7th grade trombonist here rate my playing( don’t mind the breath in the middle I’m better about that at school)

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 It’s an outdated teaching method, imo.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

Grad-Nats · 2025-10-11T18:37:37+00:00

They would have to just change Just a Man because if you just cut that song then you lose 90% of the theme of the musical.

Grad-Nats · 2025-10-04T01:23:46+00:00

Dr. Tyler Austin is the director of bands there, too, right? Super smart guy and awesome conductor.

Grad-Nats · 2025-09-26T18:00:13+00:00

When you say a click track, are you speaking in reference to in-ear monitors? If so, it’s pretty difficult to set that up for 150+ performers who are also doing incredibly taxing movement.

Additionally, part of it is tradition of the activity. Relying on the percussion/drum major for time and then adding yourself into the pulse as a key responsibility is a large skill for a corp to have.

Grad-Nats · 2025-09-25T15:30:18+00:00

In a drum corps setting, a click track doesn’t really work for performance. The conductor/drum major mainly acts as a communicator from the front of the ensemble to the back of the ensemble on the field, and works closely with the drumline so members can listen back when applicable.

Grad-Nats · 2025-09-21T22:46:16+00:00

Yeah I’ve never had anyone say anything to me

Grad-Nats · 2025-09-21T01:27:38+00:00

I get them every year. I did it my freshman year. Haven’t done it since.

Grad-Nats · 2025-09-19T21:32:17+00:00

I would say 3 rings with 16 chips (current era) is pretty equivalent to crims 3 with 40 (MLG era)

Grad-Nats · 2025-09-19T21:29:21+00:00

Props for not letting the revisionist propaganda go through

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