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So, I'm a high school senior auditioning in a week and a half for the University of Georgia's music college. I learned a few weeks ago that I unfortunately have a problem that I have discovered is common in most intermediate brass players: we don't tongue. We articulate using our throat.
Now this is becoming a serious issue as most notes that I articulate have a clicking sound coming from my throat which is very loud and distracting from the music I'm performing. It also does not allow me to double tongue(instead I have to do it with my throat, which is much less efficient and downright difficult).
Any other trombonists share this problem? Any that have gotten over it? If so, please respond! I really don't want to go before these professional trombonists and embarrass myself with a clicking throat.
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United States22883 Posts
I played in highschool but I never had any problems like that. You might just try practicing tonguing with your mouth piece all day long. D:
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Ah damn, that certainly sucks. Trumpet player here, but I used to have that problem as well. Unfortunately, I only got over it by not playing for two months (while in China) and then starting from scratch articulation-wise when I got back. It doesn't seem that you have the time, though :/
I don't know if there's a way to get past an ingrained function in 10 days... best of luck, though.
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I'm so sorry Track but I have to say it
TROMBONER ROFL
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United States22883 Posts
Trust me, getting to call yourself that is one of of the highlights of playing. :D
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Sorry, I've got no knowledge of brass articulation whatsoever, but I think I can say with some certainty that something on that fundamental level of technique isn't going to be fully fixed in a week and a half. My advise is to just forget about it until your audition is over. Maybe you can ask about it during your interview, or at least mention it and give them the impression that you're willing to reinvent the wheel during your potential four years at UGA.
The instructors are looking for people with talent that seem pleasant, quick-learning, and easy to work with. They know (or at least think) they can fix any technique issues once you're there, so that's not the biggest deal to them. So play with the mentality of showing what you've got rather than what kind of holes you need to patch up. Sounding stilted and generic while inadvertently focusing on minor details is the bigger issue.
Good luck.
If it makes you feel any better, I know a soprano who, when she auditioned somewhere (think it was Juliard) was told that she "speaks wrong" by the vocal staff. As in, her normal speaking sounds a little weird and uses the throat or something incorrectly, according to them. She's at Manhattan School or Music now, but I haven't seen her in a couple years. I wonder if she talks differently now lol.
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I had this problem, I didn't even know I had it until my Trombone teacher heard me play the All State music when he handed it out to us. He was like "woah, play that part again" and he saw that I just slurred everything, couldn't tongue the part.
He pretty much re-taught me to tongue and slur. The best advice he gave me was to just play one note, preferably an F, and just play it over and over again, tonguing it, tonguing it differently, going from quarter note tongues to eighth note tongues to sixteenth note tongues back to just playing a bunch of quarter notes over and over again.
It worked :3
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I used to play trombone, but I was never that good so I just wanted to make sure you don't give up like I did for other instruments. Don't give up!
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EPT
