At the start, little and often is the best advise for practising your new instrument. Brass instruments make their sound with a buzzing effect from the lips in combination with the flow of air. In learning to make this sound, you may be using different muscles around your mouth that will require a gradual build up of strength and endurance, so you do not want to overdo it at first. |
You may be asked to buzz a sound with your lips alone and then with your mouthpiece. With a good standing or sitting posture, bring your mouthpiece to the centre of your lips. Your teacher will show you the ideal position. Learn to take a deep breath through your mouth and not your nose. Blow your air straight through the mouthpiece with a buzzing action from both lips creating a steady, full sound for 4 seconds. Repeat a few times to get your best sound. Aim to keep your cheeks in when blowing. |
You may be asked to play a sound with the full instrument. Again, with a good standing or sitting posture, bring your instrument up to your mouth. Your teacher will show you how to hold your instrument correctly. As with the mouthpiece exercise, create an steady, full sound for 4 seconds with the full instrument. Repeat a few times to get your best sound. |
Your teacher, with the appropriate music will teach you all the notes you need and how to read music in stages. This will give you the time to understand each note before you learn the next one. Do not write the letters above the notes in your music. Although you might think it is easier, it will create difficulties later on. Eventually you will need to read all the notes and it will be easier to learn them correctly as they are introduced from the start, rather than later when you will have to much more to learn. |
Your teacher will show you how to clean and take care of your instrument, including how to use the spit key and apply oil to the valves or slide cream/grease to the trombone slide at the appropriate time. Do not force the mouthpiece on the instrument or hit it in with the palm of your hand. Keep your instrument in the case when it is not being played to protect it from denting. A dry cloth can keep it shiny to reflect your big smile of success. |