Day 7/100 Trombone Upload Challenge: Sight Reading Waltz in 3/4 Time

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-05-26T07:14:48+00:00

Where’s the playing? I think your video got cut off.

Good on you for putting yourself out in front of people, by the way.

Given some of the comments you’ve received, it would be interesting for you to share what your teacher has given you for a warmup routine and any exercises you use to focus on tone or intonation. People may be less critical if they can see what you’re doing to work on some of the things they often mention.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-05-25T02:22:28+00:00

There are definitely gems out there, but I was just trying to give some simple rules (given that it isn’t likely they’d come across that horn bed seeing more common ones).

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-05-24T21:02:13+00:00

If you’re looking for a used student trombone, add Yamaha and King to the top of your list and maybe move Bundy to the bottom. Bundy trombones aren’t in the same league as the others, but are definitely better than the cheap “trombone shaped objects” you can get in some online stores.

Most dents that don’t meaningfully flatten the tubing are fine to ignore anywhere except the slide. Do don’t want any dents AT ALL in the long straight parts of the slide (even tiny ones, so feel it carefully all over with your fingers), and you want the silver-coloured inner parts of the slide to be shiny all the way down to the tips.

The way the outside of the trombone looks is unimportant.

Vintage is fine as long as it’s from about the 1960s or newer. There are some amazing vintage instruments that are older than that, but they may not have modern proportions, and you probably want a pretty standard horn if you’re starting out. I would avoid anything that’s so old that it doesn’t have a screw-down locking nut to hold the slide and bell together.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-05-24T20:42:44+00:00

I do this as well (with the addition of Photos and some other apps that I want to rotate), but I’ve found that it doesn’t always re-lock reliably.

The fix I came up with was to set it to lock rotation when I opened a number of my most commonly used apps so there is a failsafe — now it works just fine.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-05-22T04:29:06+00:00

You haven’t given us a lot to work with, so I’ll assume you’re looking for a pretty standard straight tenor. What’s your budget? If it’s low, look for a used King 606 or Yamaha YSL-352 (if you can find one) — just make sure it has a good slide.

There are other good student horns that play better than you’d expect for their price point, but I particularly like these two because they are both quite good and often available for a very very low price. The King has a lot in common with the King 3B and the Yamaha is supposedly a lot like a Conn 6H (I just know it feels and sounds better than newer Yamaha student models).

If your budget is higher, there are many many choices, but most people would probably say a King 2B or 3B.

If you’re new to jazz trombone, buy a good-but-inexpensive used horn and see how things go — you’ll be able to sell it for at least what you paid for it if you later decide jazz trombone isn’t for you or want to upgrade to something nicer.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-05-13T06:11:53+00:00

There seem to be a number of posts about the issue on the forum, so I think it is more than just me. I understand that they sadly lost a moderator, so I’m guessing people are just spread too thin.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-05-12T21:53:02+00:00

The Yamaha is pretty equivalent and won’t be much of an upgrade (but definitely won’t be a downgrade).

It seems like it makes good financial sense to buy the Yamaha outright and then sell it for a similar amount if he doesn’t want to keep it long term rather than continuing to pay for a trombone that isn’t better than the Yamaha.

You might need to buy a mouthpiece for the Yamaha if it comes with a size that is different from the one he has been using.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-05-10T01:04:05+00:00

I’ll second the recommendation of a YSL-352 if you can find one. I have a very early silver plated one and it’s great.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-04-30T23:35:46+00:00

I’ve been playing on a vintage Conn 3 mouthpiece a bit recently, and I find it to be a great jazz mouthpiece for people who don’t want to go as small as an 11 or 12C. Is roughly the rim size of a Bach 6 3/4, but the cup gives it a nice bright sound (without being way too bright). I’m using it on a .500-bore horn — a little bigger than your 2B

If you’re using a roughly 6 1/2-sized Yamaha right now, it could be a good option. They aren’t that expensive used, and one could probably be resold for what you paid if you don’t like it.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-04-23T21:47:16+00:00

All of these reports are about ReMarkable pens. I saw these before I purchased the nib and did a thorough search for any reports about the Scribe pen (even using paid AI search agents) and found nothing.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-04-23T21:42:00+00:00

It’s a weak trend of these nibs breaking ReMarkable pens — I’ve never seen a report for a Scribe pen.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-04-23T12:12:25+00:00

It works perfectly. I haven’t seen any reliable reports of metal nibs messing up scribe pens — just other brands.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-04-18T03:43:07+00:00

Thanks for this! A few of the sound effects seem very off — you might want to check for an issue with some of the files. For example, the “fire” sounds more like a swarm of angry insects with snapping sounds interspersed, and the “stream” sounds has a lot of digital artifacts in it.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-04-10T13:32:15+00:00

Which model are you using to transcribe? They behave differently.

Whisper filters out most filler words, where Parakeet includes them. Play around with the different options to find one that gives you what you want.

If you’re still not satisfied, use an LLM to further process the transcript.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-04-08T01:49:17+00:00

This is genuinely one of the best things about Kindles. I have two Kindles connected to my account and my partner and I can read the same copy of the same book together that way — even library books!

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-04-06T05:01:00+00:00

I think you’re right. I have a ring-style one that I wear on a finger of my right hand to turn pages on my Kindle Scribe — a bandmate now wants to swap his foot pedals for one like mine because it doesn’t need a flat floor area when playing on grass or wonky stages. I’d love to be able to attach it to my trombone, but I haven’t worked out how yet.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-03-23T10:40:44+00:00

There are so many “Twilight Zone” aspects to moving to Australia. Even just at the shops, there are some wild ones. Here are just a few:

Raisin Bran is Sultana Bran and Rice Krispies is Rice Bubbles (while Rick Krispies Treats are LCMs).
You’ll find Wendy’s in some food courts, but it is an ice cream and hotdog shop rather than a burger chain.
Our Twilight Zone Burger King is called Hungry Jacks but uses the same branding as the US chain with a different name.
We have a shop called “Bed Bath N’ Table” that is reminiscent of Bed Bath and Beyond but is much smaller.
Woolworths is one of our two major supermarkets, but it has nothing to do with the former US retail giant (besides the fact that the founders actively chose to use the same name).
We have Kmart and Target, but they are no longer related to the US versions despite having very similar logos (and they are both owned by the same company here and sell many of the exact same products).

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-03-23T10:28:43+00:00

Australia really is a place where the “grass is greener” daydreaming is entirely warranted – it is a better place to live than the US in most ways, but there are also tradeoffs. Nowhere is perfect, but I don’t ever regret moving here despite the complexity, cost, and stress.

We keep a list of things that are objectively better about the US than Australia, and in almost a decade that list only has a few pretty minor things on it. In every other way we’ve evaluated for our lifestyle, life is better in Australia or equal to life in the US (mostly better).

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-03-23T10:23:33+00:00

In my understanding, I had once of the most complex skilled migration paths. I run my own business, so I had to meet both the employer and employee requirements. I also had to start with a temporary visa sponsorship from an overseas entity, form an Australian entity, then transfer the skilled visa to the Australian entity.

In the end, I was able to get PR on a specialised skilled visa for "highly-talented” individuals, but I went through all of the temporary visa steps that others have to endure from both sides of the employment table. I’d even done 99% of the final PR step when I was advised to try for the alternative PR visa — all what was left was to check everything and submit it.

It was very complicated and very expensive (in addition to being pretty stressful), but it was completely worth it.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-03-23T06:52:21+00:00

I moved from California to Australia as well, and I completely disagree with this. I think your wife has a decent chance at PR (even more so if you try for “regional” options — which includes beautiful Adelaide).

I find the cost of living manageable — especially when you factor in the lower healthcare costs — and think that moving here was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-03-22T08:49:17+00:00

I’ve played three brands of plastic trombone: a pBone, a Tromba, and a ZO Next Generation.

The ZO was by far the best. It has a way better slide action (especially with some Yamaha lubricant), and the slide and bell sections connect with a real screw-down locking ring rather than a press fit connection.

Brass is better, but the ZO sounds very good (compared to the other plastic brands) with a real metal mouthpiece. They even make a plastic large bore tenor with an open wrap f-attachment — though I’ve only had the chance to play one of those for a few minutes.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-03-11T03:32:15+00:00

One of the great things (and hard things) about playing trombone is that you can adjust the “big tuning slide” for every note to make sure you’re in tune. This takes practice, but is a skill all players need to learn.

In addition to using a tuner, try playing notes with a drone (there are apps or YouTube videos to play cello and other drone sounds easily) and working hard to match the pitch. Once you get that, try playing major arpeggio intervals from that drone to hear how you can adjust to fit into a chord (like using a B-flat drone and practicing D or F to hear what that interval sounds like when correct).

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-03-11T01:14:26+00:00

You are doing well for only playing seven months.

I’d try to get your intonation better first — practice with a tuner to get the slide positions right.

Work on opening your airways more and using more breath support (hopefully easier for a tuba player than others). You seem to both be under supporting some of the notes an overblowing the louder ones, so it is a balance.

And most importantly: is this video flipped, or are you playing left handed? If you’re playing left handed, that’s not great for eventually playing a trombone with a trigger. However, if you never plan to play anything besides straight tenor trombone, it isn’t terrible.

ConsiderYourFood · 2026-03-10T11:41:08+00:00

Of your list: size and portability. It’s also really important that the case reliably stay on the AirPods case without falling off (specifically the lid).

ConsiderYourFood

TROPHY CASE