Low Brass Notes

Jason Crews

Trombone:

The practical range of the trombone is from E below the bass clef staff to the second B
flat above the bass clef.

The F-valve on the trombone is to play 6th position as 1st position and 7th position in 2nd
position, and extend the range of the horn from low E to pedal B flat.

Good student line trombones:

• Yamaha
• Bach
• Cann

Good beginner student mouth pieces:

• 7C
• 12A

Slide positions:
• 1st position the slide is all the way in
• 2nd position the slide bar is half way between the Bell and 1st position
• 3rd position the slide bar is slightly before the bell
• 4th position the end of the slide casing is even with the bell
• 5th position is between 4th and 6th
• 6th position is fully extended for most smaller children
• 7th position is past the stoking on inner slide.

General Notes about slide positions:

• Don’t allow students to use finger crutches – the only serve to slow the student
down when playing in faster passages.

Care and Maintenance:

• Assembly
o Place case on the ground
o Take slide out of case
o Take bell out of case
o Attach bell to slide at about a 90 degree angle (may vary depending on
hand size
o Place the mouth piece into the receiver
• Lubricating the slide
o Take the bell off the slide
o Take outer slide off
 o Wipe the inner slide clean
o Apply slide cream to stockings
o Spray water on slide
o Put on one side at time
• Important Items for brass Maintenance
o Mouthpiece puller
o Mouthpiece truer,
o Snake
o Hammer
o Valve oil
o Slide grease

All notes need to be tongued, even notes with a slur marking, on trombone in order to
avoid the glissando effect.

Baritone:

Baritone in treble clef plays transposed B flat and sounds one octave lower than written.
The fingers are the same as trumpet fingerings.

Baritone in Bass clef is non-transposed and sounds the written octave.

Trombone slide positions correspond to Baritone fingerings:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
123 13 23 12 1 2 0
14 4

Use 4th valve to replace 1st and 3rd valve combination for better tuning

The practical range of the baritone is from B flat below the bass clef staff to the second B
flat above the bass clef.

The fingers on the rite hand should be placed in an arched position to press the valves
straight down on the valve caps.

Creating an Embouchure:
• See hand out
• Corners of the mouth down
• Firm corners of the mouth
• Chin flat
• Flatten jaw
• Don’t puff cheeks

Good student line trombones:

 • Yamaha
• Bach
• Holton
• King

Good beginner student mouthpieces:

• 7C
• 6½ AC
Good intermediate student mouthpieces:
• 6⅓ AL
Good professional mouthpieces:
• 56
• 46
• Schilk: 51D

Care and Maintenance:

• Assembly
o Place case on the ground
o Take baritone out of case
o Place the mouth piece into the receiver
• Lubricating the valves
o Remove the piston from the valve
o Wipe the piston clean
o Apply valve oil to piston
o Replace piston
o Only remove one piston at a time
• Important Items for brass Maintenance
o Mouthpiece puller
o Mouthpiece truer,
o Snake
o Hammer
o Valve oil
o Slide grease

Notes marked with a slur are not tongued while playing the baritone.

Tuba:

Types of Tubas:
• B flat – most beginner tubas
• C – common in orchestras and for professional and college players
• F – commonly found in smaller chamber groups
• E flat – commonly found in British music
Tubas can be found in both rotary and the more traditional piston configurations.

The practical range of the tuba is from two B flats below the base clef staff to F in the
bass clef staff.

Good beginner student mouthpieces:

• 18
Good intermediate student mouthpieces:
• 24 AW

Care and Maintenance:

• Assembly
o Place case on the ground
o Take tuba out of case
o Place the mouth piece into the receiver
• Lubricating the valves
o Remove the piston from the valve
o Wipe the piston clean
o Apply valve oil to piston
o Replace piston
o Only remove one piston at a time
• Important Items for brass Maintenance
o Mouthpiece puller
o Mouthpiece truer,
o Snake
o Hammer
o Valve oil
o Slide grease

Notes marked with a slur are not tongued while playing the Tuba.

General Low brass Playing notes:

• Breathing
o See handout
• Creating an Embouchure:
o See hand out
o Corners of the mouth down
o Firm corners of the mouth
 o Chin flat
o Flatten jaw
o Don’t puff cheeks
• Benefits of Buzzing
o Ear training
o And helps develop tone
o Helps diagnose and fix buzzing problems
• Lip slurs
o Helps learn where the partials are on the horn
o Helps develop flexibility
o Helps develop range
• Harmonic Series
o Bass
o 8th
o P 5th
o P 4th
o M 3rd
o m 3rd
o m 3rd
o double 8th from bass
• Playing in the low register
o Relax
o Drop jaw
o Larger aperture
o Slower air

Bore size refers to the diameter of the tubing on the horn.

Conical refers to instruments whose bore size expands through the last ⅔ of the horn.
Cylindrical refers to instruments which bore size stays the same through the first ⅔ of the
horn.

As students progress the typically move to larger mouth pieces.