-class” examples. (I was very lucky to sit day in and day out with some the very best for decades.) There are, however, many, many, video recordings of world-class trombonists available online – a wonderful opportunity to observe. (Recitals and masterclasses can’t hurt, either!)
I have learned that when I devote a significant portion of several lessons to watching (and listening to) many online videos of various great players – observing slide grip, slide speed, arm & shoulder relaxation, and timing – the student’s slide technique invariable improves. It is my belief this modeling is largely subconscious – speaking to “Mongo” not “Bart.” (See The Ballad of Bart & Mongo in Slow Practice.) Our friend Mongo is not a quick study! But he won’t let us down – if we give him time – and great examples. Repetitio Mater Studiorum Est!
(Again, see the survey.)
And Remember: Goldielocks was Right!