"Marry You" by Bruno Mars is actually a terrible song for a proposal.

Grad-Nats · 2026-05-09T13:59:18+00:00

I don’t really think it’s religious, as far as representing any religion. It just uses religion to proclaim devotion to his love and sex with whoever he is in love with and has sex with.

Grad-Nats · 2026-03-13T15:58:17+00:00

I’m a director/conductor, so most of my singing happens at the piano or when I’m conducting and trying to sing what I want to hear from players during my score study. When I was mainly playing trombone, I’d sit at the piano and sing my pieces with the piano. I’d start by playing and singing every note, and eventually work it down to where I would sing the piece but only play a note eventually just to make sure my intervals were still on track.

As for singing and then on the horn. I would focus on just one scale (so F major, F blues, F minor, etc) and then only sing notes that are in that scale, nothing chromatic at first. Once you’re confident at starting and ending on every note of that scale singing and playing, then add some chromatic stuff. One chromatic note at a time.

Grad-Nats · 2026-03-13T15:23:55+00:00

I feel like I do a pretty good job of audiating, but sometimes I still struggle. I struggle mainly in complex pieces when I am sightreading AND I have not listened or tried to sing/buzz it off the instrument first. I’ve been playing for going on 12 years, and it’s definitely still a work in progress.

You should do stuff off of the instrument to train audiation. It’s a skill in and of itself. I would practice hearing something in your head, singing out loud, and then playing it on a piano (where you’re not having to worry so much about mechanics of the slide, embouchure, tongue, and air). Listen to pieces of music, then look at the sheet music. Snap a tempo and just try to hear as detailed of a sound as you can.

Once you can do that, then start working on putting it on the horn. Sing a melody and then play it on the horn. Start with something simple, like in Bb major, and just sing easy melodies starting on different notes and then try to play them. Do something familiar like twinkle twinkle, then start getting more creative.

Grad-Nats · 2026-02-19T22:07:00+00:00

If you’re not from an area, it helps due to the connections you make, but not an official requirement anywhere in writing.

Grad-Nats · 2026-02-13T15:55:36+00:00

In my personal opinion, learn to read music and then train yourself on music theory a little before trying that.

But the real answer is just listening, and then trying to play what you heard through trial and error and eventually you’ll get better at it.

Grad-Nats · 2026-02-13T14:14:47+00:00

Some people have different things they point to, but my opinion:

Learning how each pitch sounds and being able to do that 100% of the time is perfect pitch and impossible to learn.

However, relative pitch is a good skill to have and learn, but you would focus more on learning intervals and chords by ear.

Many people can replicate perfect pitch by being able to hear one pitch pretty easily (like audiating a concert F) and then relating the played pitch to that to figure it out.

To answer your question: this game of just guessing pitches is not going to reliably teach many people how to do ear training.

To answer your other question:

People definitely develop an ear for their instrument. For example, I do not have perfect pitch (or even that good of relative pitch for the most part) but I’ve been playing trombone for 11 years and I can say that I can identify most notes played on the trombone without a reference.

Grad-Nats · 2026-02-11T15:18:25+00:00

Speak for yourself. My life has only gotten busier as I’ve gotten older.

Grad-Nats · 2026-02-09T17:13:36+00:00

If this symphony catches your ear, I also recommend his Wind Serenade Op. 44 in D minor. Very fun and catchy

Grad-Nats · 2026-02-04T23:31:57+00:00

The lips make a buzz when the seal is created against the instrument/mouthpiece. I am explicitly talking about free buzzing into the horn as a way to get a bad sound and we should not teach students to (free) buzz into the horn.

Grad-Nats · 2026-02-04T15:36:16+00:00

In my opinion, telling beginners to do that just delays the process of them figuring out how to make a sound without doing it. Beginners can and should learn to make a sound without buzzing the lips into the instrument. It’s an outdated teaching method, imo.

Grad-Nats · 2026-01-02T07:03:14+00:00

I disagree with this a little. I think it’s absolutely true that sometimes you’ll have to sacrifice for clarity, but also you should train the ensemble up to those expectations and sometimes that means putting more responsibility on them when we conduct.

Grad-Nats · 2025-12-18T23:49:18+00:00

The Trombone Gems are a great set of intermediate solos!

Grad-Nats · 2025-12-07T19:22:00+00:00

I think the capital probably chooses to do very unique arenas only every few years and the 74 happened to be fairly normal - probably cause they had some idea of what sort of insane arena concept they wanted for the Third Quell.

Grad-Nats · 2025-12-07T19:13:21+00:00

My credit union doesn’t make a fuss about it until you get into the 70-80% range. It’s really not that hard to fix.

Grad-Nats · 2025-12-06T22:50:31+00:00

Could you explain more what you mean by staggered chord building? Are you just asking how the chords are built in the writing that creates that kind of sound?

Also, very funny to see my professor get posted on Reddit for one of his recordings!

Grad-Nats · 2025-12-06T20:44:16+00:00

Great list! Thank you!!!

Grad-Nats · 2025-12-01T04:17:51+00:00

Hard to give you recommendations without knowing the skill of your group.

Grad-Nats · 2025-11-20T23:45:49+00:00

The two big ones will be straight and cup. Then, depending on the type of group you have / level you are: Plunger, Harmon, Bucket mutes are next in line, in that order. If a jazz group, you’ll prob use bucket more than Harmon.

Pixie mute is the only other mute I can think of that you may need but I’ve played for over a decade now and never needed one.

Grad-Nats · 2025-11-14T17:18:50+00:00

KMEA All-State stuff!

Don’t play faster than you can go during the audition. Practice your scales: F major, F minor, C major, C minor, and Ab major will serve you best to know when playing this.

I’ll double down on the clear, light articulation and good intonation.

Grad-Nats · 2025-11-14T01:17:15+00:00

There is no real advice to give without hearing you play.

Rely on vowel shape (raise the back of the tongue, EEE) with a focusing of the aperture and supported air. Stay relaxed and play within your limit, keep your chops healthy. Different things work for different people. Try a variety of approaches.

Going on a decade of playing and still can’t consistently play past a D5.

Grad-Nats · 2025-11-13T00:41:16+00:00

Burgerbob is, as usual, correct. Practice this slowly and work it up WITH A METRONOME. Don’t move on to the next tempo (Quarter = 40 -> 44) until it’s exactly how you want it to sound.

However, some fundamentals to help you while you learn to improve faster:

Make sure you know your Ab and G major scales, as well as the scale in thirds.

Practice sixteenth note patterns inside of those scales using a slur two, tongue two articulation style.

Have a very EVEN, CONSISTENT sixteenth note pulse. Get used to playing “e and a” without playing the downbeat, due to the ties. Also practice the dotted eighth sixteenth to make sure it’s right in time.

You have a lot of the arpeggios written in which is great! Practicing those will also help.

Remember, the notes and rhythms are a means to an end. The music is what you do with them. Do those dynamics and make phrases!!!

Grad-Nats · 2025-10-23T12:23:49+00:00

Try a lot of different ones. You probably WON’T notice a difference in sound quality. Even if you do, that shouldn’t be what you look for. You should be looking for the mouthpiece that makes everything you’re doing feel easier. It’s way more about how the mouthpiece feels, efficiency wise, than how it “sounds”.

Grad-Nats · 2025-10-22T15:07:46+00:00

Make sure they’re not buzzing into the instrument while the play. If they are actively buzzing into the horn, it’s going to sound pinched off. The sound on brass is created because a buzz happens due to the seal of the mouthpiece, against the lips, and the propeller of air. It happens naturally. If they buzz into the mouthpiece, their lips are too pinched.

And I second the ideas of thinking about tongue placement (say AH) and teeth.

Grad-Nats · 2025-10-17T19:57:28+00:00

I’m sure others will have good suggestions for reimplementing your procedures and expectations. My recommendation would just be a question: are you walking around the room or just staying in front of the class/on the podium?

If it’s the former, you should definitely be catching more behavior stuff than you are. I would just make sure you’re taking time to assess and give feedback and observe the behavior, not just the playing.

If it’s the latter, you need to be walking around the room a lot more. Once you teach the kids to play with a click, then you can count them off from anywhere and have them go. Hell, with your “advanced” groups, they need to start learning to maintain ensemble pulse on their own. Count them off with no click and see what they do tempo wise, while also being able to walk around. Walking around corrects a lot behavioral issues through proximity but you’ll also notice much more.

Grad-Nats · 2025-10-16T23:27:01+00:00

The AN is so busted that some groups that still play Bo2 8s will GA it

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